Collegiate reports surge in apprenticeships

WARRINGTON Collegiate has reported a 100% increase in applications for apprenticeships.
The figures are in line with the growing trend of youngsters choosing the employment route over traditional education, which has seen more than 1.4m applications for apprenticeships in the past 12 months nationwide.
Myrtle Northage, Director of Apprenticeships at Warrington Collegiate said: “This year we have seen over a 100% increase in 16-18 year olds applying for our vacancies.
“We’re really encouraged by the interest of young people in Apprenticeships and the level of applicants coming through; clearly many would previously have gone onto A Levels or university. With a growing demand from employers for high level technical skills it’s important that teenagers are looking towards an apprenticeship as a viable alternative.”
Social Media Apprentice, 19 year old Kirsty Clarke, from Dallam, is enthusiastic about the opportunities her course brings. She said: “After sixth form college, I felt that I wanted to be more connected with the real world and after taking a long hard look at the options available I chose the Social Media apprenticeship at Warrington Collegiate.
“Working and studying at the same time makes real sense to me. I love it; it’s challenging but really exciting to be involved in cutting edge technology. I’m gaining a lot of skills that many people just don’t have at the moment.”
Warrington Collegiate is planning to repeat the highly successful 100 apprenticeships in 100 days in the New Year following exceeding the target by 50% in 2013.
Myrtle added: “We are looking to expand our range of apprenticeships including some of the growth areas such as Logistics, Warehousing and Social Media as well as higher level apprenticeships.”