City Gateway Apprentices - Working For Your Business

Apprenticeships

Working for your business

One of the best projects I have seen is the City Gateway youth inclusion project in Tower Hamlets. The project brings volunteers from some of the

biggest banks to help develop the skills and job-readiness of young people. We need to find ways to make sure such brilliant projects are more than one-off

success stories.

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DAVID LAMMY, MINISTER OF STATE FOR INNOVATION, UNIVERSITIES & SKILLS

Contents03 About City Gateway04 City Gateway Apprenticeship Placements05 What can an Apprentice do for me?06 City Gateway Apprenticeships07 What can I do for an Apprentice?08 Working in Partnership What Next?

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City Gateway was set up in 1999 by a group of City workers, keen to support the local community of Tower Hamlets, one of the most deprived London Boroughs. We look to

connect with local women and disadvantaged young people, and run programmes which engage them, professionally train them and provide them with the skills and opportunities they need to enter work.

We seek to provide individuals with the confidence, employability skills and all round development they need to reach their potential. In partnership with a wide range of firms and community organisations we have seen amazing changes in both groups and individuals and made a visible difference to local statistics.

We run professional youth training, a youth centre, a women’s project and a social enterprise hub - providing everything from community events and drop-in youth clubs through to apprenticeship schemes and the chance to develop their own business ideas. We engage with the real needs of individuals through a step by step progression chain and work against conflict and division.

City Gateway, in Tower Hamlets, takes young adults from local estates and trains them in the skills our economy will need in the future like web

design. These social enterprises have the local knowledge, the human touch, and sensitive understanding of the complex and interconnected problems of

educational failure and worklessness and I want to see more City Gateways come in, take this recession by the scruff of the neck and help get people into work.

DAVID CAMERON MP, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION

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Our Apprenticeships are courses for previously disengaged 16 to 24

year-olds, which help prepare them for

successful careers. We offer a combination

of on and off the job learning through a

framework nationally recognised by the

Learning and Skills Council (LSC).

Through their work placements the

apprentices gain on the job experience

whilst they continue to receive professional

training towards a Level 2 National Vocational

Qualification (NVQ) as well as a number

of other key skills qualifications.

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The apprenticeship scheme is without doubt the most

successful and worthwhile link we have developed with our local community and we are delighted

with the whole experience. The attitude of the individual involved has been first rate so

much so that he has become an integral member of the team. I would highly recommend other company’s to seriously consider

the scheme both from community spirited point of view and from a

commercial perspective.

IAN MAHONEY, REEBOK GYM

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They have allowed our staff to develop and improve their

communication skills, work with staff from different departments and give something back to the community

within which we work.

CHRIS NEWTON, BERRYMANS LACE MAWER

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People who do apprenticeships become ambitious. They’re ‘doers,’ the kind of people who will make things happen. These are the qualities I look for in people. Success is all about finding

people like this – people who will help any business to grow, especially in times like these. It’s important that employers take apprenticeships seriously. Apprentices make things happen and

can help a business to grow and thrive.

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• All our apprentices have undergone previous training with us and have skills

which can be applied from day one.

• Apprentices bring youth & enthusiasm into the work place and are open to learn-

ing new ideas.

• They can help expand your capacity or reduce the work load of your existing

staff team.

An LSC survey of 500 businesses who use apprentices found:

• 92% of Employers said Apprenticeships resulted in greater employee motivation

and job satisfaction

• 83% of employers rely on their appren-ticeship programme to provide the skilled

workers they need for the future

•80% find that Apprenticeships reduce staff turnover

• 76% find that Apprenticeships improve productivity

What can an apprentice do for me?

SIR ALAN SUGAR, APPRENTICE AMBASSADOR

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We provide free training and apprenticeships

to young people who have not succeeded in

traditional education but are looking for a

work-based approach to demonstrate their

skills and abilities. Our programme relies on a range of corporate supporters and local

businesses to provide work placements for the

trainees.

Many of the young people we work with have grown up with

a lack of positive role models, limited

aspirations and difficult home environments. We work to overcome these, and other obstacles, and to motivate and prepare

them for employment.

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My future career and change in life is all thanks to City Gateway - the whole team works to change the lives of young people for the better. They have inspired me

and hopefully, even when I have finished training, I will help them

impact other lives like mine.

JOSH, FORMER APPRENTICE

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“City Gateway has kick started my life. Before I came here nothing

was really happening for me. City gateway has motivated me and I now feel I’m able to motivate

others.

FAISAL, FORMER APPRENTICE

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IT & Business Admin (ITQ Course)Word (mail merge, tables, formatting)Excel (formulas, graphs/charts)PowerPoint (layout, transitions)Internet (e-mail, search)

Possible RolesAdministration/data entryReception rolesPrint/post roomPA/assistant

Customer Service CourseLevel II Customer Service Certificate Level II Customer Service NVQHealth and Safety Sales Training

Possible RolesAny customer facing roles-Reception/front deskRetail or salesCall centres

Sports CourseGym Instructing Level 2Industry Awareness Level 2Sports Leader Level 2FA Coaching Level 1

Possible RolesLeading fitness sessionsDelivering gym inductionsSports coaching sessionsOrganising events & competitionsAdministration & telephone work

• Apprenticeships are life changing opportunities for individuals, giving them

the knowledge & experience they need to make a start in life.

• Placement providers take on an apprentice for a minimum of 12 weeks,

working at least 16 hours a week.

• We provide training on a Wednesday but the work placement can be arranged

on any, or all, of the remaining days.

• You pay just a £20 daily expenses allowance (dictated by LSC regulations),

all of which goes directly to the apprentice.

• To avoid administrative complications we are able to directly employ the

apprentice and then invoice for the expenses paid out.

• After the 12 weeks there are options to extend the placement or to take on a new

individual from our rolling programme.

• We currently offer training in IT & Business Admin, customer service and

sport but are continually expanding our offering.

What can I do for an apprentice?

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For over ten years our team has strived to work in partnership both with other community organisations and with the

local business community. Having been founded purposefully to link the skills of professionals into local needs, corporate

support remains vital to our work.

Several of our projects have been directly funded by company giving and all of our work has benefited from pro

bono support through volunteering, consulting, business development and other donations. Many of our greatest success stories have only been made

possible by partnerships with the business community both in Canary

Wharf and the City.

Our experience has shown that companies which do get involved with

us get a range of business benefits back from the process including staff

training, team building and morale boosting – Beyond our apprenticeship

scheme there are a wide range of ways that individuals or groups from

companies can get involved.

Working in partnership

What’s Next

TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT CITY GATEWAY’S APPRENTICESHIP SCHEME, READ OUR FAQS OR FIND OTHER WAYS YOU COULD PARTNER WITH US, VISIT OUR

WEBSITE: WWW.CITYGATEWAY.ORG.UK/APPRENTICESHIPS

Speak to a member of our team, or apply to take on an apprentice contact:

Roxroy Dunkley ([email protected])

Jon Skaife ([email protected])

City GatewayMontefiore Centre,

Hanbury Street, London, E1 5HZ020 7247 2202

Davenant Centre179-181 Whitechapel Road,

London E1 1DN020 3056 4061

Limehouse Youth CentreLimehouse Causeway

Limehouse, London, E14 8BN020 7531 6199

City Gateway Ltd. Registered in England No. 3760619 Charity No. 1078360 08