“At the heart of everything we do, we consider the learner.”
I’ve been working for HTP since October 2002, when I joined on a fixed-term contract. This led to me becoming a full member of the team in 2003. I was born in Winchester and I lived there for most of my formative years. It’s where I met my husband.
I trained as a nursery nurse and I’ve always been attracted to supporting people to develop through learning and particularly helping those with special educational needs. I worked in a specialist school in Tunbridge Wells for a short spell as a teaching assistant before returning to Winchester.
I then went into Retail, a very different working environment but equally rewarding. I began working for WH Smith and then Safeway, in a number of roles including staff trainer, staff training manager and then personnel and training manager. The experience has enabled me to quality assure childcare and retail and deliver training in coaching, learning and development, personnel, HR and management.
My husband and I moved to Portsmouth for a few years before he was transferred to the Isle of Wight. At the time I was working for a mainland-based training provider which chose to cease trading. I had been the manager of the centre, but suddenly I found myself unemployed on the Isle of Wight, not knowing many people, with two small children.
As HTP had taken over a cohort of learners from the training provider I had worked for, Rachael and Malcolm interviewed me for a position, which is how I started working part-time for HTP. I knew that at HTP I was working for an organisation that was very forward-looking, innovative and interested in developing new approaches to training.
My specialism was retail, customer service and business administration, which were new areas of vocational learning at the time, so I was fortunate that I was able to work with the new cohort, then gain employment, which then gave me the opportunity to move reasonably quickly to a senior training consultant position.
I’ve undertaken a variety of roles at HTP and I’ve always maintained a caseload, which allows me the opportunity to see what’s happening currently, to understand the Apprenticeship approach and to support the team. My office is at the Old Grammar School Campus but I work across all three sites – in Portsmouth and at Riverbank, and I think that helps me enormously because I know everybody and I get to see the operations in each of the areas.
My role as Senior Quality Development Manager is about developing business, the End Point Assessments, and staff development. I’m very fortunate that I can be hands-on and support people.
At the heart of everything we do, we consider the learner. As time has moved on, that approach has continued to grow. Initially we worked with young people, but now we have people from 16 to their 60s, who have different challenges in their life. So as individuals we’ve had to grow to be able to support them.
I am now one of the Provider Representatives on the PAL EPAO Review Group which feeds into the continuous improvement activities for apprentices. I also sit on the HTP Governors Board as a staff governor and although I always felt I had a strategic view on the organisation, I now get to see things very differently. I’m also in training to act as HTP’s nominated Ofsted nominee.
Away from the office, I’m a huge fan of live music. It’s incredible. I go to the festival every year and recently saw Genesis and AC/DC. I’m a rocker!