College apprentices and staff come out on top at the University of Oxford Awards!

Celebrating the achievements of University apprentices and those who support them, staff and apprentices from Abingdon & Witney College shared the spotlight at the annual University of Oxford Apprenticeship Awards, with thirty nominations in total over seven categories!

Held at the University’s Museum of Natural History in the centre of Oxford, this event celebrates the achievements of exceptional apprentices, who have made a real difference to their workplace. Apprentices from across the University’s vast workforce can be nominated, along with their managers and tutors. For each category there was a highly commended and winner award, and 10 out of a possible 14 winners were current College staff or apprentices (including a couple of alumni), a very impressive result!

It was a great evening with many inspiring stories about how brilliantly our apprentices are progressing and how the apprenticeship programme is going at the University, including their aspirations to continue to grow and develop their programme in the future. The College has helped place and train in diverse areas, such as accounting, business, horticulture, and carpentry.

Edward Collett, the College's Commercial Director, who presented the Apprentice Manager Award, shared:

“We were delighted to see so many of our own apprentices and some of our own staff receive nominations and awards across so many of the categories!”

In the Training Coordinator/Mentor/Tutor category, six out of eight finalists were College staff, a proud moment to see so many college staff nominated, and a great example of how amazing we are at what we do and the huge impact we have on the organisations and apprentices we work with.

The full list of Abingdon & Witney College winners are:

Intermediate/Advanced Apprentice

• Kayleigh Jukes – Business Administrator apprentice (Winner) ⭐
• Tim Steadman – Architectural Joinery apprentice (Highly Commended)

Apprentice Manager Award

• Tamara Feltrin – Manager of Joe Foy, Accounting apprentice (Winner) ⭐

Ambassador Award

• Max Evans (Alumni and current Recruitment consultant apprentice) (Winner) ⭐
• Kayleigh Jukes - Business Administrator apprentice (Highly Commended)

Shining Star Award

• Ffion Fry – Business Administrator and HR apprentice (Winner) ⭐
• Rajeev Pal Thapar – Accounting apprentice (Highly Commended)

Special Recognition Award

• Kayleigh Jukes - Business Administrator apprentice (Winner) ⭐
• Kieran Thomas - (Alumni Accounting apprenticeship (Highly Commended)

Training Coordinator/Mentor/Tutor Award

• Bronwen Einon – English and Maths Lecturer (Winner) ⭐

Commenting on the win, Bronwen said, “I feel truly privileged to have won this award. As a team, we work hard to create the best possible experiences for our apprentices. It is such a pleasure seeing them grow in confidence throughout the course and achieve things they never thought possible.”

Congratulations to all of those nominated, highly commended, and winners in each category, and a huge thank you to the University of Oxford for continuing to support and celebrate their apprentices!

Abingdon & Witney College have been working formally in partnership with the University of Oxford since 2017 and are proud to be the headline sponsor of this event. The College has worked closely with the University to develop and promote apprenticeships, and continues to meet the evolving needs of the organisation by creating an attractive and supportive offer for managers and apprentices alike. Last academic year we enrolled sixty new apprentices with the University and we’re looking on track to exceed that total for the coming year.

Find out more about the different apprenticeships we offer here.