After several months in planning, the “Michael Ellis MP Apprenticeship Show” was held on Friday 22nd April at the Royal & Derngate Theatre, with great success.
I brought together several hundred Northampton teenagers aged between 14 and 18, from eleven Northampton secondary schools, to meet 35 local employers who provide apprenticeships in our area.
This was the largest apprenticeship event of its kind in the country – there were camera crews from BBC Look East and ITV Anglia News as well as the Chronicle and Echo newspaper and both Heart Radio and BBC Radio Northampton also covered the event.
Two Government Ministers visited the Show during the course of the day. Minister for Skills Nick Boles MP came to the event and spoke to the 14-16 year olds. Nicky Morgan MP, the Education Secretary, addressed the 16-18 year olds and went round the stalls visiting businesses including Barclaycard, Shoosmiths Solicitors, Church’s Shoes, Boots the chemists and many others.
The Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership supported the event.
Apprenticeships are a great option for so many young people, especially those for whom university or college is not their first choice. Apprentices earn money at the same time as they learn real, useful skills – the skills that businesses themselves want.
Many parents do not know about the high-level apprenticeships currently on offer today, in fields from law and finance to engineering and healthcare. Dozens of these apprenticeships offer really valuable training which prepares youngsters for the working world, and many of them lead directly into jobs.
Quite a few of these apprenticeships even offer the chance to get a university degree at the same time – so students don’t necessarily have to choose between the university route or the apprenticeship route.
I was very pleased to be able to get so many young people involved, learning about the options available to them. Businesses across Northamptonshire are eager to hire talented young individuals and give them the training they need to help the businesses develop, there have been more places available than people applying for them!
I have organized large scale events in Northampton since I became an MP, including big annual Jobs Fairs, and with employment at an all-time high across the nation I decided it was time to tackle the apprenticeship shortage and encourage young people to look at apprenticeships as an option.
Read about the event at the Northampton Chronicle and Echo website here.