No one day is the same if you’re an apprentice with The Barnet Group and this week is no exception. From helping older residents improve their I.T skills to dealing with housing queries, our apprenticeships offer a whole range of opportunities.

Hikaru Yuki and Saira Qureshi, our apprentices from Human Resources and Customer Engagement, were able to sign up 50 potential new apprentices at an Employment fair held at the Green Man Community Centre last Friday.

They discussed the different departments that they could possibly go into and what the apprenticeship entails – Saira and Hikaru also met Mike Freer, MP for Finchley and Golders Green at the fair.

We also interviewed Nair Santos (pictured top), known as ‘Nina,’ the only Your Choice Barnet (YCB) apprentice who is based at the Flower Lane Day Service.

Flower Lane is a specialist service providing support to people within a wide range of the autism spectrum. It offers a diverse choice of activities both in the main centre and out in the community.

Nina says getting an apprenticeship with YCB has helped increase her confidence, gain a whole new set of skills and made her children proud.

Lynn Huddleston, manager at Flower Lane said that given the client base staff has to work with at the centre, she was very honest about the challenges that an apprentice would face.

“We wanted to work on her confidence first – so we started Nina working with service users who were a little easier to work with,” says manager Lynn.

Now it’s got to the point where when she’s not here, it’s like a jigsaw with a piece missing. We finally had to make her take some time off in half-term and when she came back I’ve never seen someone so enthusiastic to come back to work!”

Angolan-born Nina, who has lived in London since 1995, volunteered at a children’s centre in Grahame Park for two-and-a-half years until personal circumstances meant she needed to find paid employment.

“At the time when I needed to find a paid job, I remembered a leaflet about apprenticeships at Barnet Homes that had come and I ended up applying.

Having an apprenticeship has definitely changed things for me. I have become more confident, and have gained amazing experience working with people who have a disability. No day is the same here at Flower Lane. I would recommend apprenticeships to anyone – it’s not about the money, more about the opportunities you gain.”

“I go into work with a smile and I still manage to leave work with a big smile on my face, because it’s what I love doing. My relationship with my family has improved as well. It has been good for my kids to see me going to work everyday and I want to make my children proud.”

  • The Barnet Group offers a one year apprenticeship to successful candidates
  • We recruited 15 apprentices for the year 2014
  • We fund college day release once-week- so apprentices can study for a nationally recognised apprenticeship award
  • Last year we recruited ten apprentices, eight of whom are now working for Barnet Homes.