Pilgrim Primary School has worked with Argyle Community Trust as their apprentice provider for several years, initially as a provider of Level 3 Sports Apprentices and Higher Level Teaching Assistant qualifications for support staff.
I was so impressed with the quality of the course and the service, 3 years ago I switched to Argyle Community Trust to be our provider for Level 3 Teaching assistant apprenticeships too. Since that time we have worked in partnership to train 5 Level 3 Teaching Assistants and we currently have 7 new Teaching Assistant apprentices at Pilgrim – that’s how much confidence we have in the quality of Argyle Community Trust apprentice programme!
As a Headteacher, I have partnered with several other apprentice providers in the past, none of whom can match the level of expertise, attention and general success of Argyle Community Trust. The team at Argyle support the recruitment process with advertising, shortlisting, interview processes, paperwork and liaising with successful candidates. The process is personal, professional and easy and has resulted in us supporting some fantastic Teaching Assistants.
All of our apprentices have passed their qualification with Distinctions with Argyle Community Trust, many of them exceeding their initial aspirations! The quality of training provided by the team at Argyle Community Trust has been fundamental in enabling learners form a diverse range of previous experiences to become expert TA’s. It is fair to say that Argyle Community Trust go the extra mile for their learners in so many ways and my experience has been of a team who:
- Have structured their course to really build towards success; quality training and timely feedback through visits to school to observe, meet and discuss next steps and through monitoring the ongoing coursework giving timely feedback.
- Provide tailored, individual learning pathways for apprentices if needed.
- Provide emotional support and genuine care for the wellbeing of their learners – not only do they have clear and accessible support systems in place as a standard, but also go above and beyond to adapt, support and encourage learners responding incredibly to their individual need. All staff really do want the learners to have the very best experience they can.
The quality of the course itself can be seen in both the distinction grades achieved by our apprentices and their glowing references for their apprenticeship experience. They all speak highly of the level of support they receive from tutors and the quality of the training received on days they attend Argyle for classroom based training. They note the bespoke support they have received, especially those that have required support for their physical and mental wellbeing. The fact that one of our sports apprentices has chosen to undertake another apprenticeship with Argyle is testament to the quality of this.
The Trust also goes out of their way to support the school when we engage in community based work to support some of our most disadvantaged families and pupils – this is a key marker of their core values and the importance they place on ‘giving back’ to our locality. It feels fantastic to be part of this!
Most importantly, I can honestly say that everyone one that I have encountered from Argyle Community Trust genuinely could not have been nicer. It is clear that they take pride in a very personal and bespoke service for schools, making sure that they understand school context, values and staffing needs. Communication is fantastic too – no query (and there have been many!) is ever ignored, always answered swiftly and more often than not, a more personable phone call or visit to school is offered. I have never had that level of service before and it has really made a difference.
But as they say, the proof is in the pudding; we have retained all 5 of our first group of apprentices once qualified onto permanent or temporary contracts this year – not that this is expected but they were too good to let go! A sports apprentice who trained with us a few years ago is now working with us in a much more specialist role within our Inclusion Team and our Sport Apprentice who qualified in December enrolled immediately with Argyle Community Trust to undertake a class-based Teaching Assistant apprenticeship in our school – he is doing so well already!
I want to thank the whole team at Argyle and if I had to sum up why I continue to recommend you whole heartedly to other Headteachers, it is simply:
1. Your professionalism is second to none
2. The absolute care you have for your learners and your partner schools
3. Your integrity – you do everything you can to make the experience of employing and training staff through apprenticeship routes a positive and successful one for all involved.
I think Pilgrim will keep you very busy over the years to come so please, please, please carry on doing what you are doing – you are a pleasure to be partnered with!
