2023 is another successful year for Abingdon & Witney College as Oxfordshire Apprenticeship Award Winners announced

Another year, another OxLEP Oxfordshire Apprenticeship Awards night and another successful evening for Abingdon & Witney College, as 7 of our current and alumni apprentices enjoyed success.

Held at the spectacular Williams F1 Conference Centre, we were keen to see how our apprentices got on this year, and we were certainly in for a treat!

We were delighted to see Lucy Parsons, our Finance and Accounting Apprentice with Oxford University, pick up the ‘Rising Star Award’. This award was given to celebrate her dedication and the support she gives to her own personal development whilst also supporting and training other team members.

Megan Carter, People Director, Blenheim Palace, presenter of the award said

“She’s an ambassador already. She attends local careers fairs. She is a buddy to two people internally. She’s a real team player and [is] an exceptional apprentice ambassador for finance.”

Alongside Lucy we were delighted to see two former Abingdon & Witney College apprentices pick up awards. Tiffany Hickman took home the ‘Special Recognition award’, and Danielle Hoare won the ‘Shining Star Award’ at this year’s ceremony.

Together with the award winners, we also celebrated Kelly Huggard, HR Coordinator apprentice with Blenheim Palace. Kelly won the ‘Intermediate Apprenticeship Award’ in 2022 and this year was highly commended in the ‘Advanced Apprentice of the Year’ category.

Following an exciting year, Timmy Blake, our Palace Maintenance Assistant Apprentice with Blenheim Palace was also ‘highly commended’ in the ‘Intermediate Apprentice of the Year’ category. This award comes after winning several employee of the month awards and being interviewed on BBC’s Countryfile!

Nairne Barker, who now works within Abingdon & Witney College’s Business Development Team, was thrilled to be highly commended in the Shining Star category.

Grace Dawson, our Business Administrator apprentice and EPA coordinator with Explosive Learning Solutions, was also highly commended in the ‘Apprenticeship Ambassador Award’ category.

“I was thrilled to see so many of our current and previous apprentices doing well and gaining the recognition they deserve for all of the hard work that they put in each and every day.”

Edward Collett, Head of Business Development at Abingdon & Witney College

In addition to the individual awards, we were thrilled to see two employers that we work closely with receive recognition for the work they do with apprenticeships. Explosive Learning Solutions received a highly commended award in the ‘Inspiring the Future Employer of the Year’ category, and Oxfordshire County Council won ‘Apprenticeship Employer of the Year’ for 2023.

We would like to offer our thanks to OxLEP for organising such a fantastic event and our congratulations to all the apprentices and providers who were recognised at this year’s event. If you would like to find out more about becoming, or employing an apprentice, then click on the link below email us, at apprenticeships@abingdon-witney.ac.uk or call us on 01235 216 216.