March Apprentice of the Month
Sydney Hendy
We are happy to announce the winner of the LDN Apprentice of the Month is LDN Business Administrator Apprentice, Sydney Hendy @ The Careers and Enterprise Company.
Nominated by LDN Skills Coach Catherine, Sydney's nomination had so many elements to it which really demonstrated why she is a model apprentice and a worthy winner of this month's award. From her adaptability and flexibility to facing new challenges head-on, including being an assistant for the day to Baroness Nicky Morgan!
Check out Sydney's winning Apprentice of the Month nomination along with many other well-deserved nominations below.
Sydney’s Skills Coach:
I am nominating Sydney for ‘Apprentice of the Month’ because she has consistently demonstrated her dedication to learning and developing. She actively seeks out opportunities to expand her skills and knowledge. Her organised approach to tasks ensures efficiency and effectiveness in her work at CEC and in her apprenticeship assignments. One of Sydney's most notable attributes is her adaptability. In the face of challenges or changing circumstances, she remains composed and flexible, readily adjusting her strategies to achieve optimal outcomes. A perfect example of this is the recent event at the House of Lords. Sydney played an important role in supporting her manager in the planning and organising of the event and on the day, she was selected to be the ‘Go to assistant’ for the chair and host of the event Baroness Nicky Morgan. The event was a success and Sydney played a pivotal role in that.
Sydney is engaging and fosters a positive working environment both at CEC and in learning sessions with her fellow apprentices such as the In-Person Development Day which was held at the LDN offices in Stockwell.
Her commitment to delivering high-quality work is evident in every task she undertakes. Her attention to detail and proactive attitude contribute to and elevate the team's performance, making her a valued asset in any project.
In recognition of her outstanding qualities as an apprentice, including her eagerness to learn, organisational skills, adaptability, teamwork, leadership, engagement, and commitment to high-quality work, Sydney is undoubtedly deserving of the title "Apprentice of the Month."
Sydney’s Line Manager: (Paul Lewis, on behalf of Mariah Kalidas)
How have they improved/impacted the business and the team since they started their apprenticeship?
Sydney is an impressive, high performing member of my Strategy & Communications division – and well thought of overall within the CEC organisation. We’ve watched her grow from strength to strength in several ways. Sydney is a proactive, self-starter always looking to add value to the team’s needs, roll her sleeves up and get involved. She produces high quality work which means she delivers with little supervision at her level and can be relied upon to produce work unattended. A huge team player which means she injects enthusiasm and energy into the team. She is very much listened to and acted upon by colleagues, adds value because she’s efficient and she has ideas that are listened to.
What three words best describe them? (Please give an example/expand on each)
Inspiring – in the final preparation session for CE24 awards (see below) Syndey did the team talk to her seven strong team. She talked humbly about how she’d developed; how energised and motivated she felt to be part of a focused and committed team; and gave confidence that the awards event would be a success. It was an awe-inspiring speech.
Fun – Syndey has a winning style about her personality which lifts spirits and creates a very nice culture. There’s a real kindness about her which rubs off in the team.
Leadership - Sydney has real maturity on her young shoulders. I observe good judgement, a growing confidence and a determination about her that tells me she will be a strong future leader.
An example of an outstanding piece of work, project or task they have worked on.
Sydney’s role on CEC’s CE24 excellence awards. She played a pivotal part of what was a Board level priority and was effectively the deputy to Mariah (the programmer lead). Sydney delivered the event management and then on the day she was assigned the role of being Baroness Nicky Morgan’s go-to assistant, in her role as the chair and host for the event. That meant Sydney had to be at the forefront of the event, anticipating and reacting to Nicky’s needs and problems arising, advising speakers and managing time and sequencing. Entrusting her with this role was a reflection of how much faith we have in her ability and composure. Sydney performed the role with aplomb.
Our runner-up for this month is LDN Digital Learning Designer Apprentice, Austen! Austen was nominated by LDN Skills Coach, Frazer, with feedback provided by the team at Wellknown Learning.
Austen’s Skills Coach:
It’s not every day you have an apprentice advising their line manager on the improvement of a process at a company. Then for the company to take the innovation on board and overhaul the current process is a testament to Austen. After learning about quality assurance in digital learning design Austen saw an avenue for improvement. He took it upon himself to analyse the current process in place at well-known and decided that it could be improved. Austen handled this independently by researching, designing and developing a new quality assurance process. The process was immediately implemented as it would save the business time and money by ensuring that the digital learning outputs passed the QA.
Also, Austen has continuously pushed himself to work with a range of stakeholders and academics, managing digital design projects with glowing reports from the people he collaborated with. Managing stakeholders is a key skill set on the DLD programme and the fact this was new to Austen shows his enthusiasm and dedication to delivering an excellent service.
Austen’s line manager:
Austen has grown in confidence and self-belief and has been a huge help to the organisation, especially in setting up our QA department. He is thoughtful and helpful, always thinking about the learner and how we can improve their experience and willing to help out team members and offer calm and considerate advice and support.
Here’s what was said about the other fantastic nominees:
Olivia Hawkey @ Warner Bros:
Since Olivia joined the team over 11 months ago, she has increasingly added value to the team and to our relationship with our external partner. She brings a fresh perspective and ideas to help challenge existing thinking and takes the lead with brainstorming new solutions and ideas to pitch. Olivia has really helped propel our partnership by coming up with new methods to share information, such as her weekly creative share which has shown a measurable positive impact. Olivia has supported the entire team effortlessly since she joined, and no task is too much – she always completes things quickly, and competently and has developed a reputation for being thorough and producing quality work.
Rebecca Snoad @ BBC:
Rebecca has been an incredible and increasingly indispensable asset to Spark. Her growth and assured confidence belies someone who is essentially an apprentice. Nothing fazes her and every challenge thrown at her has been met and exceeded in her response.
She hasn't just impacted across Spark's digital marketing but also earned experience - and valuable success - across other parts of the business. Her design skills and writing skills have flourished. Rebecca has also been an asset to the BBC apprenticeship scheme offering her support to new apprentices and for additional experience and volunteering opportunities and outreach whenever possible.
Everything she does is rarely amended more than once, such is her capacity to take on feedback.
Beatrix Hall-Close @ Reset Connect:
Bea has been doing a fantastic job since joining Reset Connect in April 2023. Following our previous Head of Marketing going on maternity leave in July 2023 and our new Head of Marketing joining at the beginning of the year, Bea was the only marketer on the team. During this time she managed campaigns single handedly and was essential in running the marketing for networking events, workshops and preparing for the 2024 flagship event. She has taken on a lot of responsibility since joining the team so early in her career and is an important member of Reset Connect.
Grace Johnson @ Clancy:
Grace has undertaken incredible work in helping us to identify a baseline for our carbon data on our plant and fleet contract. Through the work she has undertaken she has directly contributed to enabling the business to understand our monthly carbon figures for our Scope 1 and 2 emissions, whilst also being able to present the cost savings of moving to lower carbon solutions back to the business, this has helped us push the adoption of lower carbon alternatives which has not only helped reduce costs but more importantly lowering our overall carbon emissions as an organisation.
Ayat Sheikh @ Forsters LLP:
Ayat is a delight to work alongside, a great team player and considerate colleague. A key aspect ofthe CSR team’s role is stakeholder communications and outreach with multiple teams and networks across the firm. This skill is what powers the team - making things happen and getting things done. Ayat’s ability to build relationships with colleagues and external partners means she plays a central role in delivering the firm’s CSR agenda.