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Apprenticeship business set to go to top of class thanks to Growth Hub

Name: Lee Povah

Company: National Schools Training

When funding for Schools Sports Coordinators was reduced shortly before the 2012 London Olympics, Lee Povah, of Warrington-based National Schools Training spotted an opportunity.

Having run a successful pilot programme in the Wigan & Leigh area in 2011, he realised that his business was ideally positioned to place apprentices into schools in order to help support the sports timetable in a way that would incur minimum costs for the school, and make maximum impact on the career of the apprentice.

After preliminary meetings showed that schools were very receptive to the idea, a pilot scheme in four schools was launched.

The carefully-vetted apprentices support the school sporting timetable, for example, by helping to arrange and manage inter-school competitions or by helping to run after-school sports clubs.

As well as gaining valuable work experience, the young people placed into schools can also complete qualifications such as the Level 2 Certificate in Supporting Teaching and Learning in PE and School Sport, Level 3 Certificate in Supporting Teaching and Learning in PE and School Sport and the Level 2 Award in Multi-Skills Development.

The scheme proved a huge success, so much so that since 2012, National Schools Training has increased its number of employees from four to 85 and expanded its school-based apprenticeship offering to include Apprenticeships in Supporting Teaching and Learning (Teaching Assistants), Business Administration, Customer Service and IT support   . Interest in apprenticeships from both schools and learners has grown exponentially.  National Schools Training now has over 2000 apprentices working in schools across the UK, and with Skills minister Nick Boles recently hinting that schools will soon be mandated to employ apprentices, have launched the ‘One by 2020’ campaign, designed as a call to arms to encourage every school in England to employ an apprentice by the year 2020.

And as the business grows, so does the requirement for robust business infrastructure. In 2015, Lee turned to the Cheshire and Warrington Growth Hub when he realised that his Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system needed significant improvement.

He spoke to Paul Ward Operations Director, of the Growth Hub, and together, they are designing a CRM system that is fit for purpose. Lee explains:

“Because of the volume of staff, apprentices and schools we work with, our CRM was under considerable pressure. This might sound like a small issue, but our creaking system could result in valuable enquiries being lost and thus really slow the progress of our business.

Paul really understands how our business works, and has been instrumental in helping us to devise clever IT infrastructure that will support us as we continue to expand.

We’re also in talks about securing funding to research how employing apprentices in schools can help improve student attainment.

Our experiences with the Growth Hub have been so positive so far; we’re really looking forward to working with them in the future.”