DavyMarkham - News
DavyMarkham Young Apprentices Achieve NVQ Qualifications

The £250,000 investment in a new apprentice training programme, by Sheffield heavy engineering company DavyMarkham, is already bearing fruit, with the first of its young school leavers completing the initial phase of the scheme. Daniel Firth (18) and Chris Andrews (19), both of Rotherham, have completed NVQ Level 2 qualifications in Engineering Production, which incorporated practical Welding and Fabrication modules, as part of an Apprenticeship in Metals Processing, being run in association with strategic skills body MetSkill.

Daniel (left) and Chris (centre right) are shown above being presented with their certificates on the shopfloor of the Darnall Works, by a delighted DavyMarkham MD, Kevin Parkin (centre left) and the MetSkill Training Coordinator, Joe Hargreaves (right).

DavyMarkham Toolroom Supervisor, Andy Bailey, who has been mentoring the apprentices and liaising with MetSkill, reports favourably on the lads' progress: "They joined the first intake of apprentices later on and have progressed really well, to the point where they are already shadowing our skilled men and carrying out some non-production welding tasks unaided. With an NVQ Level 2, they've completed what we termed the 'craft course', under the old apprenticeship scheme, and are now progressing to the technical element with NVQ Level 3, which involves also taking modules in Maths, IT and English."

Daniel, Chris and their fellow apprentices are part way through a 3-4 year programme, studying part time at Rotherham College of Arts & Technology, in addition to on-the-job training at the DavyMarkham works. Within the next eighteen months, they should have completed their apprenticeships and become coded welders, able to work on steel bridges and the other structural welds that are critical to the company's mainstream engineering business. The scheme is being managed by MetSkill's Metal Academy of Sheffield and DM boss Kevin Parkin is committed to maintaining an annual intake of young apprentices from the region, in order to foster the necessary technical skills for a forward-looking company.

Further enquiries to DavyMarkham at Prince of Wales Road, Sheffield S9 4EX, telephone 0114 244 9971, email kevin.parkin@davymarkham.com