Students achieve perfect pass rate

Telford College is celebrating another 100% pass rate for its latest intake of groundworks students.

The students came from a range of local businesses, including McPhillips, GCS Shropshire, RR Groundworks, and S Kinsey & Sons.

A new programme is due to start in late March, and the college is currently offering a recruitment service for an apprentice, or a business wanting to upskill members of their team. Financial support is also available for eligible candidates.

One of the students to have passed the latest programme at the college’s specialist groundworks training centre is 19-year-old Will Cartwright, from Newport, who works at RR Groundworks in Halesfield.

He said: “I’ve really enjoyed this programme. My tutors have been really good – I know that if I’ve ever had any questions, they’ve always been on the end of the phone for me. A lot of people have traditionally looked down on groundworks as a skill – they think it’s just about digging holes! But there’s so much more to it than that, and it really is an up-and-coming trade.”

The former Burton Borough school student said: “Following this Telford College course, I’m going to look to move on to higher qualifications and progress towards a leadership role. This is a career which is always going to be in demand – particularly in a place like Telford, where there is so much new development and road works going on.”

Telford College business development manager Chris Field said: “Will had previously been with us on a full-time electrical course so knew he wanted a hands-on career. He highlighted groundworks as something he would like to progress onto, and hasn’t looked back. 

“We are speaking to a lot of companies at the moment who say their order books are filling up, but the skills they need from employees are missing – this groundworks course is a perfect way for a business to future-proof their skills, develop their own staff and build a quality team over time.”

The Telford College groundworks qualification may also be eligible for financial support – it can receive £1,000 from the ESFA and an additional £7,250 through CITB grants for eligible candidates.

Chris said: “With incentive payments from CITB, member companies can claim up throughout the apprenticeship. If they are not currently members of CITB we can support them to register and be eligible for the incentives.”

Pictured: Will Cartwright, from Newport