5th May 2023
Catching up with our students and hearing about their plans after St Brendan’s is one of our favourite things to do! This week we caught up with Saffron who studies A-level Accounting and Level 3 BTEC Business Studies at St Brendan’s. Saffron will graduate from college this summer and will then begin an apprenticeship at Thatchers Cider.
Thatchers Cider runs a number of different apprenticeships within their Cider and Brand Academies. The Cider Academy allows the apprentices to explore the technical, operational and science-based roles and the Brand Academy focuses on commercial areas such as service and sales. Saffron applied for an apprenticeship within the Brand Academy as she has studied Business and Accounting at college and really enjoyed both. The apprenticeship will allow Saffron to complete Level 4 in Business Admin or AAT Level 3. We spoke to Saffron earlier this week to find out more about her exciting placement:
What fuelled your desire to study Accounting and Business at St Brendan’s?
“I chose Accounting A-level because from a young age (around 13) I knew that I wanted to work with money and in finance, as I was good at maths and I wanted to build on those skills. I chose to study Business as I thought it would complement accounting well and it would open more opportunities when applying for jobs and apprenticeships in the future.”
Why did you choose to apply for the Thatcher’s apprenticeship?
“I chose this apprenticeship as I feel that their company ethos matches my ethical stances. Also, it’s appealing that the organisation is a family-run business as my family is something that is so important to me. The scheme offers the chance to work in all the different departments at Thatcher’s, for example, sales, marketing and finance, which is great as I feel like I’ll get a lot of hands-on experience.”
Did you receive any support through the application process?
“At St Brendan’s, the in-house Careers Team helped me write a CV and my learning development lead Jean supported me when applying for this apprenticeship and others.“
Once you have completed your apprenticeship, what would you like to do?
“After I have completed the apprenticeship I would like to work for Thatcher’s. You have to complete an exam at the end of the placement and if you pass the exam they can offer you a job.
Working at Thatcher’s would allow me to explore all the different departments within the company, I may finish the apprenticeship and want to dive into a different department which is an exciting prospect.”
Do you have any advice for Year 12s who will be going through this process next year?
“A bit of advice I wish I’d had for going through this process is to ‘be yourself. For example, if you go to an interview pretending to be someone you are not, they will see right through that. Another thing is to do your research on the company, as companies like to see how much you know about what they do.“
