It was National Apprenticeship Week last week and The Sixth Form’s students enjoyed exploring the world of apprenticeships with many external speakers coming in to tell the students more about the opportunities available to them.  

B6 Alumni Member and BBC Apprentice Shares her Journey

On the Wednesday, the Sixth Form was delighted to welcome former B6 student, Jennifer Wylie back to The Sixth Form to speak to the students about her experiences as an apprentice at the BBC and her journey to getting that role.

Jennifer, a former Elton High School student, left B6 in 2021 with fantastic A Levels in English Language, Film Studies and Spanish. She first applied for a BBC apprenticeship as she left B6 but was unsuccessful. As she was determined to follow this path, she found a 16-week traineeship with the BBC where she was able to gain work experience on the set of Waterloo Road.

Following her traineeship and a role in administration, Jennifer applied again for a BBC apprenticeship in production management and was over the moon to land her “dream job”. Jennifer’s been working on Blue Peter and absolutely loves the energy of the TV studio. She’s really enjoyed her varied role and has been doing everything from feeding the Blue Peter Garden fish to booking travel for guests including Geri Halliwell and Emma Willis.

Jennifer gave the students some wonderful advice for achieving their dreams. She advised the group to “always have a back-up plan” as their career paths “might not always be linear and they could face setbacks”. The students were advised to “always show [themselves] in the best way possible way” and to “network as much as possible remembering to always give back as well as taking support from others”.

The students were told about the key skills needed for apprenticeships at the BBC including:

• Organisation

• Dedication

• Problem Solving

• Teamworking

The group were also advised to really show their passion then they apply for apprenticeships and to take time over their applications revisiting them as many times as possible to ensure they really capture themselves in their best possible way.

Apprenticeship Academy Mock Assessment Centre

On Thursday, forty second-year students from the Sixth Form’s Apprenticeship Academy were put through their paces during a simulated Assessment Centre, where they had to complete 4 different tasks. Degree Apprenticeship Applications have several stages, and the Sixth Form’s students have already attended talks on searching and applying for vacancies, application clinics, and a session on interview techniques. For most Degree Apprenticeships, the final stage is an Assessment Centre where candidates are invited to the employer's offices for the day, to undertake a series of tasks where they are being assessed against a set of competencies. During the Sixth Form’s simulated Assessment Centre, students gained knowledge on the type of tasks they could be asked to complete, developed new soft skills and also received feedback on their individual performance. They welcomed Saffery, Fujitsu and First Response Finance for the day, who ran tasks alongside the B6 Careers Team. Students were put to the test by rotating around the room in groups to complete four tasks, with each student being assessed by the employers on different criteria, including:

• Leadership

• Problem solving

• Dealing with pressure

• Active listening

• Decision making

At the end of the event, employers scores were calculated and 8 students were chosen as winners, and had this been a real Assessment Centre, they would have got the job! 

Iian Haggerty, an Insurance Underwriter at First Response Finance was pleased to support the event saying:

“We visited B6 as part of our Early Careers strategy to give back to the local community. It was great to be able to support the students by giving them an insight into what they may expect to face when they apply for apprenticeships or employment in the near future."

Emily Dover, The Sixth Form’s Careers & Employability Advisor who runs the Apprenticeship Academy was delighted with how the day went saying:

"I want to say a huge thank you to the employers for giving up their time to attend the session, our students really enjoyed the tasks and have been able to take on board any feedback, which means they will feel more prepared and more confident going into their upcoming interviews and assessment centres. The employers were impressed with our students and how well they were working in their teams, some students even took the initiative to stay at the end to network with the current apprentices from Fujitsu, to ask for more tips on their applications for various apprenticeships”