North Kent College apprentices attended the inaugural Kent and Medway Apprentice Graduation Ceremony held at Rochester Cathedral on Friday 4th October. With over 200 apprentices and their families and friends and 120 VIP guests the graduation celebrated apprentices who successfully completed their qualification between 1st January 2018 and 31st August 2019.  North Kent College’s apprentices, Becky Szekely who worked with Runway apprenticeships in conjunction with North Kent College’s marketing team, and Luke Wood, Zius Boothby and Cameron Bonthron who worked with Axis were able to invite their family and their employer to share and experience the special occasion with them.  Kent Association of Training Organisations (KATO) organised and brought this event to life as they wanted to celebrate apprentices’ achievements in the same way a University Graduate is celebrated. Kelly Tolhurst MP was a special guest and speaker at the ceremony and she presented a certificate to the apprentices on stage and congratulated them for successfully achieving and meeting their goals. Joe Ibrahim, Managing Director of Projects at Axis, commented, "We are extremely proud of the training at college our apprentices have had, in days of where Further Education is always being criticised".  Becky Szekely, North Kent College’s Apprentice in Digital Marketing, said, “I never thought I would be able to graduate as I decided to take the apprenticeship route rather than progressing onto university. I am so grateful to KATO Network who hosted an apprenticeship graduation ceremony, as myself and many others finally got to have their graduation cap and gown moment. It is nice to see that people are starting to recognise apprentices hard work and I hope that this event continues to take place every year, so more people can celebrate on their academic achievements”. We are so proud of our apprentices and we are delighted that they were given the opportunity to have a full day of celebration for completing their apprenticeship!

In June 2019 Berkeley Modular Ltd started to move staff into its advanced manufacturing facility in Northfleet, Kent.  As innovators within the realms of digital construction and volumetric modular housing solutions, the new company started to look for an equally innovative solution towards the end of 2018, in how to attract exceptional talent and train them, through 10 new Design Apprenticeship positions.  Berkeley Modular Managing Director Graham Cleland, has taken a totally new approach to training the new apprentices through creating a working partnership between a combination of FE colleges and training providers to ensure the 10 apprentices receive precision training tailored to the exact requirements of the role they will be carrying out.  The 4-way partnership consists of Berkeley Modular Ltd, North Kent College, Dudley College of Technology and the Construction and Design Centre of Excellence (Cadcoe).  Berkeley Modular’s Jade McPhun and Michael Ellis, with Mark Andrews, North Kent College and Declan McDonnell, Cadcoe

As the largest provider of further education in Dartford, North Kent College believes in the potential of young people to achieve their career goals, especially with the help of small local business whose support is fundamental to these young people’s success. 

North Kent College catering students were invited to the Cave Hotel, Boughton-under-Blean, to gain a sneak peek into the fabulous new opening that everybody’s talking about.

Congratulations to North Kent College’s Digital Marketing Apprentice, Becky Szekely, 20 from Dartford, on winning “Apprentice of the Year” during National Apprenticeship week at The Runway Training Apprenticeship Awards 2019.  Becky was also a finalist for the Special Recognition Award.