Damar Training Announces Annual Apprenticeship Award Winners

Damar Training Announces Annual Apprenticeship Award Winners

Now in their 13th year, Damar Training’s annual apprenticeship awards have a long history and, to coincide with National Apprenticeship Week, the winners of Damar’s 2018 awards have been announced.

Damar is one of the country’s leading providers of apprenticeships and, over the past year, has worked with over 2,000 apprentices at more than 500 employers nationwide. Winning an award has become harder as Damar has grown and so great credit goes to the 2018 winners, who are:

Employer of the YearPlexus Law

Newcomer Employer of the YearMichelmores LLP

Apprentice of the Year and Higher Apprentice of the Year – Georgia Buckley, Stockport Council

Intermediate Apprentice of the Year – Dan Horsfield, Tonetech Ltd

Advanced Apprentice of the Year– Molly Wilson, Ofsted

The Mark Aspinall Award (awarded to an apprentice who has overcome challenges) – Rebecca Roscoe, Bennett Williams Solicitors

Apprentice Supervisor of the Year –  Adam Rhodes, Bennett Verby Accountants.

Jonathan Bourne, Damar’s Managing Director commented: “The standard of this year’s nominations was exceptionally high. The winners and nominees tell inspirational stories of apprentices who are learning, progressing and taking on additional responsibility at work. Organisations are enriched by enthusiastic new talent and supervisors are finding that working with apprentices is helping them to develop new skills. Many congratulations to our winners and my thanks to all of our partner employers and Damar colleagues who have made such a difference to individuals and organisations over the past year.”

Councillor Dean Fitzpatrick, Stockport Council’s Cabinet Member for Education, said: “This is fantastic news and congratulations to Georgia on a much deserved award. Georgia has been an outstanding addition to the Council’s Growth team, showing great enthusiasm to learn new skills and supporting a number of important projects over the past year.”

Colette Stevens, Director of HR at Michelmores added: “We are delighted to have been awarded Newcomer Employer of the Year for our work with apprentices. We are always looking for new ways to develop skills across our organisation, and are incredibly proud of what our apprentices have achieved. This award is fantastic recognition of their skills and talents.”

Hilary Yeo, Operations Director, Plexus Law said: “Plexus Law are now in their sixth year of apprenticeships. Working with a Damar as our training provider our apprenticeship programme has gone from strength to strength with a diverse range of roles now on offer within a variety of fee earning and support teams. The commitment of our apprentices to their day job and their studies is great to see.”

Adam Rhodes of Bennett Verby, Damar’s supervisor of the year said: “I am delighted to have won the award for Apprentice Supervisor of the Year. It is a pleasure to support and encourage our apprentices, a job which is made much easier by their hard work and enthusiasm. I also thank the directors at Bennett Verby for their continuing commitment to apprenticeships.”

This article was submitted to be published by Damar Training as part of their advertising agreement with Today’s Conveyancer. The views expressed in this article are those of the submitter and not those of Today’s Conveyancer.

Damar Limited

damar-training Damar Training is a long-established specialist apprenticeship provider. Founded in 1980, Damar works with employers in the legal and justice sectors nationally. We currently have over 500 apprentices in these sectors and our team supports law firms with:

  • The planning and design of apprenticeship programmes, including support with the Apprenticeship Levy
  • Apprentice recruitment
  • Delivery of training and assessment
In relation to conveyancing, we worked with the Council of Licensed Conveyancers and the Scottish Qualifications Authority on the development and now delivery of the new conveyancing apprenticeship standards. We also offer the standalone CLC/SQA Diplomas in Conveyancing Law and Practice for students not wishing to follow that apprenticeship route. The Diplomas and the apprenticeships offer a flexible and good value route for anyone wanting to become a qualified conveyancing lawyer. For apprentices at smaller firms the Government contributes 90% of the costs. At larger employers, the full cost is met via the Apprenticeship Levy. Owned by lawyers and with a growing national legal delivery team, Damar has played a pivotal role in the creation and now delivery of specialist apprenticeships for the legal sector. We were part of the team that created the first legal apprenticeship – the higher apprenticeship in legal services – and we have played an active part in the development of the new apprenticeships standards for:
  • Paralegal
  • Solicitor
  • Conveyancing Technician
  • Licensed Conveyancer
We are inspected by Ofsted and have a direct contract with the government to draw down apprenticeship funding for employers. In relation to the solicitor apprenticeship, we partner with The University of Law. Uniquely amongst providers Damar is able to offer firms access to both legal apprenticeships and apprenticeships for support functions, including legal and general administration, team leading, management and customer service roles. Through partners, we also offer IT and other more specialist apprenticeships.  

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