Construction Apprentices Inspire Students during NAW 2025
Carpentry and Bricklaying apprentices from Bloor Homes attended Bishop Perowne C of E College in Worcester during National Apprenticeship Week
As part of National Apprenticeship Week (10-14th Feb), Bloor Homes carpentry apprentices Luke Newell, Scott Newell and Jude Bowen, and bricklaying apprentices Callum Ward and Catalin Filigeanu, together with their Apprenticeship Masters, Mark Simmons and Shaun Smith, have attended a careers event hosted by Worcester secondary school, Bishop Perowne C of E College.
The ‘Meet and Greet’ event enabled Year 8 and 9 students to talk to the apprentices directly about their experiences of the apprenticeship with Bloor Homes. They found out about the grades and personal skills required to become an apprentices, how apprenticeships work, how the apprentices find working on site and learning a new skill, when and how to apply, what to expect, and other useful advice.
Mark Simmons, Carpentry Apprenticeship Master, said: “We’d like to thank the staff at Perowne College for inviting us to talk to their students, who will be making decisions about their GCSE options in Year 9. This was a great opportunity to show them what’s available to them before they make their first academic decisions about their futures.
“It’s important for us to attend events like this since we have an aging workforce and skills shortage across the construction industry. With the housing shortage we keen to show young people that there is a long term and rewarding future in construction, which can start with a skill like carpentry or bricklaying and lead into senior management.”
The event also gave students the opportunity to find out about the way in which Bloor Homes provides apprenticeships, which is quite different to most new homes builders.
Instead of working on different sites and only coming together at college under the traditional approach, Bloor Homes has dedicated Apprenticeship Masters like Mark and Shaun, for carpentry and for bricklaying. They have years of experience and are qualified to provide the training the apprentices need in-house, which means apprentices of all levels work and learn together on site, all week.
Shaun Smith, Bricklaying Apprenticeship Master explains why this different approach is so important: “Our apprentices receive a fully immersive experience working alongside highly experienced construction teams in a professional environment, whilst also being helped and mentored by their Apprenticeship Master as well as the apprentices who have progressed to the next level – people who understand first-hand the challenges they face and how to overcome them.
"This means that rather than being taught by carpenters and bricklayers who also have a full time job to do, they are fully supported, and as they progress, they also have the opportunity to mentor and support new recruits, giving them valuable mentoring skills too. Our programme is designed to be as supportive and conducive to success as possible.”
Bloor Homes also sets itself apart by paying for the apprentices’ tools when they join the company, by providing a dedicated cabin on site for the apprentices to learn together and complete course work, and even pays for apprentices to travel to site so they don’t have to find travel costs from their wages.
All the apprentices are currently training at Bloor Homes’ Elgar Park development in Lower Broadheath near Worcester. For more information about the apprenticeships available through Bloor Homes and to register to receive alerts about vacancies, visit: bloorhomes.com/careers/apprenticeships