Celebrating our ambitious apprentices


This week marks the 13th annual National Apprenticeship Week (NAW), a fantastic initiative that highlights the importance of apprenticeships for employers and young people in the UK.

The theme of this year’s NAW focuses on encouraging parents, teachers, employers and young people to “Look Beyond’, and celebrate the diversity and value that apprenticeships bring to employers, apprentices and communities across England.

Playdale is proud to share the journey and positive impact our apprentices have made in our company.

Why we have done it?

Apprenticeships combine practical on the job training with study. We saw the opportunity for apprentices to fill the skills gap that exists within our current workforce and acted on it.

In 2016 Jonathan, Owen and Scott joined our Playdale team on Fabrication & Welding apprenticeships. Since then they have successfully attained their technical certificate and NVQ Level 2 & Level 3 through Furness College.

Playdale currently has four apprentices based at our Fabrication facility in Ulverston, where they are working alongside experienced Playdale staff, gaining invaluable job-specific skills. They are studying towards NVQ qualifications in Fabrication which, once completed, they can immediately put to use for the benefit of themselves, Playdale Playgrounds and the economy as a whole.

Keenan, who is in the process of completing his Fabrication / Welding Apprenticeship told us “the opportunity to work and learn in a high performing SME has given me some of the best hands-on experience. It’s great to be part of a team and it was very rewarding to be recognised as Newcomer of the Year at our 2019 Playdale Pride awards”

The future of apprenticeships in Playdale

Apprenticeships are a fantastic way to start a career as they can open up permanent job opportunities in a range of industry sectors. Not only do they provide vital skills that employers seek when taking on new staff, but they also allow apprentices to earn whilst developing personal and professional skills.

Our HR Manager Lynne told us “we have seen such value in the introduction of an apprenticeship scheme as it helps develop talent to build the future of Playdale.

The success of our apprenticeships has allowed us to diversify the roles and we will be advertising positions for Business Administration and ICT apprenticeship roles soon.

Be sure to follow us on all our social media platforms to keep an eye out for new #TEAMPLAYDALE roles.


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