200 Apprentices to start Quality Careers with Truro and Penwith College

The rise in popularity of Apprenticeships has been brought into focus at a leading College in Cornwall as a record number of Apprentices start their new career.

Truro and Penwith College has seen a steady rise in Apprenticeship training over recent years, with students keen to earn while they learn at the Ofsted Outstanding College, while working in a wide range of sectors for some of Cornwall’s top employers.

Over 200 Apprentices will start their quality career this September, across more than 40 Apprenticeship programmes offered at the College. Apprentices will work in their chosen area, while studying for nationally recognised qualifications ranging from entry level Intermediate Apprenticeships to University Level Higher Apprenticeships. Job roles cover a range of areas from Software Development, Firefighting and Digital marketing to Accountancy, Business and Management and Engineering.

New government reforms saw a whole host of brand new Apprenticeships being introduced earlier this year, meaning that employers were also given the opportunity to help redesign courses to ensure that Apprentices are trained in the skills they need in the workplace.

Christopher Weavill, Chief Operating Officer at Hertzian, a Truro-based software company, said: “A great way to expand Hertzians’ growing business is to hire Apprentices. The new Level 4 Software Development programme at Truro and Penwith College is the perfect course to provide the primary skills we need for our developing technology. Hertzian specialises in machine learning analytics of free text data. Finding people with the right expertise is incredibly difficult and this programme is a great step towards improving that in Cornwall.”

Twenty-two-year-old Elliott Paull studied Maths and Physics at Exeter University before deciding to pursue a Software Developer Higher Level Apprenticeship, and is starting his career at Redruth-based Bluefruit software.

He said: “I’ve always been interested in Software Development and have even taught myself in my free time. I wanted to get into the industry but knew that Bluefruit was where I wanted to start my career and progress.”

Sixteen-year-old school leaver Jordan Barkway is also joining Bluefruit and sees the working and practical environment as the start to her dream career as a Software Developer.

She said: “I knew exactly what I wanted to do after leaving school, so after completing work experience with Bluefruit it’s always been my dream to work there. Not only will I learn at a professional level with people who understand the industry but I’ll also be earning a wage.”

Andy Stittle, Director of Teaching and Learning at the College, said: “This is a record number of new Apprenticeship starts for September. It reflects the increasing attraction of this route to numerous occupational and professional careers through our close partnership working with employers across the County for a wide range of professional and occupational sectors.

“More and more employers are also coming forward, seeing the benefit of Apprenticeships as highlighted in last year’s “Outstanding” Ofsted report which in addition to citing “inspirational teaching” and “excellent links with employers” also found “Apprentices make a considerable positive contribution to employers’ businesses.”

Apprenticeship vacancies are always open at the College and anyone over the age of 16 can apply and regularly.

They can be found on the College website or for more information call the Apprenticeship Recruitment Team on 01872 242711.