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National Apprenticeship Week National Apprenticeships Week takes place next week (8^th – 14^th February) with events running across England aimed at showcasing how apprenticeships have helped employers and people of all ages and backgrounds. This event aims to provide information to future apprentices and link them to employers, giving them the insights they need to help them to make informed decisions about their future careers. See link to all events at: https://www.nationalapprenticeshipweek.co.uk/about-us/.  This event is useful to aid the thinking of some of our students as they start to consider and embark on their future careers. This event also serves to reminds us as employees, of the importance of our own careers and building and developing our skills and knowledge in our chosen professions. Apprenticeship week is a good time for us to reflect on our own learning and development goals and the opportunity that apprenticeships can bring to broaden and develop our own skills. Apprenticeships can be a really useful way to upskill, recruit and or retrain employees of any age, including older workers, and can provide a way of developing new staff and improving the continuous professional development of existing staff.  When choosing and applying for an apprenticeship programme you must be able to demonstrate how the apprenticeship will help you to develop new skills in your chosen occupation.     Apprenticeship Levy Since the introduction of the Levy in 2017, apprenticeships have enjoyed a higher profile than in recent years. There is still strong cross-Party support and a belief they can deliver productivity gains and reduce skills shortages and youth unemployment. The apprenticeship levy came into force on 6^th April 2017 and applies to all UK employers with an annual ‘pay bill’ of £3 million or more.  The Levy is set at 0.5% of an employers’ total wage bill. Each school in the Foundation contributes monthly to the Levy and this provides the funding for employees to attend apprenticeship programmes.   Apprenticeship Programmes Each apprenticeship programme is based on an apprenticeship standard.  A standard contains a list of the skills, knowledge, and behaviours an apprentice will need to have learned by the end of their apprenticeship. Standards are occupation-focused; they are based on the job role that someone is undertaking. At the end of an apprenticeship an end point assessment is undertaken by the apprentice to ensure that they meet the requirements of the programme and the qualification can be awarded. Apprenticeship Programmes are a minimum of 12 months and typically last between 12 and 24 months.  There are some programmes that have a longer duration.  In all cases the length of the apprenticeship programme will be confirmed at the start.   Current Apprenticeship Programmes  We have a number of apprenticeship programmes on offer and these include developing skills in the following areas:

Occupation	Apprenticeship Programmes & Levels of Qualification
Teaching	Teaching Assistant (Level 3) Mentoring & Coaching (Levels 4 & 5) NPQ Middle and Senior Leaders (Level 5) Future Leaders (level (Level 3) Education Management (Level 5) Operational Departmental Manager (Level 5)
Senior Leadership	Master’s Degree Programmes (Level 7)
Support Staff	Facilities Operative, Supervisor & Manager (Levels 2,3 &4) Cleaning (Level 2) Receptionist and Customer Service (Levels 2 &3) Business Administration (Levels 2 &3) Financial Management (Levels 2,3 & 4) Digital including Infrastructure Technician & Networking Engineer (Levels 3&4)

We use a range of training providers to deliver these programmes and these include Birmingham University, National College of Education, Best Practice Network, Train Together and Serco.   Apprenticeship Levels Each apprenticeship programme has a level of qualification associated with it; the levels are as follows: 

Level	Equivalent educational level
Intermediate	2	GCSE
Advanced	3	A level
Higher	4,5,6 and 7	Foundation degree and above
Degree	6 and 7	Bachelor’s or master’s degree

  New standards under development  A number of new apprenticeship standards are currently in development and some of these may be of potential interest to schools in the future. Although we do not have a date yet when these will be ready for use, they include:

1. SENCO – Level 7
2. Project Management
3. School Business Director
4. Cleaning Manager – Level 4
5. Cleaning Supervisor – Level 3
6. Laboratory Technician (used for Science Technicians)
7. Sporting Excellence Professional
8. Learning & Development consultant/business partner
9. Digital and Technology Solution Specialist

  How to apply The minimum duration of each apprenticeship is based on the apprentice working 30 hours a week or more, including any off-the-job training you undertake. However, this does not apply in every circumstance. For example, people with caring responsibilities or people with a disability may work reduced weekly hours. Where this is the case, the duration of the apprenticeship will be extended to take account of this. The time spent on off-the-job training should be at least 20% and should be included as part of working hours. The employer must allow time to complete the apprenticeship within the working hours.  There are many ways that the 20% off the job time can be applied and these include, job shadowing, observation, mentoring and completing other learning. If support is needed with English and maths, then additional support and training to cover this can usually be provided as part of the apprenticeship.   Next steps If you would like to know more about applying for one of our funded apprenticeship programmes, then please do speak to your Line Manager in the first instance.  For more information on the detail of the programmes or any further information on apprenticeships and the levy and how it all works, please contact Ali Bretherton, HR Project Lead in the HR Team in the Foundation Office via email: [email protected].