Ayrshire College News | Page 3

RAISING ASPIRATIONS // INSPIRING ACHIEVEMENT // INCREASING OPPORTUNITIES shire’s workforce Painters and decorators of the future Seven students started apprenticeships in Painting and Decorating after completing fulltime courses at Ayrshire College. Now attending college on a nineteen week block release, the apprentices are developing their skills whilst employed by Irvine-based Neil Barr Decorating Services Ltd, D&D Decorators in Fenwick and South Ayrshire Council. One of the apprentices, Katie MacLachlan, said “I originally studied beauty but it wasn’t the right course for me, so I decided to try painting and decorating. I know I’ve made the right choice as I learned so many skills in my first year which led to this apprenticeship.” James Frew scores a hat trick Seventeen year old Justine Doyle from Kilwinning, nineteen year old Marc McDonald from Saltcoats and seventeen year old Ian Brown from Cumnock joined Stevenston building services company, James Frew on the company’s four year Plumbing and Heating apprenticeship programme. As well as on-the-job training, the Collaborating with Turnberry Resort Ayrshire College launched a new training model for the hospitality industry in collaboration with Turnberry, a Luxury Collection Resort. The first of its kind for the College, the new model enables nine trainees to undertake a Modern Apprenticeship in Hospitality at SVQ levels two and three entirely in the workplace as opposed to the traditional day release model. Working to meet the needs of the resort’s business, this allows their apprentices to be based solely at the resort, with regular workplace assessments carried out by the College. @AyrshireColl apprentices attend Ayrshire College two days a week to work towards their SVQ Level 3 qualification in plumbing. James Frew, launched over 100 years ago, has trained over 150 apprentices, most of whom receive full-time jobs at the end of their training. Award winning electrical apprentices! First and second year apprentices, Bobby Collingwood and Stephen Simpson, won both first and second stage SECTT (Scottish Electrical Charitable Training Trust) Electrical Apprentice of the Year awards. ayrshire-college This was the first time the College has won both stages at the same time, thanks to the dedication of both students and support from their employers, Girvan-based Alexander Noble and Sons Ltd and Mercury Engineering from Ayr. www.ayrshire.ac.uk