Our apprentices & apprenticeship programme keep raking in awards

The last couple of weeks have been truly exciting for our apprentice programme at Virgin Media, with the scheme being ranked within the top 100 in the UK and four of our apprentices being recognised at Institute of Telecommunications Professionals (ITP) awards.

The ITP awards:

The awards were presented at the annual dinner of ITP with representatives from across the industry attending. This year’s guest speaker was Maggie Philbin - media personality and former Tomorrow’s World presenter.

We were considered for the Apprentice of the Year awards which are judged on 4 main points:

• Personal development
• Contribution and dedication to their role/employer
• Additional activities above and beyond their daily role (ie charitable work / project work)
• Inspirational / aspirational qualities

Steve Dabbs won Intermediate Apprentice of the Year, with Laura Denton getting highly commended and for the first time we won the Advanced Apprentice of the Year with Ben Hughes, a Planner from Eagle court taking the honours! But it didn’t stop there…Lauren Rees, a data service apprentice, was highly commended in the Christopher Mills award for services to STEM and Tom Chapman a Headend apprentice was highly commended in the Higher Apprentice category. This is the first time we have had a finalist in each category and I’m so proud to have our apprentices winning 2 of the 4 awards!

It's great to see our apprentices being recognised with their peers within the industry for their contributions to the company and dedication to their roles. I couldn't be more proud of Steve and Ben and want to recognise our other finalists for their outstanding contributions, Laura Denton, Tom Chapman and Lauren Rees.

I’m not alone in believing our apprentice programme is great. Ben says "my time as an apprentice was a thrilling experience. It gave me the opportunity to fully understand all aspects of my job role whilst providing the support I needed to succeed." And Steve added that he “loved every minute of the programme. It's given me opportunities I could never have imagined, kick started my career and given me skills I can take with me throughout my life. It's taken me from Birmingham to the houses of parliament and back again and given me things I'd never have got at university. I feel part of a big family at VM and often recommend the scheme to friends, family and anyone who'll listen”.

A huge well done to all four apprentices and a big thank you for all their great work!

The Top 100 Apprenticeship Employer award:

This year we went one better than we have in previous years and were invited to the National Apprenticeship Awards in Birmingham. This was a great achievement for us, having only been invited to regional award ceremonies in previous years. This achievement also means we have been given a place on the Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers list, which is fantastic!

The City & Guilds Top 100 Apprenticeship Employer list features businesses that display the highest standards of excellence in employing apprentices. Being included is a true achievement because it recognises organisations that work hard to ensure their apprentices become successful and inspirational role models to other apprentices.

The list recognises excellence in businesses that employ apprentices and I am proud that Virgin Media is on such a prestigious list. Apprentices are hugely important to our organisation and we are delighted that everyone’s hard work and dedication has been recognised in this way!

Thanks,

Chris