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The UK could face a “catastrophic gap” in digital skills warned a recent report published by the Learning and Work Institute and WorldSkills UK. Despite the report’s findings – one being that nationally, young people studying IT subjects is declining – Gloucestershire College has again bucked the trend, with an increased demand for its IT, cyber and digital courses and apprenticeships. Student applications for September 2021 starts have significantly grown across the board, with applications for the College’s university level courses – computing and digital degrees, HNCs and HNDs increasing by a massive 143% year on year. Find out more here.

Exclusively for Gloucestershire’s SMEs, find out how your business can access up to £40,000 worth of grants through Scale Up 4 Growth at an online event, hosted by Gloucestershire College in partnership with UWE Bristol and NatWest on Wednesday 31 March at 2pm. Find out more here.

In July 2020, the government announced new incentive payments for employers to encourage the recruitment of new apprentices. Originally planned to end on 31 January 2021, the incentive payments have now been extended for a third time to September 2021. The amount each business will receive for every new apprentice hired is also being increased to £3,000 from April 2021. With the existing £1000 incentive for taking on a 16-18 apprentice, this now means businesses will receive up to £4000 per apprentice recruited.

Scale Up 4 Growth (S4G), a funding and support programme that brings together experts from Gloucestershire College, UWE Bristol and NatWest, will deliver grant funding and support to businesses in Gloucestershire. With £1m of grants available for SMEs, the scheme provides an incredible opportunity for Gloucestershire's businesses to grow. Read more here.

Gloucestershire College proudly partners with Trelleborg Sealing Solutions as their apprenticeship training provider. We caught up with Tony Collingwood, General Manager at Trelleborg Sealing Solutions Tewkesbury to find out why HR apprenticeships have formed an essential part of their business. Read more here.

Gloucestershire College is a proud champion of apprenticeships. To celebrate National Apprenticeship Week 2021, we are showcasing success stories from our amazing apprentices and employers. David Auker-Howlett, Apprentice Master at Bloor Homes shared with us how their apprenticeship programme works, and the continued success of their apprentices, even during a pandemic. Read more

HPR Services LTD has grown and developed since they started trading five years ago. The original business model had apprenticeships right at the core of their organisation and this still remains the case today. Through investing in their workforce, HPR has been able to successfully expand with a team of loyal and dedicated employees, many of which have completed apprenticeships to upskill and train. Read more here.

Through embedding a culture of continual professional development within your organisation, both your employees and your business will benefit. Find out more from Jon Wood, Operations Director at WestRock Tewkesbury, who explains why apprenticeships form a crucial part of their business. Find out more here.

We spoke to Morgan about what day to day life is like as a Level 3 Infrastructure Technician Apprentice with Gloucestershire College working at Integra Schools. If you're thinking about pursuing a career in IT, an apprenticeship is a great route to train and gain hands on experience. Find out more below.

Gloucestershire College proudly works with Tree Shop to train their new Digital Marketing Apprentice, Daniel. Tree Shop, based in the Forest of Dean, is a successful online business producing thousands of orders every year. Owners John and Walter Davis have great ambitions for the business and welcomed Daniel to their team in November 2020 with an exciting job role combining a love of the outdoors and nature with the technical skills of digital marketing. We caught up with Daniel to find out how his apprenticeship is going so far. Read more here.

As proud champions of apprenticeships in Gloucestershire, we love sharing the success stories of our apprentices here at the College. We caught up with Thomas Robertson, Engineer Apprentice at Traffic Group Signals to find out how what his job involves as a Test Engineer.

As proud champions of apprenticeships in Gloucestershire, we love sharing the success stories of our apprentices here at the College. We caught up with William Lowe, Engineering Apprentice at GE Aviation to find out why chose to do an apprenticeship and what his has experience has been of the course so far.