Take a look at some of our journeys

Poppy Rhodes, Customer Service Practitioner Level 2 Apprenticeship

Poppy achieved strong GCSE results, with dance, media, and art as her favourite subjects. She gained customer-facing experience as a part-time waitress, enjoying the interaction the role provided. After briefly starting a nursery apprenticeship, she realised it wasn’t the right fit and pursued a Level 2 Customer Service Practitioner Apprenticeship at Darlington Hippodrome, aiming to develop transferable skills. Keen to earn while learning, she chose an apprenticeship over full-time college.

Poppy quickly became a valued member of the Hippodrome team. Her enthusiasm, professionalism, and openness to feedback impressed colleagues. She excels in customer-facing situations, remaining calm under pressure and using her natural ability to put people at ease—an emotional intelligence rare for her age. She also demonstrates empathy when supporting individuals with additional needs, managing the venue’s access inbox and helping register 1,800 members in its first year. Although not a regular theatregoer, Poppy makes a strong effort to learn about shows, ensuring customers receive knowledgeable and engaging service.

Her commitment extends to her coursework, which she completed to a high standard, earning a distinction in the end-point assessments. She successfully completed her Level 2 apprenticeship in July 2025 and progressed to a Level 3 Customer Service Specialist Apprenticeship with Learning & Skills, alongside securing a full-time role at the Hippodrome. Reflecting on her experience, Poppy said: “I like the fact you’re not just sat in a classroom; you learn on the job and earn money while in education.”

Olivia White, Business Administrator Level 3 Apprenticeship

Before joining Darlington Farmers Auction Mart, Olivia studied at Askham Bryan College in York for two years, completing a Level 3 Agricultural qualification. She also works daily on her family farm, caring for cattle and sheep, giving her a strong agricultural background that made the mart an ideal workplace.

Initially, Olivia thought starting an apprenticeship after college would be a barrier due to her age. However, once she learned age wasn’t a factor, she applied, seeing the qualification as valuable for future opportunities in business administration. She was successful at interview and began an 18-month apprenticeship.

Olivia covered all course topics but particularly enjoyed the financial aspects and project management. She noted significant progression in confidence, especially in subjects that interested her. Olivia said, “I feel like I did have a lot of progression throughout my course and got more confident through it, especially when I was interested in certain subjects. I have enjoyed doing my business admin course and think I have had a beneficial view within my work placement, and this has helped me when putting it into my work at the mart.”

After completing her apprenticeship, Olivia secured a full-time position in the office. She plans to progress with financial tasks using Sage and Excel while continuing to manage cattle and sheep passports on sale days.

Stephen Clarke, Site Joinery Level 2 Apprenticeship

Stephen began his Carpentry & Joinery apprenticeship with Learning & Skills in January 2023 after previously working as a care home team leader. Passionate about the trade since leaving school, he had struggled to secure construction employment but decided to pursue his dream again. In January, he joined Darlington Borough Council and started his apprenticeship. Stephen quickly demonstrated strong work ethic and enthusiasm for joinery. He gained hands-on experience in roofing, door hanging, timber flooring, stud wall installation, and kitchen fitting skills that boosted his confidence and ability to support peers. His dedication earned praise from colleagues and managers.

After completing his apprenticeship in March 2025, Stephen progressed to the Advanced Carpentry & Joinery programme in April 2025, where he is embracing new challenges and continuing to prove himself as a valuable member of the building team.

Reflecting on his journey, Stephen said: “It's taken me 15yrs to get here is it has benefited very well and now I'm able to do what I wanted when I left school"

Gary Bage, Operations Manager Level 5 Apprenticeship

Gary joined Darlington Borough Council in 1993 as an Apprentice Service Engineer.  and worked his way up to Service and Repairs Manager for Corporate Landlord. In 2021, he joined the Level 5 Operational Departmental Manager Apprenticeship to support his management development.

Gary was the first candidate to go through the new Level 5 End Point Assessment for the Operational Departmental Apprenticeship. He gained a distinction for his project, presentation and interview on the ‘Planned Refurbishment of communal areas within Local Authority Residential Housing Schemes’ - a real working project within his department.

Gary said: “Enrolling on this qualification was initially daunting, however, all of my fears were eradicated once I started. The help, advice and support from my tutor and my peers was greatly appreciated and was a great help in me successfully passing this qualification. I am immensely proud of this achievement and will take all of the knowledge and skills I’ve learnt and use them to progress in my career.

Jake Towns, Team Leader Supervisor Level 3 Apprenticeship

Jake joined the ACCESS team at Darlington Borough Council as a Public Health Outreach Support Worker, and started the Team Leader Supervisor apprenticeship in September 2022. 

Initially Jake felt out of his depth with the academic writing style as it had been a while since he had been in a classroom. Within a couple of months, he had developed his skills and confidence in this area. His Manager also supported him to undertake additional professional training and access shadowing opportunities with other local authorities.

In January 2023 Jake was promoted to Criminal Justice Lead within  the ACCESS team. A month later was made acting team leader. One year on, he successfully gained a management position as Young Persons Team Leader for WithYou (Stride).

He recently completed his Team Leader Apprenticeship gaining a distinction grade.

Jake said: “Before starting my Apprenticeship I had not completed any vocational courses for over 10 years. I was unsure what to expect but my tutor Amanda quickly laid out the the course requirements and provided on-hand support for any queries or worries I had. The course helped me to increase in confidence and inspired me to continue to develop and look at future opportunities – giving me a better understanding of management and how it works in my sector.”

Louisa Beal, Early Years Educator Level 3 Apprenticeship

Louisa started her journey in childcare and education straight from school. She went to college to do a level 2 qualification and attended a local nursery school for work experience before  applying for a level 3 apprenticeship with them.

During her apprenticeship Lousia gained a range of qualifications and training experiences. She has now gained a full-time position in another nursery. Her long-term ambition is to work on cruise ships with children. 

Lousia said: “I chose to do an apprenticeship as I wanted to learn practical skills while doing coursework and earning an income. I wanted to be in a workplace instead of being in college full time.  The apprenticeship helped me to be fully qualified in the career of my choice and make connections with different people. I also gained confidence and hands on experience. To someone thinking of an apprenticeship I would say to have a go. It can be hard, but it is worth it at the end. You must start at the bottom and work your way up, but if you stick with it, you can end up having a fantastic career and earn a very good wage.”

Jamellia Greenhough-Lee, Business Administration Level 3 Apprenticeship

After gaining three A-levels Jamellia realised that she wanted to take a break from studying. She worked part-time in retail for a few months before applying for office jobs, including some apprenticeships. 

Jamellia was successfully appointed as a Business Administrator Apprentice with Darlington Borough Council (DBC) Housing Department in October 2022. After just 11 months she secured a full-time position as an advisor with Learning & Skills and she was also nominated and shortlisted as a finalist at the Strong Community Awards in the Vocational Excellence category. In September 2025, Jamellia left her role and decided to study Social Work at York University.

Jamellia said “I have gained significant transferable skills which I can use in my future career. The staff who work at the Coleridge centre are very supportive and made amendments to my personal training to allow for me to deal with some issues outside of the work and training environment’.

Gemma Whitehead, Business Administrator Level 3 Apprenticeship

Gemma always aspired to have a career within  finance and accounts.

Working within Freeman Johnson whilst completing her Level 2 Business Administrator Apprenticeship course enabled Gemma to further her skills and gain work experience.

After a year, she was promoted to the accounts department. She was asked by her employers if she would like to carry on and do her level 3 qualification which she has now completed.  Gemma’s employers are now funding her to undertake  an AAT course to expand on her accountancy knowledge and qualifications.

Gemma said: “ The tutors from Learning & Skills provided a lot of support, for which I am very grateful.”

She also praised the peer support she received in the workplace, especially from those in her office.

Greg Smith, Moorlands Care Home Manager

"At Moorlands we often use Darlington Borough Council to recruit apprentices for our vacancies. The reason we use apprentices is that we have always found them very keen and willing to learn from the outset. It also allows us to train them in our ways of working, in line with our company ethos. Sometimes people with prior experience in the sector already have established ways of working and it can be difficult to incorporate this into our business and practices.

“Another positive is seeing them grow in confidence, not just within their work, but also in day to day life due to the experience they’re gaining in the workplace.

“The apprentice wage rate also helps us to ensure more in depth and one to one training is given, without worrying about the financial constraints it has on the business. Overall this leads to a more competently trained member of staff."

Rachel McMain – Orchard Court Surgery Deputy Practice Manager 

"We originally took on an apprentice as an alternative to recruiting a permanent staff member.  It was a cost-effective option, which gave us the opportunity to train someone up in our ways of working and see if they would be a good fit for our practice. It was the best thing we could've done.  Apprentices bring fresh ideas and enthusiasm to the workplace and have helped us to gradually build a skilled, well connected, competent and confident team.”

In conjunction with L&S, since 2022 Orchard Court Surgery have successful trained 2 Business Administrator L3 apprentices, who remain in full time employment (Ellie Ballie and Millie Garbutt in image) and are currently working with another 2 Business Administrator L3 Apprentices.

Since 2022, Orchard Court Surgery, in partnership with L&S, has successfully trained two Level 3 Business Administrator apprentices, both remain in full-time roles, and are currently supporting two more.