Case Studies

W Lever & Sons 

ProCo have worked with W. Lever & Sons since 2007 supporting their apprenticeship programme. Manager Craig said “Apprentices didn’t appeal to me at first but since taking on our first apprentice we have had 4 or 5 since.” When asked would he recommend the Apprenticeship scheme to other business he went on to say “Yes and I already have recommended it to a few local business and we will be using Apprentices to support our ongoing training plans” 

W. Lever & Sons was established in 1989, at Albert Road, Farnworth. They are a familiy business, with 3 garages in the Bolton area and each garage is operated by one of the 3 Leaver brothers Glynne, Craig and Warren. They specialise in service and repair of Cars and Light Commercial vehicles 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pet Zone 

Pet Zone became involved with ProCo after a phone call from our Animal Care assessor Nina. John from Pet Zone stated “The animal care qualification is a must for people in the Pet Shop industry and when Nina stated that we could get it through Government Funding (When other companies where quoting £300/£400) it was an offer we couldn’t refuse.” 

John also employs his mother and father at the store and since being with ProCo all 3 have done their Animal Care Level 2, Key Skills in Math's & English and Karen Fish has gone on to do her Level 3. Pet Zone, who where runners up at the Wigan Business Awards for Employer Supporting Apprentices, nominated by ProCo, went on to say that he would recommend other companies to go down the same route to get their staff the qualifications they deserve. 

Pet Zone who are specialists in various pets including Birds, Fish, Small Animals, Reptiles and also many types of equipment and sundries can be found at 6 Jacksons Court, just off Wigan Bus Station.

 

 

 

 

MBDA

MBDA Systems are celebrating after winning the Employer of the Year Award at the Greater Manchester Learner Awards for 2007.

The awards ceremony, which took place at Manchester Town Hall, acknowledged MBDA’s commitment to developing their workforce through Apprenticeships.

As the Training Provider they work with, ProCo NW Ltd was also recognised and presented with a certificate.

MBDA regards the provision of Apprenticeships as a strategicimperative. Their engineering and commercial Apprenticeship programmes form part of a wider strategy to develop the next generation of employees, recognising the benefits of work based learning for an employer as well as
the Apprentice. MBDA have a structured training programme with some
Apprentices continuing onto degree level programmes.

Elaine Walsh of ProCo NW Ltd has worked with MBDA for 8 years and says “MBDA's commitment to young people is second to none and places on their Apprenticeship programme are much sought after”.
The Chamber congratulates both ProCo and MBDA on their excellent achievement.

 

James Kilmurray - Veterinary Nurse

 

James was working at a re-homing centre locally when he was offered the chance to complete his Animal Care Level 2 qualification by his employer and ProCo. James really enjoyed the course which was matched to his job role. After talking about career progression with his assessor, James decided he would like to train as a veterinary nurse. His assessor discussed the options available to James and what he would have to do.

 

The only problem was finding a job, as there is a very high demand for veterinary nurse training and a limited amount of jobs. As part of James animal care qualification, he had completed key skills and used his CV from the communication and IT assignments to apply of for jobs. We also kept James informed if we heard of any jobs through the veterinary practices we worked with. James was successful in an interview and offered a job as a student veterinary nurse in an approved training practice.

 

So far James has successfully completed his veterinary nursing level 2 including a portfolio and two written examinations. He is currently working towards finishing his Level 3 portfolio for his veterinary nursing level 3 and has successfully passed all his examinations. James has worked extremely hard to get to the place he is today and thoroughly enjoys his job and the work he does.