Update: Following government decision the YA programme came to a close at the end of Cohort 7, July 2012. Have you seen AutoStart? The new automotive based vocational training programme designed for learners in school who are aged 14-16.
After attending a college taster day in the summer and a further information event with his parents and school staff, Joe began his Young Apprenticeship programme at Leeds College of Technology in September 2004. Along with three of his fellow school colleagues and three students from a different high school in Leeds, Joe spends every Wednesday at college gaining the foundation knowledge he needs to achieve the City and Guilds Progression Award in Automotive Vehicle Service and Repair.
Towards the end of the first year of his Young Apprenticeship, Joe will be placed in a local motor dealership, where he will learn about how cars are sold and how garages look after their customers. In the second year of his programme, Joe is looking forward to spending at least as much time out in the workplace as he does in college.
On his placement he will be supported by Hargreaves Training Services, and will develop the skills required to achieve his qualification and his goal of progressing to an Apprenticeship at 16. Joe will be assigned a workplace mentor, and his normal duties will involve working alongside his mentor to carry out a range of motor-vehicle work, from basic servicing to changing oil and tyres.
As well as developing the skills required to achieve his qualification, Joe will be involved in a number of awareness raising activities over the course of the Young Apprenticeship programme. These will give him the information he needs to consider the higher-education opportunities available to him if he chooses to progress further still in his education and training.
Joe and his group have the benefit of a support worker who works alongside their tutors at college. The support worker offers Joe practical and personal support as well as playing a key role in the development of his Individual Learning Plan and communicating his progress on the Young Apprenticeship programme to his school.