Apprenticeship success at Kidderminster College

Both Toby Whitmore-Rees and Lauryn Neale have recently passed their IT Diploma at Kidderminster College whilst receiving work-based training with Inturi Technology Solutions, based locally in Bewdley. They are both now full time employed with Inturi and are excited to continue their journey in technology. The Apprenticeship provision encourages businesses to ‘build a better future’ by taking on an apprentice to encourage more work-place learning opportunities.
Currently, post Covid-19, the government also offer incentives of up to £4000 for businesses who take a student, to help support their learning. Kidderminster College are key to the success of the apprenticeships and their successful placements and learning options have gained recognition with students and businesses joining from Shropshire, Worcestershire and Herefordshire.
Melissa Yeomans, Apprenticeship Manager, at Kidderminster College says, “We work with a range of companies to support their workforce with work experience, traineeships and apprentices and can help employers recruit staff or train any staff they already have in place. We have a talent pool of applicants ready and waiting too!”
We have had great success with our Apprenticeship provision, and I would like to wish Toby and Lauryn every success with Inturi Technology Solutions. We take students from the age of 16+ who will enrol on standards which are designed by employers as they are tailored to be specific to industry sectors. We have courses on: IT, Digital marketing, Business Admin, Customer Service & Accounts, Hair Dressing, Childcare & Teaching assistant, plus construction and Automotive”.
Inturi Technology are based in Bewdley, and CEO Clare Kay was very keen to give local talent a chance. Both Toby and Lauren are being trained at consultant level, for which most companies only take Graduates.
Clare says, “With both Toby and Lauryn we could see great potential although both had decided they didn’t want to go to University. The training they had from Kidderminster College set them up well to get to grips with the concept of Dynamics 365 and the Microsoft platform, which is a cloud-based CRM and business platform. They are both now confident and client facing, taking responsibility for their own projects. Inturi Technology work predominately on Digital Transformation projects with SME’s to global enterprise, and both Toby and Lauryn have become cherished members of our team”.
Within their Apprenticeship Toby and Lauryn received, one day ‘off the job training’ formally called ‘day-release’ for studying at Kidderminster College, and four days’ work based. This represents a 37-hour week paid by the employer.
Both Toby and Lauryn say that they wanted to further academic qualifications as well as gain work-based experience. Lauryn added, “I wanted a more practical approach to learning to get work-based skills, which I don’t think some university courses cater for. At Inturi Technology I now have responsibility of working on all types of projects, and work within a team to achieve milestones. This pushes my strengths, and I am enjoying learning more about business processes, as I can see that I make a visible difference to the parts of a project I’m working on.”