January Apprentice of the Month - Hayley Heinze
We are happy to announce the winner of the LDN Apprentice of the Month is Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Apprentice, Hayley Heinze @ Hampshire Country Council.
Nominated by LDN Skills Coach Geeta, Hayley is not only making fantastic progress with her apprenticeship, but she is also transferring her skills to make a positive impact on her local community.
Check out Hayley’s winning Apprentice of the Month nomination along with our other fantastic nominations below!
Hayley’s Skills Coach:
Hayley has an extremely busy role at Hampshire County Council and demonstrated enthusiasm and passion for CR&S since the start. Hayley has seized every opportunity at work and on the apprenticeship to make an impact on sustainability, particularly in food insecurity and food waste.
Hayley delivered an excellent presentation in a Live Session to over 40 other CR&S Apprentices about food waste and this was eye-opening. It was impactful and made others think deeply about what more they could do to prevent food wastage, to think more about the amount purchased and to carefully consider what we truly need. Apprentices also felt inspired to donate to local food banks and this presentation helped to raise awareness amongst apprentices in other organisations about local food partnership opportunities.
Hayley’s evidence is fantastic, she is always on track with her apprenticeship, despite how busy her role can be. Hayley brings a wealth of knowledge to the CR&S cohort and is always willing to share her ideas to support her peers.
Hayley is making a key difference in her local community.
Hayley’s Line Manager:
How have they improved/impacted the business and the team since they started their apprenticeship?
Since starting the apprenticeship, Hayley has brought a number of initiatives to completion, seeking creative solutions to shared partnership issues. She has considered how tools and techniques from her learning can be applied in order to make sense of complex areas of work, and to gain buy-in to plans.
What three words best describe them? (Please give an example/expand on each)
Resourceful – explores options with partners to achieve solutions
Enthusiastic – strongly believes in the outcomes we are striving to achieve
Organised – knows what needs to be done to achieve project goals and the steps to get there.
An example of an outstanding piece of work, project or task they have worked on.
In her role as Food Insecurity Partnerships Officer Hayley became involved in, and was quickly asked to chair, a local food partnership that was being established. She steered the partnership to successfully apply for membership of the Sustainable Food Places* network, supporting efforts to make local, healthy and sustainable food available to all. This is an inspirational example of how communities, businesses and the Council can work together to make affordable good food a defining characteristic of Andover, in Hampshire.
*Sustainable Food Places is a network of cross-sector partnerships in towns, cities, boroughs and counties that are using food as a vehicle to drive positive change. With support from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and The National Lottery Community Fund, the Network helps people and places to share challenges, explore practical solutions and develop best practices in all aspects of healthy and
sustainable food. Andover joins a network of over 90 members across the UK.
Our runner-up for this month is LDN Publishing Apprentice, Olivia! Olivia was nominated by LDN Skills Coach, Vanessa, with feedback provided by the team at DK.
Olivia’s Skills Coach:
Olivia has grown and grown since starting her apprenticeship. She has embraced every opportunity to learn and participate. If she is given a suggestion to learn more about something, she will seize the chance with both hands and take it to the next level - most recently she took the chance to participate in a publishing new ideas meeting. Not only did she contribute a new idea, but she researched the competition and suitable authors, and the idea has now progressed to the next stage. It is very possible in the near future there will be a book on your shelves commissioned by our very own Olivia. She is a great asset in live sessions and is always enthusiastic, in a great mood even when she might have reason not to be, open to contributing, presenting speaking up and sharing her thoughts and ideas. I was even more impressed though about the different ways in which Olivia has supported charity work. When we discussed a post she shared with other apprentices about an animal charity she had visited to lift her mood, she jumped on the idea of potentially joining forces with the rest of her cohort to raise more money. She has since thoroughly researched different ideas of how this might work. I was most impressed though with her attitude to feedback. Whatever feedback she is given, she will take on board the comments and come back even stronger the following month.
Olivia’s line manager:
Olivia has embedded herself into the team so much so, that it's hard to remember what it was like without her. She has taken everything that is thrown at her in her stride and is always happy to help her fellow colleagues. She always does the tasks to the best of her ability and always with a smile on her face. Olivia is willing to learn and with her inquisitive nature, she is making connections with the wider business, which is great to see.
Here’s what was said about the other fantastic nominees:
Anna Bonnerjea @ DK:
When Anna started at DK it was the first time she had worked in an office, and first time in publishing. But in a matter of months, she gained a good grounding in the publishing process, learned to use publishing software, and improved her writing and editing skills. She can competently take on editorial tasks and has gone from a complete beginner to a useful member of the team.
Luke Goulding @ BBC:
Luke has been an invaluable asset to our digital marketing team. His passion, enthusiasm, engagement, creativity and dedication to excellence have consistently exceeded all expectations. From crafting compelling social media content that has measurably increased engagement to executing targeted email strategies, Luke’s impact is tangible. His analytical skills have shone through in creating detailed performance reports, and guiding data-driven optimisations, that have enhanced our campaigns.
Ellise Aquilina @ ICAEW:
Ellise has been a breath of fresh air to the sustainability team at ICAEW. She has brought a positive attitude and inquisitive mind to her work and clearly has a great deal of passion for sustainability. Since joining, Ellise has improved the content we deliver to members by gathering member feedback, writing articles and working with the website team to refresh our sustainability web pages.
Andy Senyszyn @ Nottingham Health Care Trust:
Andy has given our comms a more cohesive approach, especially when looking at our social media. Andy is a great member of the team and in the few months he has been with us, he has contributed over and above what was expected of him. Andy has created and managed the content for our social accounts since November 2023 and you will see a dramatic difference in the before and after examples online.
Charlie Dutfield @ Fusion:
Charlie has made a very welcomed impression on the team since starting with us. He is always friendly, approachable and willing to learn and improve where he can. He takes information in and asks the right questions to understand the task at hand. It has come to a stage where departments throughout the company are more than happy to call on Charlie for assistance with remote fault finding for a customer or being sent out to site to investigate issues or to provide new solutions. Charlie is showing signs of promise and is well on his way to becoming an invaluable member of the team.
Chris Price @ Wokingham Borough Council:
Chris has taken his interest in accessible design to the next level and has been sharing his knowledge with both me and the wider organisation. Whilst always an advocate for accessibility he has really begun to take a more in-depth approach into the finer detail of what it means and how it can impact positively on others. He has also started embedding what he has learnt into the council’s Tech Hub – which is a learning resource which provides self-service technical training to the organisation.
Nazia Baig @ euNetworks:
Nazia has spearheaded the coordination of our early careers exchange program, collaborating seamlessly with industry partners. The positive feedback received from stakeholders attests to the exceptional smoothness with which she orchestrated these exchange programs. Additionally, her proficiency extends to processing payroll for multiple countries within our operational scope. Her adeptness with the various systems, coupled with her ability to manage complex initiatives and ensure operational excellence, makes her a valuable asset to our team. The synergy she fosters in cross-industry collaborations and her adeptness in navigating diverse payroll processes underscore her dedication and competence.