The winners of the 2022 Annual Apprenticeship Conference (AAC) Awards have been revealed at a glitzy ceremony in Birmingham, with Weston College being named as the Engineering and Manufacturing Apprenticeship Provider of the Year.

The AAC Apprenticeship Awards are supported by FE Week and AELP (Association of Employment and Learning Providers) and it celebrates apprenticeships across the UK – this year it received a staggering 370 nominations for the awards.

Hi, my name is Joel Keen and I am a 3rd year engineering apprentice, focussing in Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machining.

Last year I entered the WorldSkills UK CNC Milling competition, which involves being given a drawing and a block of metal. The drawing is turned into a machine program which controls the machine to make an actual part out of metal. The part is then measured and judged by the experts to determine the winner.

As Weston College celebrated Women in Engineering day last week (23 June), Liz Griffiths, the College’s Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering, looks back on her decision to enter into the profession.

She said: “When I left school I was unsure about the career path that I wanted to pursue.

“I knew that my favourite subjects were maths and physics, so I wanted to find an occupation that related to those subjects.

Joe Martin, an Apprentice Sheet Metal Fabricator at GKN Aerospace, won the title of Engineering Apprentice of the Year at the Weston College Business Awards 2016.

Now in the sixth year, the awards recognise the exceptional achievements of employers and apprentices across a range of industries.

Joe was chosen as the engineering category winner by a panel of judges and was presented with his award on stage by keynote speaker, Sally Gunnell.

Weston College’s £2.5 million engineering centre has officially been opened at a ceremony attended by leading local and national businesses.

Weston College is to open officially its bespoke £2.5 million engineering training centre with a ceremony attended by leading local and national businesses.

The College has invested £1.5 million in machinery and equipment and £1 million in building works at its South West Skills Campus, which now offers a full engineering and manufacturing curriculum.