Apprenticeship Industry News

New apprenticeship assessment centre opens

Gas, plumbing and electrical training specialist Steve Willis Training Centres in Burgess Hill has opened a ‘wonderful’ new apprenticeship assessment centre which will benefit young apprentices across Sussex, says The Crawly Observer.

The new centre will be used to deliver the vital End Point Assessments which every apprentice needs to pass to qualify as a gas engineer.

The purpose-built facility, which as created from scratch with generous support from industry partners including boiler maker Worcester Bosch, was officially opened at a recent launch event.

The ribbon was cut by City & Guilds executive director David Phillips.

He commented: “One of the stand out things about Steve Willis Training is your reputation for quality and to see you invest in End Point Assessments in this way is fantastic.”

Steve Willis has more than 17 years’ experience in gas, plumbing and electrical training.

The training centre at Sheddingdean Industrial Estate in Marchants Way saw its highest ever number of apprentices graduate last year. It also has a training centre in Portchester, near Portsmouth.

Mr Willis said investing in the future was important. He looked back on his own experiences as an apprentice.

“We had nothing like this in my day,” he said, adding: “It was all oily rags and dirty workshops. This wonderful new facility will benefit all our apprentices across Sussex and Hampshire, and it will be a pleasure to see them come in and mess it up – but not too much!”

In the future, Steve Willis hopes to extend its use of the facilities to apprentices studying elsewhere, helping to improve the standard of apprenticeship training and assessment across the South of England.