The Young Apprentice Ambassador Network

The South West Young Apprenticeship Ambassadors 

'The Young Apprentice Ambassador Network (YAAN) is a community of inspiring, driven apprentices and former apprentices who have chosen to share their apprenticeship story with others.'

My YAAN experience so far...

Part of Ambassadors role is to connect with schools in their local area to share their own unique experiences, delivering talks, advice and events about apprenticeships to students in years 11-13. Once your application is accepted and you are officially a YAA (Young Apprenticeship Ambassador) and all ambassadors must attend a training workshop, I attended the session in Exeter with one of my fellow DCC apprentices. The session is designed to help develop and practice presentation skills so Ambassadors feel empowered to visit schools and present inspiring talks. The day was also a great way to meet some of the other Ambassadors from the South West!

YAAN Training in Exeter. 

During National Apprenticeship Week 2018 I attended the Exeter College Expo for the soft launch of YAAN along with other Young Ambassadors and Employer Ambassadors which included Jo Fellows (DCC HR Strategy Manager). 

Exeter College's Soft Launch of YAAN

As well as the soft launch I signed up to be part of 10K Talks at St Peter's Church of England Aided School in Exeter for NAW to speak to Year 11 students about Apprenticeships. I signed up to this event as this was the school I had attended and knowing that two other Devon County Council apprentices had also attended this school previously, I decided to invite Heidi and Rhiannon to join me in delivering the talk. Our delivery partner was Adrian Richfield from Education and Employers, Adrian delivered an overview of Apprenticeships and then introduced us to the students so we could speak about our experiences as an apprentice in the hopes to inspire the students. 

Heidi, Rhiannon and Amy YAAN 10K Talks at St Peters. 

In June I attended my first Cornwall, Devon and Somerset Apprenticeship Ambassador Network joint meeting with Young and Employer Ambassadors, this was held in Exeter at the Exeter Technology Centre. In the morning the Young Ambassadors met in one room while the employers met in another, us Young Ambassadors discussed the training session we had received to give feedback on how successful it was and if we had any suggestions of improvement for future training workshops. We then went on to discuss school activities, promoting the ambassador role, social media and finally National Apprenticeship Week 2018 which included the Graduation Ceremony and other events. We then met with the Employer Ambassadors for the last 45 minutes of the meeting. As an extra, I volunteered to be part of a working group Jo Fellow was involved in about widening the access to Apprenticeships, we met after the joint meeting to discuss the project. 

In September Jo Fellows and I attended the South West Apprenticeship Ambassador Network Conference at Taunton Rugby Club. The day consisted of key note speakers including Jason Holt the chair of the National Apprenticeship Ambassador Network and Jamala Osman, National Apprenticeship Service Champion as well as workshops for Young Ambassadors and Employer Ambassadors. Jo Fellows facilitated the social mobility workshop while I attended workshops on social media and presentation skills. To end the day we had a celebration video of the South Wests achievements in 2018. If you would like to find out more about the South West Apprenticeship Ambassador Network Conference please see our previous blog posts or click here. 

    

 SW Apprenticeship Ambassador Network Conference

Finally in November I attended my second Cornwall, Devon and Somerset Apprenticeship Ambassador Network joint meeting with Young and Employer Ambassadors in Plymouth as well as Exeter College's Bringing Clarity to the Future of Apprenticeships Conference at Sandy Park. At the conference I helped to run the Young Apprenticeship Ambassador Network stand along side my fellow Ambassadors, we were there to answer any questions attendees had and to network with employers during the breaks to encourage them to sign up themselves and their apprentices to YAAN. Otherwise, I was able to join in with the conference and listen to the guest speakers. Apprentice Ambassadors were all given a plague of appreciation for their work in helping to promote Apprenticeships. 

To find out more about YAAN and how to apply please visit: amazingapprenticeships

Amy Kyme

Apprenticeships Administrator

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