KMF apprentice awards evening rewards individual effort

In addition to the 10 apprentices receiving their formal certificates of training, the company also incentivises its apprentices by holding year-long monitoring of punctuality for its individual and year group Attendance & Punctuality awards. These awards were presented this year by Sara Williams, chief executive of North Staffs Chamber of Commerce. The year group award went to Josh Wheatley, Joseph Ward, Jack Littleton and Matthew Hayes, who were all first-year apprentices. The individual award was presented to Hayden Williamson, who achieved an attendance record of 99.5%. The company also asks its team leaders to choose winners of the Team Leader Choice Award. This goes to the individual apprentices from each year group that have shown a mix of personal attributes such as: reliability; honesty; can-do attitude; team player; good time management; supportive to others and has good communication skills. This year's awards were presented by Mark Haig, external verifier, EAL Ltd to fourth-year apprentice Callan Evans; third-year apprentice Hayden Williamson; second-year apprentice Adam Ellis and first-year apprentice Joe Ward. The main prize, KMF's Apprentice of the Year, was taken by Joe Pemberton, who achieved peer group-leading results in his exams, with consistent marks in the 90% range, when the national average was closer to 60%. The award was presented to Joe by KMF director John Tilling. The evening also included a special mention for Matt Page, who completed his apprenticeship in 2012, but was recently part of Team UK at the final of World Skills in Leipzig, Germany, where he represented the UK in sheet metal technology, the first from the UK to do so for over 20 years. Managing director Gareth Higgins presented Matt with a memento of his achievement and also announced that two other KMF apprentices, Harley Brian and Ryan Murphy, will be put forward to compete for a place on Team UK, when World Skills heads to Brazil in 2015. "Matt's presence at World Skills 2013 was a reflection of the hard work and dedication that KMF and its apprentices put into their training, and it was a fantastic achievement on Matt's part. We are already planning for the next event and hope that Harley or Ryan can go on to represent Team GB in Brazil," said Mr Higgins.