Celebrity presenter Gaby Roslin was the guest of honour presenting prestigious awards to West Met Skills Apprentices at the recent West London Business 2020 black tie gala night.

The annual awards, which celebrate business excellence in the region, honoured winners from across the area including four of our Apprentices, who scooped one Winner and three Highly Commended awards.

West Met Skills - which provides Apprenticeships and Employer Services through the merged college group HCUC (Harrow College Uxbridge College) - was also a Category Sponsor, with Jo Withers, Executive Director Employer Skills & Partnerships, presenting Food and Drink Business of the Year award at the ceremony and dinner at Twickenham Stadium.

Winner of the Apprenticeship in the Sustainable and Responsible Business category was Matthew Jeffrey, a Level 3 Team Leading & Management Apprentice, based at Perivale Primary School and Uxbridge College.

Originally Assistant Caretaker at Perivale Primary, he joined the Apprentice Programme in Leadership and Management in June 2018 and was promoted to Site Manager in January 2019. Self-motivated with a very positive attitude to his work, he carries out his responsibilities to a very high standard, and shows lots of initiative.

Matthew is also a fantastic communicator and team player who knows how to motivate both colleagues and those he supervises. He has played a key part in enabling the school to achieve 100% health and safety compliance - and goes above and beyond the call of duty including helping with fundraising events or dressing up as the school mascot Perivale Pete!

WLB judges said: “Matthew’s progression and initiative throughout his Apprenticeship is really clear. He has shown he is able to work with a wide range of people, funders, contractors, governors and the senior leadership team, taking on the role of project leader when developing an underutilised area of the school playground.”

Highly Commended Apprentices in the Sustainable and Responsible Business category from West Met Skills were: Rebecca Mills - Level 3 Creative Media Apprentice - based at Surindera Studios and Harrow College Rebecca was a motivated self-starter at the Asian wedding photography and videography business from the beginning. Keen to learn, and already passionate about photography, she was soon ready to take things off her employer’s hands, setting up new systems to manage social media and learning all the necessary technical and creative skills. Her genuine interest and personal commitment to photography has now helped her to progress into university and she started her Degree in September 2019.

Jaycee Sibley - Level 3 Engineering Technician Machinist Apprentice - Constellium UK Ltd (University Tech Centre) and Uxbridge College.

Jaycee joined Constellium as an Apprentice after previously completing a Bachelor of Science degree and taking a change of direction to expand her opportunities. With a passion for cars, she entered the area of engineering, and right from the start showed complete commitment. She achieved competence in one of her technical areas - press driving - in much less time than usually expected, making a core contribution to the continued running of this area of the business. Her success has led to corporate approval being given for three more apprentices at Constellium UTC.

Sophie Claesen - Level 3 Mechanical Engineering - Technical Support Apprentice, based at Martin-Baker Aircraft Company Limited and Uxbridge College.

Sophie, who is completing a four-year Level 3 Mechanical Engineering Apprenticeship, has to manage anxiety issues on a day to day basis, but her work ethic and passion for engineering has ensured her ongoing success. Her depth of knowledge and understanding about her employer’s systems and equipment is exemplary, and she has even formulated a set of instructions which are now being used across the department, even by the more experienced and skilled engineers in the department.

Jo Withers, Executive Director Employer Skills & Partnerships at West Met Skills said: “This is a fantastic result for all our Apprentices and, of course, their wonderful employers who provide so much support to their learning and growth and make it possible for them to complete their qualifications. Congratulations to everyone involved and of course to West London Business for making these awards such a success too.”

Just six Apprentices were shortlisted for the WLB Business awards this year, four of which were those chosen for awards from West Met Skills.

West Met Skills was also recently honoured with a Key Apprenticeship Provider award from Ealing Council. Council Leader Julian Bell presented the award to Business Development Consultant Harry Dosanjh at Ealing Apprenticeship Network Team’s Apprenticeship Employer Event.

Apprenticeship training at HCUC was also in the spotlight when Uxbridge College’s MP Boris Johnson visited during Apprenticeship Week.

Pictured with Gaby Roslin (left) are West Met Skills Winner Matthew Jeffrey (right) and Highly Commended award winners Jaycee Sibley (third left), Sophie Claesen (fourth left) and Rebecca Mills. Also pictured is Highly Commended Apprentice Sologbia Tulu from Location Cars and The JGA Group.