Student Apprenticeships

The Student Apprenticeships programme was managed by Business & Education in London South and financed by the London South Learning & Skills Council (LSLSC). The programme was aimed at young people aged 16 -19 in full time Education. The purpose of the project was to give these young people the chance to boost their CVs and career paths by offering them an extended work placement whilst completing fulltime study.

The Student Apprenticeships programme offered young people the chance of work placements in the following areas:

Business Administration
Construction
Customer Services
Early Years Childcare & Education
Engineering
Healthcare
Information Communication Technology
Leisure & Tourism

In addition to the placement areas above, the Student Apprenticeships programme enabled young people to strengthen the following key skills areas:

Application of Number
Communication
Improving Own Learning and Performance
Information Technology
Problem Solving
Working with Others

Below are two case studies from the many successful young people that took part in the Student Apprenticeship project:

Case Study 1 (IT)

This student was studying for AS level English and IT at a local sixth form college. Having arranged a work placement with a small local employer, the student was given responsibility for producing marketing materials on CDs and Webpage development. His work placement ensured that he was given the chance to use up to date equipment and software which was extremely beneficial to his studies. In addition, the opportunity to produce CDs also added to his IT portfolio and his potential employability.

He is now looking at higher education with a view to pursue IT as his chosen career path post graduation. In the interim, the employer has now offered the student a further more advanced work placement during his degree studies.

Case Study 2 (Early Years Childcare & Education)

This student applied for her Apprenticeship soon after she had settled into her Year 12 GNVQ Intermediate course in Health and Social Care. She started her one-day-per-week placement at a local nursery and was soon established as part of the happy team. She also established a strong rapport with the children and it became instantly clear that she was ideally placed in her apprenticeship surroundings.

She found that a considerable amount of her placement reinforced her studies. She attended regularly and enjoyed excellent support from her assessor and training provider gaining enough evidence to complete vocational and key skills units of her studies.

The BELS team would like to thank everyone involved in the Student Apprenticeships project for making it such a great success. We would also like to congratulate all the young people that successfully completed their studies and placements during the length of this project.