What will I do for my Apprenticeship?

Firstly, you will be earning while you learn in a real job – which can’t be a bad thing! Secondly, you will be on the first step of a great career.

Apprenticeships are available in a range of job areas that support your career development – it’s not just about a career in Care within Barchester.

The Apprenticeship programmes offer an opportunity to build and develop skills as well as being assessed on what you know – all this is accredited in a recognised qualification. This is all carried out at work with support from your colleagues in the workplace and the assessment team.

We offer apprenticeships in the following areas:

• Health and Social Care – e.g. caring for the people who live in our homes
• Business and Administration – e.g. working in the office and reception area
• Hospitality – Chef route – e.g. cooking for the people who live with us
• Hospitality – Hospitality Services route (multi-skilled) – e.g. working in the dining room and kitchen
• Customer Service – e.g. working on the reception

What is involved in an Apprenticeship?

The Apprenticeship routes we offer are made up of several elements:

1. Vocational Qualification – doing the job 2. Technical Certificate – knowledge about the job 3. Key Skills / Functional Skills – Maths and English 4. Employment Rights & Responsibilities (ERR) – helps you understand your rights and responsibilities as an employee 5. PLTS (Personal Learning and Thinking Skills) – skills you will develop

Vocational Qualification (VQ)

A VQ is a vocational qualification that reflects the skills and knowledge needed to do a job effectively, enabling you to have your work-based skills recognised. Based on national occupational standards, VQs describe what competent people in a particular occupation are expected to be able to do including:

• Current best practice
• The ability to adapt to future requirements
• The knowledge and understanding that underpin performance.

VQ courses and assessment not only give you new skills but also provide important opportunities to look at new and better ways of working. VQs are awarded when you are assessed at work doing your job over time, in a range of settings and to the national standards.

Technical Certificate

The Technical Certificates are designed to provide a rigorous underpinning knowledge of the subject area in which you already work. Each Apprenticeship award has a different Technical Certificate. It’s about ‘learning by doing’. For this reason, you may be required to complete a number of assignments to show what you know and can do in certain areas or you may be required to take short multi-choice online tests. To assist and support you to complete the required tasks you will have an assessor.

Key Skills

Key Skills are the skills we all need (and use) in everyday life whether it’s at work, in leisure or in our activities at home. They are key to any training that you will undertake, helping you to perform well in everyday tasks both within work situations and outside of work. Key Skills are based on nationally agreed standards and in the same way as the VQ are about a competent performance (doing a job well) over a period of time.

There are currently six Key Skills units at levels 1, 2, 3 and 4 but the majority of our frameworks only require Communication and Application of Number.

You will only need to do the relevant Key Skills at the levels linked to your programme.

In order to achieve your Key Skills, you will need to build up a portfolio of evidence and undertake a test. Don’t worry! You will be well prepared for any tests when the time comes to take them. You will not be expected to take the test without having practised your skills and feeling ready to do so.

Functional Skills

The Functional Skills (FS) are a recent qualification developed to replace Key Skills; however Key Skills remain in some apprenticeships at the moment. The Functional Skills available at present are maths, English and I.C.T. and all are available at levels one and two. Key Skills include a portfolio as well as a test; FS is test only and requires you to use your problem solving techniques and "personal learning and thinking skills".

FS can be taken more than once if necessary however a diagnostic assessment is taken before your first attempt, to find out which areas you need to practice. Practice tests are also available to build confidence before taking the live tests.

Who will support my Apprenticeship?

The colleagues you work with will support you on a daily basis and you will also be allocated an assessor. Your assessor will not only assess your programme but will also support and monitor your progress.

We think we are great…. so come and find out for yourself.
Give us a call……..it’s a great opportunity!

Barchester Business School

The Barchester Business School offers two routes into management; a vocational route beginning with a Certificate in Team Leading through to a Vocational Diploma level 7, the post graduate route offers courses from a Post Graduate Certificate in Management through to a Masters in Management.

For our clinical staff we also support external training, where appropriate, to make sure that as a Barchester Nurse you stay at the leading edge of clinical developments and being at the cutting edge of care means that we are frequently invited to become involved with exciting research projects.

Preceptorship & the Barchester Graduate Nurse Management Programme

Barchester offers a great career structure for all nurses including those who have recently qualified. There are several routes to becoming a highly qualified Barchester Nurse. You may wish to combine clinical development with our management and leadership development programme, it’s your choice.

Firstly we can offer you professional and clinical development in the form of a preceptorship programme. This will enable you to complete the first part of your professional development. All this starts with an extensive induction programme, comprising a full range of mandatory and legislative training and ongoing professional development.

Secondly, our management and leadership development programme offers NVQs through To Masters in Management. If you are a qualified nurse, or you’ve just recently graduated and you’re looking for a career with real leadership potential and learning support – the Barchester Graduate Nurse Management Programme can offer you a world of opportunities.

Barchester offers you professional and clinical development in a wide range of subjects including:

Acquired Brain Injury Dementia Care End of Life Care Learning Disability Mental Health

Music Therapy Sensory Stimulation Clinical Research Legislation/Ethics Clinical Governance

What’s involved in the Preceptorship programme?

As a successful applicant, you will commence your first nursing post, complete your preceptorship and work towards a nationally recognised management qualification. When you have completed this, you may apply for a promotion post. You will have the opportunity to complete a management qualification in each post, and possibly finish the programme with a Masters level qualification. All trainees will be working in accredited Barchester training homes.

Vocational Qualifications Academy

We have an Academy of Excellence which will harness your natural aptitude for personal development and develop your career, no matter which role you are undertaking while working with us.

This investment in our people is highly beneficial for the long term well-being of our residents and it makes for a happy home. The Barchester Chef's Academy is a perfect example of how much importance we place on training for our staff. From apprentice to master chef, the Barchester Chef Academy allows our catering staff to develop their knowledge of nutrition, special diets, presentation, cooking techniques and many other areas of culinary expertise.

Vocational programmes and e-learning are an integral part of on-going development for Barchester people. VQs including diplomas are available in a variety of subjects such as Administration, Catering, Health & Social Care and many more.