Arden Group celebrates National Apprenticeship Week

Posted on: Thursday, February 8th, 2024

The Arden Group is backing this year’s National Apprenticeship Week by defying stereotypes and showcasing that apprenticeships are for everyone.

This week is National Apprenticeship Week, which runs from February 5 – 11. The theme is ‘Skills for Life’ and it aims to celebrates the value, benefit and opportunity that apprenticeships can bring, for both individuals and businesses.

Here at Arden, we run a successful apprenticeship programme offering the opportunity for people of all ages to learn new skills.

Arden’s latest apprentices are Steve Thompson and Tony Lynch, but they’re not the stereotypical school leavers – between them they have already clocked up over 38 years’ service with Arden.

Arden is using the Apprenticeship Levy to upskill its workforce, and Steve and Tony are about to start a Level 5 Apprenticeship in Operations and Departmental Management.

The apprenticeship covers 25 key areas, including leading people, relationship building, communication, problem solving, project management, operational management and finance.

Steve is 36 and joined Arden 12 years ago as a CNC Machine Operator and recently took on a new role as our Product and Process Improvement Specialist.

He said: “I’m very much looking forward to learning about how a business is run in the background. I’ve worked on the production end for 12 and a half years, and you don’t generally hear about how things are done, you just see the results.

“Hopefully, it will help guide me in my new role too, as I get more involved with projects and working with multiple teams. Being an older apprentice hopefully means I’m a wiser one too! It’s great that they’re open to all ages, you’re never too old to learn some new tricks.”

Tony, aged 52, is our Production Manager for Dies and Engraving. He has worked at Arden for over 26 years, and it’s his second round at an apprenticeship after starting out in his career as an apprentice die-maker when he left school.

He said: “I have been in the industry since I left school and I first did an apprenticeship in die-making when I was 16-years-old. These days, apprenticeships are for everyone and I’m looking forward to the new challenge and learning new management skills.”

Sarah Poynter, our Operations Manager, added: “There is a misconception that apprenticeships are just for school leavers, but they actually provide a perfect opportunity for people in middle-management roles to progress their careers, and for organisations to upskill their leadership team and develop a stronger and more competent workforce from within.

“No matter your age, apprenticeships are a brilliant opportunity for everyone. For the employee you’re learning new skills and knowledge, and gaining the confidence to manage a team more successfully; and for the employer, like Arden, we’re gaining a stronger, more competent leadership team.”