An apprentice working at leading radiator manufacturer Stelrad Radiators in Mexborough has been shortlisted in the Advanced Apprentice of the Year Award category of the South Yorkshire Apprenticeship Awards that will be presented on 23rd May 2024.
Cobie Whitehead is an apprentice working for Stelrad at its premises in Mexborough. He works in the company’s National Distribution Centre which delivers to all of the UK and Ireland ensuring that the wide range of radiator designs and sizes required by the company’s customer base are delivered as required.
Cobie is from Rotherham and attended De Warenne Academy in Conisbrough, Doncaster. Cobie was one of the pandemic affected school pupils, affected by the ‘work from home’ situation that so many pupils had to adapt to over a period of a year. Because of the situation with Covid 19, Cobie effectively left school early and then spent a few months at Thomas Rotherham College – studying History, Law and Politics. Whilst studying, Cobie took it upon himself to find casual work as a plumber’s mate, learning the details of the trade. In June 2023 he applied to Stelrad for the Business Administration Apprenticeship based in the National Distribution Centre who were looking to take on new young talent for that department.
He spent the first six months studying for the Level 3 Business Administration Apprenticeship and has achieved to date Negotiation Skills, Emotional Intelligence, Business Report Writing and Handling Conflict certificates which was presented to him in January 2024. During this time he spent the first six months of his apprenticeship on a block training course to master the key elements of the work he was preparing for – working efficiently in an office environment, learning the basics of health and safety, and beginning to master the basic skills associated with the different disciplines of report writing, communication and customer service.
His mentor at Stelrad was Kerry Vaughan – a highly skilled individual with more than ten years’ experience at Stelrad, – very much the level of employee Cobie aspired to become. He learned a lot from Kerry, working alongside her, watching her at work and having the chance to undertake a variety of jobs and learn more about the equipment and the skills involved in using these pieces of computer skills and communication on a daily basis.
Cobie’s apprenticeship will take him about 18 months to complete before he is assimilated into the Stelrad NDC Admin Team in his own right. His workplace assessor will amass the evidence required to prove Cobie has mastered his trade and put forward the body of work to achieve his end point assessment – a task that will be completed before the end of September 2024.
“I’m delighted that I have been shortlisted for this award and look forward to the presentation day when we will find out who has won this category,” he says. “The important thing for me is that I enjoy my work and look forward to each day and the challenges they set me. I have a great team around me and get massive support for my efforts from my mentor and work colleagues.”
The awards will take place at the Magna Science Adventure Centre, Rotherham on 23rd May 2024.
