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Mark Stewart was a finalist in the Outstanding Mentor Award in Northern Ireland’s Apprenticeship Awards, held at Belfast Harbour Commissioners Harbour Office. The Awards celebrate the positive impact apprentice’s make within the workplace by furthering business goals. Mark works within the formulation team at Norbrook and mentors students on Southern Regional College’s (SRC) Higher Level Apprenticeship (HLA) in Applied Industrial Science, a two year foundation degree programme.
With seventeen HLA routes on offer at SRC, hiring an apprentice is a productive and effective way to grow talent, plus develop a motivated, skilled, and qualified workforce. Mark has mentored up to 15 students on the degree programme. We caught up with Mark who explained what it is like to be nominated for an award and why you should consider doing an apprenticeship.
Tell us about yourself and your role in Norbrook?
I have been working in Norbrook for just over 8 years now and am currently in the formulations laboratory team. Here, we develop new products to drive business forward for Norbrook.
I previously studied at Dundalk Institute of Technology and Queens University, before taking up my role in Norbrook. The formulations team is a great team to be a part of. We continue to evolve as we learn what the business needs and face challenges head on by learning collaboratively. It is an exciting and enjoyable journey to be on.
I’m also a dad with two children, an 18 month old and a newborn so it’s pretty busy at present.
What inspires you?
I like to see apprentices succeeding. I have been involved in the interview process and have seen first-hand candidates’ nerves when they come into the interview. Successful candidates are initially shellshocked being surrounded by all these people wearing lab coats and it is a big learning curve for them. I like to flatten that curve and make it more manageable. For me, it’s seeing people’s success and continuing growth.
How does it feel to be nominated for the Outstanding Mentor award?
It is a great feeling! It is a great vote of confidence that I am doing the right thing by my employer, and to be recognised at national level it is very pleasing.
What was the process like as a finalist?
I was delighted to receive the news that I was a finalist. As part of the finalist process, there was an interview with the judging panel. It was good being able to share my experience of Norbrook and how I work with apprentices to develop their confidence and skills. In addition, a film production crew came to the workplace and recorded me at work. This was a surreal experience, very different to what I am used to but a great experience nonetheless.
If you could tell your younger self one thing, what would it be?
Do the apprenticeship – it is a fantastic opportunity as you learn and earn from day one, but also work hard and learn as much as you can from the people who have gone before you. Show an interest in what you are doing, be engaged, do the legwork and you will travel far!
For information on Higher Level Apprenticeship programmes and how it can benefit your business, see: issuu.com To speak with a member of the team, email hla@src.ac.uk or phone (028) 3025 9664 / (028) 3839 7778.
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Saint Colman's College in Newry celebrates its Bicentenary next month and to mark the occasion the college plans to host a series of events and activities during the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 Academic Years. The College opened its doors to students on Monday 12 May 1823 in William Street, Newry and since then many thousands of students have came through their doors and have made deep impressions on all walks of life throughout Ireland and indeed the world.
One of the first events to take place will see Archbishop Eamon Martin celebrate Mass for the College Community in Newry Cathedral on Wednesday 10 May 2023. Following Mass, the Archbishop will visit the College where he will bless a commemorative Entrance Sign and meet staff and students.
Two of the larger events taking place are the Bicentennial Gala Ball on 10 June 2023 and the Bicentennial Celebration of Football on 18 November 2023 both in the Canal Court Hotel. As well as these they plan to host Football Tournaments, Musical Productions, Charity events and trips and they also plan to produce a commemorative entrance sign.
The college are offering a range of sponsorship opportunities for businesses, families and individuals as part of their range of events. Check out more information at St Colman's Bicentennial
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Our Lady's Grammar School have won the Best Sporting School of the Year award at the inaugural Local Women Sport Magazine - Women's Sports Awards 2023. The competition was the first ever dedicated women in all-sports awards evening in the whole of Ireland and the UK and it took place in the Europa Hotel, Belfast on Friday last, April 14.
Speaking after the event Fiona McAlinden, Principal of Our Lady's said "We were delighted to be named as Local Women Sport 2023 Sporting School of the Year at an event in the Europa on Friday night.
"When announcing Our Lady's as winners, the judges referred to the school's success across a broad range of sports, including Camogie, Gaelic Football, Gymnastics and Netball.
"I would like to pay tribute to our outstanding PE teachers, as well as our coaches who invest so much of their time, energy and enthusiasm in training our students."
Sponsored by fuel provider Go, the awards are another ground breaker for Ireland’s first and only female sports publication, Local Women Sports Magazine, which has teamed up with Belfast Live as a media partner for the event.
The prestigious awards ceremony was hosted by UTV sports personality and hockey player Ruth Gorman who also joined the star-studded judging panel. Judges included former Northern Ireland women’s captain Gail Redmond MBE, who works at the Irish Football Association as women’s development manager; Ulster Rugby women and girl’s rugby development manager, Eliza Downey; Dr Katie Liston, former elite athlete and senior sports lecturer at The University of Ulster; BBC sports presenter Nicola McCarthy; Local Women Magazine digital editor Gemma Garrett; Zoe Watson from Belfast Live; Chair of the Sport NI Women in Sport Forum, Arlene Watters; Camog Catriona Channing and sales manager for GO, Laura Loughran.
Laura Loughran from GO said: “GO is proud to sponsor the Local Women Magazine Sports Awards. We nurture and admire innovation and we are delighted that, for the first time ever, women in sport will be honoured at an all-female sporting awards night. We certainly have world class female athletes in our country and the standard of entries were exceptionally high. We received hundreds of nominations, so I didn’t envy the judges their task.”
Belfast Live editor, Sheena McStravick said: “We are delighted to be on board with this fantastic event to shine a light on our incredible female athletes.
“So many women across the country are paving the way and inspiring future generations to go after and achieve their dreams in whatever sport they choose and we quite rightly should be celebrating that. It’s been an amazing year for women in sport and we are excited to see that continue and go from strength to strength in 2023.”
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Ben Blackledge, WorldSkills UK Interim Chief Executive, together with senior Department for the Economy officials, joined the leadership team and WorldSkills student competitors from Southern Regional College at Newry campus on Wednesday past 19 April to celebrate the College’s outstanding success at WorldSkills UK where the College topped the UK leader board.
Southern Regional College has consistently been within the UK’s top three ranking colleges in these UK wide competitions over the past number of years and had set itself a target of reaching the number one spot within the next five years. However, due to the hard work, diligence and dedication of staff and students at the College and the outstanding success of the College’s competitors at the most recent competition, the College made the top spot within one year, being crowned ‘Best in the UK’.
The WorldSkills competitions are a global initiative to develop workforce skills and raise technical skills. WorldSkills Interim Chief Executive, Ben Blackledge who was in attendance, was blown away by the College’s consistency in results. He commented:
“To be number one in the UK is amazing and is a huge achievement. And with the College’s success of top three over the past numbers of years, this demonstrates that it’s about being consistent, so this topping of the leader board is no fluke”.
Ben presented the College with a certificate recognising the College’s amazing achievement in becoming the best performing college at the WorldSkills UK National Finals.
WorldSkills UK is a member of the global WorldSkills consisting of 82 members around the globe. The organisation is passionate about utilising the global network to bring the “best and newest ideas” in training standards back to the UK.
On the night Ben paid tribute to the many partnerships within Northern Ireland, from the local government departments, all six further education colleges, to college curriculum leads, tutors and competitors who strive to ensure Northern Ireland remains globally competitive.
Joining officials on the night were 15 successful participants from the recent UK WorldSkills competitions. These young participants had the opportunity to hear how WorldSkills UK seeks to ensure forthcoming competitions such as the Euro Skills in Gdansk in Poland and 2024 WorldSkills international competition in Lyon, France should remain within their targets, as it’s an opportunity to learn from counterparts and provides the best opportunities in life. As Ben commented “there’s always room for improvement.”
At the event was local student Victoria Sloan (Health and Social Care) from Kilkeel. Victoria picked up the coveted gold medal and was accompanied on the night by her very proud dad Ronald Sloan.
Also at the event was Newry student Isaac Bingham who picked up a gold medal in Cabinet Making cheered on his employer John McDonaghy. Fellow student Jason McVerry (Automation) from Belleek achieved a well deserving bronze medal, with Castlewellan student Jamie Gibson being ‘Highly Commended’ in Automation, and Josh McBride from Kilkeel representing the College in Plastering.
Portaferry student, Conor Braniff who was a finalist in Wall and Floor Tiling category has built upon his success by recently being named the 2023 Apprentice of the Year at the Northern Ireland Apprenticeship Awards. Conor’s mum, Colette commented:
“I would definitely recommend SRC to prospective students. Conor has had a fantastic experience so far. SRC has allowed our son to experience wall and floor tiling at competition level. All SRC staff have been very accommodating given the distance Conor has to travel.”
Brian Doran, Principal & Chief Executive of Southern Regional College further commented:
“On behalf of everyone at SRC I want to salute our WorldSkills participants. You can be extremely proud of your achievements as we certainly are, and I hope that you have benefited from this invaluable experience and unique learning. This experience will stand to you throughout your career and beyond.
You have demonstrated that you're amongst the most talented trainees in the UK and I hope that you will use this experience to gain the confidence to move onto further success because nothing should stand in your way.”
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St Paul's High School Year 11 Politics in Action students had a very exciting day in Queen’s University Belfast yesterday, as part of the Agreement25 celebrations.
The three-day conference included a programme for schools throughout the province and was hosted by Queen's University Belfast in partnership with the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils, the Council on Competitiveness, Women in Business, Politics in Action, Commission for Victims and Survivors, the Lyric Theatre as well as Hillsborough Castle, where supporting events also took place.
The students got a chance to discuss their concerns around the cost of living crisis with key politicians.
In the afternoon, students attended two panel discussions. One was on women in leadership and heard from Monica McWilliams about her role in the Good Friday Agreement. Another panel, consisting of the youngest MLAs of the five main parties, spoke to the school's students and answered their questions.
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An announcement by the Education Authority yesterday that Kingsmills Primary School will close has been met with fear and disappointment by Slieve Gullion Councillor David Taylor. The school had 32 pupils in 2021/2022.
The Education Authority announced yesterday 25 April that "Kingsmills Primary School will discontinue with effect from 31 August 2023, or as soon as possible thereafter."
A consultation in 2022 saw 123 out of 127 respondents disagree with a proposal to close the school, with respondants saying things like "The quality of education statements in the consultation document does not reflect the quality of education at Kingsmills PS. Scores achieved by Kingsmills PS pupils are above the national average." and "The strong support Kingsmills PS gives to pupils with Special Educational Needs – many pupils have transferred to the school after struggling in larger schools and thrive at Kingsmills PS." and "The closure will have a detrimental impact on the rural community. It will impact on the controlled primary provision in the South Armagh area."
Ulster Unionist Councillor David Taylor expressed his bitter disappointment at the decision. Councillor Taylor said “I am bitterly disappointed at the announcement by the Department of Education that it will proceed with the closure of Kingsmills Primary School at the end of this academic year.
“The decision taken by the Department of Education can only be described as ill-conceived and will serve to rip the heart out of the local community. It is all the more frustrating that this decision has been taken by officials with no accountability who have shown no empathy or understanding of the unique circumstances and importance attached to retaining small rural schools such as Kingsmills. It is surely no coincidence that this decision has been taken at a time of political paralysis."
Cllr Taylor who serves on the Board of Governors added “I have been proud to serve as a member of the Board of Governors of Kingsmills Primary School in recent years and I am acutely aware of how much Kingsmills means to the staff, parents and pupils associated with the school. This is a severe blow to them all and my main focus of concern is with them in particular as the processes of redeploying staff and the transfer of children to alternative schools now proceeds.
“Kingsmills Primary School has been an integral part of the local area for many generations. The school has provided local children with an excellent standard of education throughout this time and has always been held in the highest regard by the community. To see the Department of Education proceed with the decision to close a school of this quality is hard to comprehend."
The Slieve Gullion Councillor believes that rural schools are seen as an easy target within the education sector as a means of making cost savings but that in reality their closure leads to little or no cost efficiencies.
Cll Taylor continued “There is also a significant issue regarding the subject of rural proofing – including considerations such as the impact which a school closure would have on the wider rural community in the area. This has obviously not been given any consideration by the Department of Education in respect of their decision pertaining to Kingsmills Primary School.
“Everyone associated with Kingsmills Primary School has fought so hard in recent months to save the school and the outcome announced will be devastating for all who contributed to the campaign.
“I genuinely fear about the impact this decision will have on the local minority Protestant community where the effect of this decision will be felt most. Unfortunately, the Department of Education does not appear to have reflected on this at all when proceeding with the closure of Kingsmills Primary School.”
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Surefreight Ltd is one of Newry's sucess stories. In business for over 34 years it is now a multi-million pound logistics company. The company focuses on cross channel distributions, road haulage, customs, groupage (goods shipped in containers with other shipments to save businesses money) and warehousing. Operating from the Head Office at Carnbane in Newry the business has bases across the UK mainly in the locations of Cardiff, Heysham and Bradford.
With multiple lorries and trailers on the road, the business has a real need for Heavy Goods Vehicles apprenticeships. Each lorry must be serviced every 6 weeks and trailers every 8 weeks. So, there is high demand for apprentices in the area, meaning plenty of job opportunities!
Amongst the cost-of-living crises the business has big plans for growth. Plans for 10% growth by helping people save money means this business is continuously on the lookout for new opportunities. The business is not afraid of a challenge either. Martin McGoldrick, Commercial Director at Surefreight Ltd counts one of the business’ greatest accomplishments was overcoming Brexit challenges and forming a customs team at the last minute.
Martin commented; “We originally had an external organisation arranged to manage our customs however this fell through in the December prior to Brexit so the whole team worked tirelessly to set up a department to ensure a smooth transition for our customers.”
With ambitious growth plans comes big responsibilities which the business is keen to be part of. Martin further commented; “Every business has a responsibility to bring on the next generation of workers. Without training up new generations, work will grind to a halt. With a large fleet requiring constant checks and servicing, we are presently seeking four new Heavy Goods Vehicle apprentices.”
Kevina Burns, a current Level 3 Heavy Vehicle Maintenance & Repair Principles apprentice at Southern Regional College’s Greenbank campus in Newry has always had an interest in lorries and is keen to be a lorry driver in the future. Kevina chose to undertake the Heavy Vehicle apprenticeship as “It’s important to know the basics in lorry repairs as there is no point sitting on the side of the road when you breakdown not knowing what to do.”
Skills learnt to date on the apprenticeship include braking systems, public service vehicles and engine rebuilds which is physically demanding. Kevina is an unexpected sight in the lorry yard, but a very welcome addition and an employee Surefreight is keen to retain. Business owner Vincent Waddell is keen to find more apprentices like Kevina as she has shown a real interest and commitment to the job. Surefreight is eager to recruit and retain more Heavy Goods Vehicle apprentices.
Kevina’s advice for anyone considering an HGV apprenticeship is: “Take it seriously and don’t mess around. The course is tough, but any new course is tough as you don’t know what you are getting into. You just need to put your head down, work hard and you will get through it. In the end, it comes down to how bad you want it.”
For information on Heavy Goods Vehicle apprenticeships and traineeships at Southern Regional College, visit: https://bit.ly
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Internationally renowned County Armagh bluegrass band Cup O’Joe recently played an intimate VIP gig at the Armagh campus’ incredible new facilities, entertaining the audience with a truly remarkable performance.
Siblings Tabitha, Benjamin and Reuben are former SRC students, with Tabitha and Reuben previously studying music at the College. The band’s fourth member is Tabitha’s husband David Benedict, who is also a world class musician.
When invited to play a gig, the band jumped at the chance to return to where it all began, admittedly in slightly different surroundings, being the state of art Armagh campus. The music studios in the College are amongst the largest and best equipped in the UK. With equipment any aspiring musician or sound producer would be eager to get their hands on.
The band have racked up multiple accomplishments, achieving recognition such as the BBC folk awards and International Bluegrass Music Association awards. The band have also appeared in multiple BBC television documentaries and TV series. The band are currently touring the USA and generously agreed to interrupt their tour to visit SRC.
During a professional workshop the band shared insights with current music students at SRC, sharing their global experience and industry understanding. Being a musician is more than just playing music, you need a sound business head to continuously promote the band, get gigs, manage a website and be on top of social media. To keep the momentum, Tabitha was keen to point out that aspiring musicians need to keep releasing new content, be creative and learn from the best educators in the industry.
Southern Regional College have launched the first Level 6 top-up degree in Creative Music and Audio Production.* Tabitha and Reuben enthused about their former lecturers, Paddy Craig and Matt Duke, as being the best of the best. Prospective students won’t be disappointed by the degree, as it will allow students to build up industry experience, contacts and bid for funding. All essential aspects to being a musician!
To make it in today’s industry the band explained you need “Personality, drive, energy and perseverance.” Something of which Cup O’Joe have in abundance.
To find out more about the degree, visit: https://bit.ly/41DntL
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Isaac Bingham, a former student of Southern Regional College has been selected to represent the UK at Europe’s largest skills event, Euroskills, in September this year.
Speaking after the announcement Bingham said “I am thrilled to represent Team UK at the EuroSkills competitions in Poland in September. This will be a life changing experience which will enable me to develop my skills and increase my knowledge. I would like to thank SRC for giving me the support to be successful in my chosen field”.
Isaac will travel to Gdańsk in Poland where he will compete with 600 other skilled young professionals, under the age of 25, from 32 member countries including Germany, Switzerland, and France. Over 100,000 spectators from across Europe are expected to attend.
To secure a place in Team UK, Isaac had to go through an exhaustive selection process, taking part in the prestigious WorldSkills UK National Competitions where he was awarded a gold medal in the Cabinet Making category. Isaac studied Level 3 Furniture and Cabinet Making at the Greenbank campus of Southern Regional College.
Brian Doran, Principal & CEO of Southern Regional College said “Southern Regional College are incredibly proud of Isaac for his success to date through the WorldSkills Competition series and on his selection to Team UK at Euroskills. Isaac has consistently demonstrated that he has the skills and commitment to compete against the very best at a global stage. His success is also a clear reflection of the tremendous support provided by his lecturers at Southern Regional College.
"I wish Isaac and Team UK every success and look forward to seeing Isaac claim another medal of excellence while representing Southern Regional College.”
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