Bournemouth & Poole College apprentice George Smith has excelled in the national APSE Apprenticeship awards. He was nominated for the Mechanical and Electrical Apprentice of the Year award by his employer Bournemouth Borough Council, and was awarded the accolade at a special ceremony in Leeds.
George decided to pursue and Electrical Apprenticeship after studying a construction based course at school. He knew he didn’t want to stay on to do A Levels so thought he’d explore work based learning instead. He chose to do his apprenticeship at Bournemouth Borough Council as he’d done work experience with them at school and was familiar with the company.
George has achieved a lot during his apprenticeship, he said;
‘My confidence has really grown and I feel able to undertake a wide range of tasks with little direction. My days are never the same. I could be working on a large-scale construction site for months at a time or visiting someone’s home. I could be changing light bulbs one day or installing dado trunking and consumer units the next. It’s great, I really enjoy it.’
Bournemouth Borough Council has worked with The Bournemouth & Poole College for a number of years and has long been an advocate of Apprenticeships. Each year they take on a variety of apprentices from Business Administration through to Carpentry. Apprenticeships ensure that they get the best workforce for the future and enables them to plan for employee progression.
Alan Harley, Electrical Technician at Bournemouth Borough Council said;
‘George has worked alongside myself as an Apprentice Electrician for nearly 2 Years now. He has been an excellent apprentice to have from the start. He has been a real pleasure to work with and has taken to being part of our team brilliantly. It is a pleasure to have him working with us and he is a great asset to the team.
George’s future is looking bright and his apprenticeship has inspired his future career plans. George said;
‘Now that I have progressed into my apprenticeship I have been able to envisage a plan which I wish to follow. I have always had in my head that in years to come I would like to be in a supervisory role, giving advice and passing on knowledge to new apprentices, as well as overseeing large projects and providing a professional service to our clients. That is my long term goal and I know it can be achieved with the guidance I have.’
