engineering apprentice Review

We are currently at college for the first year. This involves 6 courses which change every 6 weeks. These can be mechanical maintenance, turning, milling etc. Four out of five days a week consist of doing training tasks and assessments for this unit and the remaining day is spent doing Btec

Yes, all of the teaching is either something brand new or helping to develop prior knowledge and skills. Turning was something I had never done before so I went from terrified of a lathe to making a functioning die stock from plain metal bars. All training gives you a wide range of techniques for each unit

It has been difficult with at home learning due to covid, especially with Btec workand how much you can engage with it through a screen. The courses are really enjoyable though and confidence builds up quickly. The feeling when it clicks in your mind and you can do it by yourself really is the best thing

It's really well structured, with training tasks relevant to the assessments to be done and the availability for catch up time already scheduled in. I am already aware tha next year I will be on day release and we have been told what will be happening in the weekdays when we are a work

When covid allowed, we were visited safely by our manager at college which was really nice. It showed there was a lot of interest in how we were getting on. We also were asked to send weekly reviews of our timeat college and recieve feedback on our work which is really motivating

We are encouraged to do our best and are offered that if we require any help or information then they will help to the best of their ability. Again, it has been difficult with the pandemic and working from home as relations had not been built yet but the effort has been made to overcome this

I feel like the course has been really well chosen by my employer. Apprentices from different companies are doing different units to myself which means the units can be tailored to fit the eventual job role. This enables us to learn the correct skills for our work at our company site.

Yes, Premier foods offers an optional social club which has raffles and events. There are also cake sales for charity during lunches. For international womens day, video conferences were arranged for anyone to participate in or view. A group from the company also does organised clean ups to help the environment.

Yes

As an employee, you feel genuinely valued and appreciated. You will be supported and encouraged to achieve your best outcome. Trained mental first aiders can offer you support throughout, as well as the life works app. Employees are also hired based off of the fit of values and personalities to ensure the workplace remains friendly and supportive.

To not be shy, not one person I've met hasn't been lovely and offered their expertise if needed. The people you dont know will make the effort to still say hello and get to know you. The company cares about you for you, not just because you're an employee.