The first SE Apprenticeship Challenge was held on Wednesday 11 March 2020 at the American Express Community Stadium, Brighton. 31 apprentices from 11 local authorities participated in this event from:
Basingstoke
Brighton & Hove
Medway
Mole Valley
Oxfordshire County Council
Portsmouth
Reigate and Banstead
Slough
Surrey County Council
Tunbridge Wells
West Sussex County Council
We are very grateful to the 6 mentors who joined us to support, advise and assess the apprentices from:
Brighton & Hove
Medway
West Sussex
Based on the highly successful South East Challenge, this programme involved the apprentices in evolving scenarios that gave them the chance to experience opportunities, risks and challenges faced in delivering local government services in a safe and supportive learning environment.
The exercises were developed to help build resilience to handle rapidly changing priorities, demands and timescales as well as forming new network from other organisations. Positive outcomes expected were focused on:
- Building partnerships with people and organisations in a range of settings
- Developing inter-personal skills working with colleagues
- Developing and practicing communication, presentation and media handling skills, including drafting press releases, social media management
- Practice and assess own success in organisational, team building and time management skills
The six teams worked on, and were assessed against, different areas including:
- Time Management
- Presentation Skills
- Negotiation Skills
- Decision Making
- Political Awareness
- Team Working
They undertook some self-assessment and at the end of each module completed a Training Log detailing what they felt they had done well, what they could have done better, something they had learned that could be further developed back in the workplace, what they could have improved on individually or in a team setting.
This was a full-on, but enjoyable, learning and development day and our apprentices fully embraced the spirit of the event to get the most from this unique opportunity.
Apprentices have been provided with their own assessment reports
The ‘Winner’ of the Challenge was Caitlin Murphy from Tunbridge Wells. Well done Caitlin!
‘Highly Commended’ certificates have been awarded to:
Charlotte Johnstone – Brighton & Hove
Faye Simmons – Portsmouth
Harry Williams – Medway
Jake Curtis – Reigate and Banstead
Huge thanks go to Breckland Training who provided this very exciting and challenging event for our apprentices at the SE Apprenticeship Challenge, and to the LGA for their generous sponsorship and support.