Bristol Academy sees record apprentice achievers in 40 year history

Sept. 9, 2011 - PRLog -- Established over forty years ago and still a not-for-profit independent training provider serving the retail motor and passenger transport industries, Bristol based S&B Automotive Academy continues to go from strength to strength, delivering its best ever performance for Apprenticeships this year.

In the 2010/11 academic year, S&B, which is at the top of the UK motor industry rankings for private training providers, doubled the number of successful Apprenticeships over the previous year with some 350 apprentices graduating from the Academy. At the same time, achievement levels reached an all-time high.

Figures released by the Government’s Skills Funding Agency show an overall success rate of 85% in the number of apprentices completing at S&B. This achievement is 9% higher than the national benchmark figure of 76% for the automotive sector, which in itself is one of the best performing industries for Apprenticeships in England. For those learners on the Advanced Apprenticeship three-year programme, success rates were even higher, at over 98%.

S&B has set its sights on further improvements to its attainment levels during 2011/12, following the opening of its brand new £1million training centre next month. It is anticipated that the re-development of its existing facilities will also enable the Academy to increase apprentice numbers by a further 20% in 2012.

The Academy has also become the first UK training provider in all sectors to successfully undertake the new Capability and Performance Assessment as part of the brand new Training Excellence recognition, which has replaced the Government’s previous Training Quality Standard.

Commenting on its record breaking performance and achievement of the new Training Excellence stamp of approval, Jon Winter, Chief Executive, S&B Automotive Academy, said:

“Against a challenging economic landscape, the Academy has yet again managed to improve and take its success rates to another level. We are delighted at the performance of our apprentices who have shown significant determination and skills in the formative stages of their careers. The partnerships we have with employers have also been extremely important in delivering such great results and this work has been fundamental in our achieving Training Excellence recognition. The future looks extremely encouraging for S&B.”

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