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To celebrate National Apprenticeship week Janet Bristow, Deputy Principal at City College Peterborough, went ‘back to the floor’ at Cross Keys Homes (CKH) to see what it’s like to be a Neighbourhood Manager Apprentice.

For her ‘back to the floor’ day, Janet Bristow spent time with employees at Peterborough’s largest housing association, including working alongside CKH Neighbourhood Manager Apprentice, Kamila Mierzejewska, to see first-hand the positive impact apprenticeships have on individuals and companies.

Kamila joined CKH in 2018 and is now on a 21-month apprenticeship programme whilst studying a level 3 NVQ in housing and property management.

Kamila said: “It was lovely to welcome Janet and show her what I do on a daily basis. I chose to do an apprenticeship because the opportunity came up whilst I was already working at CKH so to me it was a natural progression to help further develop myself and my future career options. The apprenticeship route has definitely been the best choice for me and whilst I have only been doing this for four months, I am really enjoying it.”

Janet added: “Cross Keys Homes is a high-performing organisation for many reasons, not least because of the investment they make in training and supporting their staff. Apprenticeships add real value to this and Kamila is a perfect example of what an Apprenticeship can lead to in terms of career development.”

CKH is committed to giving young people a great start in their careers and has a proud heritage of offering apprenticeships across all areas of its business, including care, development and customer services. Nineteen apprentices have successfully completed the programme with CKH to date, with four remaining with the company in full time work. Last autumn, Kamila along with a further five new apprentices were recruited to join CKH.

Alongside this, CKH also offers pre-apprenticeships, which give young people who need a little extra support, six months paid work experience and support with job hunting skills, enabling them to progress into full apprenticeships, further training or work. CKH has employed 123 pre-apprentices since 2014, with over 80% of them going on into work, education or training on completion of their programme and ten of them remaining with CKH in permanent positions or full apprenticeships.

CKH Chief Executive, Claire Higgins, said: “Inspiring the next generation is key to our business, both in our community investment work and the make-up of our workforce and so it was great to welcome Janet to CKH during National Apprenticeship Week to see how Kamila is settling into her apprenticeship placement and the fantastic achievements she is making on a daily basis.”