So this is my second blog on my plumbing apprenticeship with the company I work for, Designer Group, and JTL, my training provider.
Since my last blog I have taken my hot water unit online test and with good delivery from Barking College, and a bit of revision, I managed to pass with 86%. At the moment, we are studying scientific principles and I think this is going to be much harder to pass, so a bit more revision may be needed, I’ll have to give the FIFA up for a couple of nights!
[button color=”blue” size=”small” link=”https://www.installeronline.co.uk/the-apprentice-part-1/” target=”blank” ]Read The Apprentice Part 1 Here[/button]
In the practical workshop at college, we are soldering 15mm copper pipework frames and testing them. To be fair, mine haven’t been the best, so I will need some more practice…
On site at the moment I am learning to crimp and install carbon pipework for chilled units; so my mentor said he would give me some soldering training.
I have moved site since the last blog and I am working near St Paul’s, which is nice for me to get to. Designer Group gave me and another apprentice, Lewis, a health and safety induction before we were allowed to start work on this site.
It is nice to have Lewis there as we are going through the apprenticeship together, although we go to different colleges. We are working on hot and cold water install to toilet blocks and retail area.
My JTL assessor has visited me on site to carry out a review, which is a form that we go through together that allows us to discuss how I’m progressing both on site and college. We also discuss equality and diversity, safety and we talk about any extra support that I might need. My supervisor also goes through it with me to see if – like my soldering – I need any extra help.
My assessor also inducted me into the Level 2 NVQ portfolio, which I need to complete in 24 months if I’m to progress to Level 3. The awarding body, City and Guilds, have set out 16 on-site activities that I need to complete, which range from Health and Safety, Maintenance, Decommissioning and Installation of three systems i.e. hot, cold, sanitation twice at two different addresses.
We made a plan of when I should be doing these activities over the next 24 months and I will give my assessor a ring when I feel I am ready to be assessed. He said I can be taking photos of the work I’m doing as supporting evidence to the activities.
For more information on JTL visit, jtltraining.com
[author image=”https://www.installeronline.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/MITCHELROBERTS.jpg” ]Mitchell Brown was recruited as a JTL apprentice in late summer of 2013. He celebrated his 17th birthday in October. He is employed by Designer Group, which has its UK headquarters in Shepherd’s Bush, London. One day each week is spent at Barking & Dagenham College in Romford as part of his striving to first achieve a Level 2 Plumbing qualification before moving forward to Level 3. Mitchell expects the process to last for four years. A former student of West Hatch High School in Chigwell, he achieved good GCSE grades and thought long and hard about whether to go forward to A levels, before deciding to accept the opportunity of a JTL apprenticeship. [/author]
