North Kent College alongside Berkely Group arranged guest speakers Louis Smith, Berkeley Graduated Apprentice, and Belinda Jones Assoc CIPD, People Assistant to visit our level one Carpentry and Joinery students at our Gravesend Campus to give them an insight on Berkeley apprenticeships and working in the construction industry.
Berkeley Group builds homes and neighbourhoods across London, Birmingham and the south of England. They are renowned for creating award-winning homes that exceed entry-level expectations and offer a wide variety of developments from family homes in the countryside to city apartments.
The session consisted of Louis explaining his background to the students, including his career progression route after leaving school, how he obtained his apprenticeship at Berkeley Homes, and what he has learnt and experienced so far. Louis started his journey with Berkeley Group as a trainee assistant before starting his role as a trainee construction site manager. This improved his knowledge and skill set, which he shared with the students.
Being an Apprentice himself Louis shared his positive experiences and benefits such as the potential job opportunities that follow the apprenticeships, building your knowledge and skills whilst earning an income, and gaining transferable skills in the workplace. He also shared what a typical day looks like at Berkely Homes.
The team shared the opportunities they have at Berkely Groups, and the students were made aware of the apprenticeships available. These ranged from level two to six including disciplines such as site management, digital design, technical design management, quantity surveying, business administrations, sales and marketing, finance and accounting.
The floor was then open to the students to ask any questions they had on the industry, apprenticeships, income, portfolios and much more. The session was very successful in informing the students of what awaits them after college and the links made with Berkely are very beneficial.
Berkely will be coming back to our Gravesend campus to shadow our Construction learners to view what learners are covering during college.
Dan Hopkins, Lecturer in Carpentry and Joinery, said “The talk from Louie and Berlinda from Berkeley group was very informative, and interesting they put the company and their roles across very well, and telling us what roles are on the sites and how they work, offering her email for contact about apprenticeships, in the future.”