The Blaenau Gwent Aspire Shared Apprenticeship Programme Team along with their partner Aspire Merthyr Tydfil have been selected as finalists at the prestigious Apprenticeship Awards Cymru. The virtual awards will take place on 29th April 2021 and are the highlight of the work-based learning calendar.
Every year Apprenticeship Awards Cymru recognises and celebrates the outstanding contribution of work-based learning practitioners, apprentices, outstanding achievers and dedicated employers who have excelled on the Welsh Government’s Apprenticeship and Traineeship Programmes. Aspire Blaenau Gwent and partners Aspire Merthyr Tydfil have been chosen, along with four other organisations, in the catergory of ‘Large and Macro Employer of The Year’. This award celebrates the employer’s commitment to developing their workforces through apprenticeships, whilst supporting their employees during training.
Aspire Blaenau Gwent were established in 2015 and Aspire Merthyr Tydfil in 2017, the eight-strong team specialises in providing the manufacturing and engineering businesses of Blaenau Gwent and Merthyr with apprentices. To date, they boast an impressive 100% record of apprentices being employed through the programme. The Aspire team have already been acknowledged for their outstanding dedication and apprentice record at the Apprenticeship Awards Cymru 2019 where they won in the very same category.
Richard Crook, Corporate Director Regeneration and Community Services says:
“To reach the awards final is an outstanding achievement and I wish them all the very best for the virtual final. Reaching the culminating stage of this category again is truly recognition of all the hard work that the Aspire teams in Blaenau Gwent and Merthyr have achieved, especially when up against such stiff competition. This is yet another example of successful partnership working that has shown our commitment to developing and supporting apprenticeships, despite the challenges of COVID-19”.
The Apprenticeship Awards Cymru are organised jointly by the National Training Federation for Wales and Welsh Government and via a distinguished panel of judges have brought together 35 worthy finalists in 12 categories from all parts of Wales.
Apprenticeship Awards Cymru 2021
Finalists in the category of
Large and Macro Employer of the Year
• Heddlu Dyfed-Powys Police
• Aspire Blaenau Gwent & Merthyr Tydfil
• DOW
• Rhondda Cynon Taf Council
• Swansea Bay University Health Board
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Main Picture:
Skills Development Manager Tara Lane and representatives of Aspire Blaenau Gwent and partners Merthyr County Borough Council.
Left to right: Jared Green (Aspire Programme Co-ordinator Merthyr), Tara Lane (Skills Development Manager), Deb Ryan Newton (Employability Manager – Merthyr Tydfil) and Andrew Bevan (Aspire Programme Coordinator Blaenau Gwent).