DLO wins Apprentice Manager’s Special Award

Photo of seven members of DLO staff posing in the Sheldonian Theatre with apprenticeship award

The award recognises all the work DLO staff have put into apprenticeships, not just to recruit, train and develop their own people but also to support apprenticeships across the wider University.

The DLO has taken on many apprentices over the years; at the moment, Joe Ryan and Bradley Lewis are Apprentice Maintenance Engineers in the Mechanical team while Sarah Fagan is a Plumber Apprentice. The DLO has also collaborated with other employers in the private sector to offer better training, with a handful of apprentices coming regularly to Oxford to train with Joe, Bradley and Sarah.

Maintenance Engineer Sam MacKinnon got a special mention for all the work he has done to create a new training area for the DLO apprentices in the basement of the Andrew Wiles building, with various plumbing and mechanical systems set up so they can practise their skills in a safe environment.

Clive Shepherd, the University's Apprentice Manager, also praised the DLO's work with students from Meadowbrook College, an Oxford school that specialises in educating young people who have been excluded from mainstream education, providing work experience placements that have helped provide life-changing experience of working in a professional and compassionate workplace to pupils there.

Other Estates Services people were also recognised at the event. Romi Barnett of the Communications team was a finalist in the 1st Year Apprentice Award, but did not win, and likewise Rob Markham, Deputy Head of Business Administration was shortlisted for Apprentice Manager of the Year.

Finally Jordan Morris, who last year finished her apprenticeship in the Print Studio within FM, gave a speech describing her experiences promoting the benefits of apprenticeships to young people all over the county. Jordan was named Apprenticeship Ambassador of the Year at the 2019 Oxfordshire Apprentice Awards in recognition of her commitment to this kind of outreach work.