Still at School? > Young Apprenticeship Programme

Young Apprenticeship Programme

By joining the YA programme you will have the opportunity to spend up to 2 days per week focusing on vocational skills relating to your chosen sector. This would include fifty days work experience through work placements, where you would work alongside skilled and experienced workers. For the rest of the time you attend school as normal following core National Curriculum subjects, including English, Maths, Science and ICT.

What will you get at the end?

As well as being assessed on your GCSE work at school, you’ll also work towards a vocational qualification, such as an NVQ, that will form part of your Young Apprenticeship programme. This will be at Level 2 which is the same as GCSE Grades A* – C.

What happens when you have finished?

Doing this course will keep your options open. Maybe you would like to continue on to an Apprenticeship or Advanced Apprenticeship, in which case your YA experience and qualifications could help you become fully qualified earlier.

If you don’t choose an Apprenticeship at 16, you can still follow other routes of learning, as you will have completed the requirements of the National Curriculum. Whichever route you choose, you can build on it still further by taking a degree.

The next steps

If you are interested in becoming a Young Apprentice you should talk to your school who will be able to advise you about how to get on to the programme. You could be asked to complete an application form, take an aptitude test and/or attend an interview.

Places on the programme are limited so competition is likely. You will need to demonstrate that you are an able, interested and well-motivated young person with records of good behaviour and school attendance.

If you are not successful at this stage do not give up. You can still apply for an Apprenticeship when you leave school at 16 if you want to.