Nationwide to Thatcham

Thatcham and Nationwide Crash Repair Centres have strengthened a long standing training partnership that will see 38 young vehicle technicians embarking on Paint, Panel and M.E.T. apprenticeships during the early part of 2009.

All 38 have been employed as productive apprentices at Nationwide sites across the UK and will now complete their apprenticeships at Thatcham’s Automotive Academy on a block release basis over 3 years - spending 2 weeks at a time at Thatcham, 4 times a year. The Technical Certificate and Key Skills that the technicians will gain at Thatcham will also be fully supported on site by workplace mentors and NVQ assessors, in association with the “Nationwide Academy” a development programme covering all areas of the Nationwide team.

Michael Wilmshurst, Chief Executive of Nationwide said “We formed our Academy six years ago and remain committed to the development of all of our team offering both technical and commercial apprenticeships, as well as national vocational qualifications, including management, customer service and administration. Apprenticeships are a key part of the programme and we look forward to helping these young people develop their skills and potential”.

The young technicians completed a 2 day induction at Thatcham this week, which is on top of the on-the-job learning and outward bound team building exercises that they have already been involved in.

Coordinating the programme from Nationwide’s perspective is Nationwide Academy Director, Yvonne Avison, who said, “With training provided by Thatcham and funded by the Learning and Skills Council, this structured apprentice programme will provide these young people with an excellent opportunity to succeed in the crash repair industry – the majority of Nationwide’s managers themselves began their careers on the shop floor and we fully expect this group to be the managers of the future.”

Given the obvious benefits of apprenticeships in providing young people with practical, vocational skills, it is now envisaged that at least another 100 young technicians will begin the same apprenticeship programme with Nationwide and Thatcham over the next year continuing the trend that has seen 130 apprentices join Nationwide over the last two years.

Ben Cardy, Head of Thatcham’s Automotive Academy, said “We have worked closely with Nationwide and their apprentices for a number of years now, so it’s an excellent indication of the quality of our programme that we now welcome these large groups. We look forward to helping these young learners make the best possible start to their careers as crash repair technicians.”