A letter from Damar’s managing director, Jonathan Bourne, was published in the Manchester Evening News on 5th March 2011. A copy of the letter (which also features Kevin Webster and Tyrone Dobbs from Coronation Street!) is attached below.
Press Release - issued 2nd February 2011
Tie-up will broaden offer to employers in the North-West
Damar Training has announced a partnership with HHSC Training & Consultancy Services that will enable employers across the North-West to access the specialist Advanced Apprenticeship in Housing.
HHSC, based on Merseyside, works with a number of large housing associations, charities and public sector bodies across the UK, helping staff achieve NVQs in Housing.
Stockport-based Damar has been a specialist apprenticeship provider in the region for many years and also has strong presence as a provider to some of the North West’s leading public sector organisations.
The Advanced Apprenticeship in Housing is one of a number of professional apprenticeships that are likely to grow as increasing numbers of young people choose not to go to university but rather to gain professional qualifications via a vocational route.
Successful achievement of the qualification entitles the apprentice to practitioner membership of the Chartered Institute of Housing (Cert. CIH). As such, it represents a “licence to practice” for many key positions in the housing sector.
The partnership is one of the first announced in the North-West since the Skills Funding Agency introduced minimum contract values for providers, a measure designed to increase efficiency in the sector through reducing the number of training providers with direct access to public funding.
Jonathan Bourne, Damar’s Managing Director, said: “We are delighted to welcome HHSC as a specialist subcontractor for housing. It means that we can bring this valuable qualification to a far wider range of employers across the region as well as to staff who already work in the housing sector or are looking to do so.”
He added: “We are committed to developing our offer to employers through partnerships with other high quality training providers. This is particularly so with niche areas such as housing that fit well with our existing qualifications and offer excellent progression routes for apprentices.”
Mark Burke, Operations Manager of HHSC, said: “Working with a specialist apprenticeship provider like Damar is a great opportunity for us to expand our apprenticeship delivery, whist maintaining our independence and our existing relationships. This partnership broadens the range of qualifications we can offer to employers in our sector and gives them a “one stop shop” for vocational awards.”
For further media information please contact:
Joanne Mead or Emma Franklin at GREEN Communications.
Tel: 0845 4503210
Email joanne@greencomms.com or emma@greencomms.com
We were delighted to visit NHS Salford today to present Stephen Smith with Damar’s learner of the month award. Stephen, who works in the Child Welfare team, has just completed his advanced apprenticeship in business and administration. Stephen was nominated by his Damar assessor, Alison Minay, because of the exceptionally high quality of his work.
Our thanks go also to Stephen’s manager, Anne King, and to Sarah Atcha and Val Whitehead in the training team for supporting the apprenticeship programme at Salford NHS.
We were delighted to present Josh Finn with our learner of the month award earlier this week. Josh was placed by Damar as an apprentice at Exchange Chambers (www.exchangechambers.co.uk), one of the leading sets of barristers’ chambers in the North of England. Since he was placed, Josh has gone from strength to strength and has now achieved his advanced apprenticeship in business and administration.
Josh is pictured below with his Damar assessor Nicola Clayton. Our congratulations go to Josh and to the team at Exchange Chambers.
Stockport Council has announced the launch of up to 50 Apprenticeship Grants of £1,000 to employers who take on a 16, 17 or 18 year old Stockport resident.
Damar is fully behind this innovative scheme which plans to create 50 opportunities for local young people in no more than 50 days, starting on 7th February 2011.
We currently have a number of strong candidates who are looking for apprenticeship opportunities with Damar. They would welcome the opportunity to show your organisation how much they have to contribute.
Most of our apprentices in this age group between £100 and £200 per week. So, even if your organisation isn’t currently recruiting at more senior levels an apprentice is a very cost effective way of getting those entry level tasks done and freeing up staff time elsewhere.
To find out more, please contact a member of Damar’s recruitment team on 0161 480 8171 or email jonathan@damartraining.com.
Damar Assessor Jane Hardy (pictured below) successfully guessed the name of Pudsey’s brother (he’s called Hunter by the way) in our “name the bear” competition for Children in Need, which raised £66 in all. Many thanks to all those visitors to Damar and staff who chose a name and donated!
Set out below are the core vision and policy statement set out our equality and diversity policy. We value the comments and views of our learners, employers, staff and other stakeholders so if you have any comments, please let us know.
Vision
At Damar Training we are committed to promoting equality and diversity within all our activities and are determined to create a culture in which unlawful discrimination is not tolerated.
We believe that diversity within our team, our learners and our wider customer base are all essential to our success and strength as a provider.
Policy Statement
Every individual should be treated fairly, respectfully and with dignity and to this end we are determined to proactively tackle all forms of inequality. We will ensure that all staff, learners, visitors and other stakeholders have the right to:
Regardless of:
We have updated our policy on equality and diversity to reflect the changes resulting from the Equality Act 2010. If your organisation has not yet updated its policy it’s worth having a look at ours (click link below to download). There is some excellent guidance on the new legislation at the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s website at www.equalityhumanrights.com.
Equality and Diversity Policy.pdf
On Friday 19th November, Damar assessor Lyn Henderson braved the icy waters of the Blue Planet Aquarium to go swimming with sharks! The swim was in aid of charity (and Damar customer) Kidscan. Kidscan (www.kidscan.org.uk) who are based in Salford, carry out groundbreaking research into childhood cancers.
The photo shows Lyn in the water….. that shape behind her head is a shark!
Well done to Lyn and thank you to all those who sponsored her.
… at http://www.bernadettedelaney.com/gallery/private_gallery.php. Please call us on 0161 480 8171 for the password.