Celebrating our achievements: Igniting and shaping our future

Storytelling. Signposting. Celebrating. Insight. These are the 4 critical quadrants that have underpinned both the AAN strategy and its accomplishments over the last 12 months. 

Crucially, your Network now has an unprecedented reach thanks to your impressive efforts as Apprenticeship Ambassadors. Thank you for your work. 

Membership has grown from Truro to Newcastle; from Norwich to Blackburn. And we have seen new members recruited during the pandemic.

Combined, we now have over 800 employer members and Young Apprenticeship Ambassador Network members; working towards one goal through closer integration in all regions. One Network is our strength. 

Our regional presence is making a greater impact. We have also reinvigorated our national employers through a focus on working closer together. 

We have over 300 levy-payers as members. Our SME footprint covers 15 business sectors. 

We have representation from the biggest employer/provider – the Ministry of Defence – through to employers who use the Federation of Small Businesses as one way for their voice to be heard.

And vitally, our young ambassadors cover the full spectrum of large, medium and small-sized businesses. 
 
While the Network has changed, so has the world of apprenticeships.

There are new priorities for the apprenticeship programme that we believe Ambassadors can play a pivotal role in supporting through advocacy work.

These include making sure the entire apprenticeship experience is high- quality, amplifying our messages around the importance of completions, connecting more SMEs with apprenticeships, and encouraging progression on to higher level apprenticeships, and between apprenticeships and other technical education and skills offers.

And of course, the world that we live and work in has also changed dramatically.

Our 2021 conference will be held online on Thursday 11 February – yet it will continue to be interactive with opportunities to challenge and question our speakers, contribute in workshops and vote on key topics.

We will be joined by Gillian Keegan MP, Minister for Apprenticeships and Skills; as well as Mike Cherry OBE, National Chairman, Federation of Small Businesses.

We’ve also lined up some of our Young Ambassadors to speak about their lockdown experiences and lead 2 of the workshops.

There will also be time to share successes as we look to discuss together how to tackle future challenges and make the most of ambassadorial opportunities.

To register, and to see the agenda, please click here

It’s your conference. And we want to hear from you throughout the day. Because it’s your contribution and time that makes the Network so powerful. 

The conference will start at 10:30 and finish at 15:00.

I look forward to seeing you on February 11.

Kind regards,

Jason Holt CBE
Chair, Apprenticeship Ambassador Network.