City of Bristol College apprentice, Maddi Forster, has been highly commended after winning the accolade of ‘Best Teaching Assistant Apprentice of The Year 2023’.
Maddi secured the award after a stellar nomination from her apprenticeship assessor, Lucy Clarke.
We caught up with Maddi to learn more about her experience of her apprenticeship and why she opted to go down that particular route.
Maddi commented: “I’ve been working since I was 15 years old. I’m a practical person and one of my jobs involved working as a postie. But my mum has worked as a Higher Learning Teaching Assistant (HLTA) in a Reception class. Since I was 14 years old, I’ve been going into school to help her.”
Talking of her current job role, Maddi said: “I love my job and my role, and it doesn’t feel like hard work as I have been doing this for ages. I just need to provide evidence about what I’m doing while stretching myself.”
Reflecting on her next steps, Maddi added: “In the short term, I need to book my End Point Assessment. In the longer term, I need to work out if I can stay where I am.
“The next step would be a HLTA in my current school but it depends if they can afford to hire me. I would like to consider doing a teaching apprenticeship as learning on the job would be easier than getting a degree.
“For people like myself, I had no intention of going back to formal academic studies so this [an apprenticeship] is a perfect way to learn through experience.”
To discover the apprenticeships supported by City of Bristol College, simply click here. You can also email the apprenticeships team directly at apprentice@cityofbristol.ac.uk.
