4:27 am, July 27, 2012
HONDA UK is celebrating its one thousandth apprentice to start its acclaimed apprenticeship programme in its 11-year history.
Andrew Chambers (17), who works for Yeomans Honda in Littlehampton, will start his training at the Honda Institute – Honda’s bespoke training facility near Slough – this summer.
It will take him three years to complete the Honda Apprentice Programme (Car), during which time he will be employed by Yeomans Honda and attend block training at the Institute.
To celebrate this milestone, Yeomans Honda hosted a special ceremony at which, Honda UK managing director, Dave Hodgetts, presented Chambers with a gift of a Blue Point mechanics starter tool kit.
‘I am thrilled to have the opportunity to be a Honda apprentice and can’t wait to get my hands dirty. I’m over the moon with the tool kit – I will certainly make good use of it in the years to come,’ said Chambers.
Honda UK’s Apprenticeship Programme was recently awarded an ‘outstanding’ grading from Ofsted and scored an impressive 91 per cent for its completion rates (14.4 per cent above the national average), and 90 per cent for its ‘timely success’ score* by the Skills Funding Agency SFA.
Dave Hodgetts, Honda UK’s managing director, said: ‘Over the past 11 years we have seen this programme consistently deliver the best-prepared apprentices of any industry in the UK.
‘To get to the 1000th apprenticeship start is a significant achievement, and with graduates from the Honda Apprentice Programme making up 25 per cent of Honda UK’s car and motorcycle technicians the programme is critical to our success in delivering the best customer experience.’
