Sophie Westwood – Learner of the Month
Written on 20th, November 2023
Congratulations to Sophie Westwood for being recognised as our Learner of the Month! We’ve interviewed Sophie’s tutor, Fransisca Clay, and manager Helen Bekenham to understand why she is so deserving of this award. Sophie is completing a Level 3 Business Administration Apprenticeship at NHS SURREY HEARTLANDS and beginning her path to success! Congratulations, Sophie!
Here’s what manager, Helen Beckenham had to say about Sophie’s achievements:
1. Can you tell us about a challenging situation the learner faced and how they tackled it?
Sophie found our NHS systems challenging at first. We work predominately from home and only go into the office for specific meetings and team events so she had to get used to lots of online meetings via MS Teams and communicating by email. Sophie had some experience of using MS Word, Powerpoint and emails at school but not on the scale that is required in the workplace. She has shadowed other team members and has attended various training sessions to develop her I.T skills. She now has a very good working knowledge of MS Outlook, Excel, Teams, Word and uses them all on a daily basis. She has also learned to use Canva and MS Sway to design and produce newsletters, posters and event invitations which is a skill most other team members don’t yet have.
2. Share an example of when the learner owned up to a mistake and bounced back.
Sophie sent out a meeting agenda with wrong meeting title – as soon as she realised, she apologised and resent the correct version. It was not a big deal but I know this has taught Sophie to check her documents thoroughly before sending them out.
3. How has the learner shown determination in their work? Can you provide a specific instance?
Sophie had not been in the role very long when we were due to attend a careers event at a local college to promote careers in health and care. I had a meeting to attend prior so Sophie took all the equipment with her and set up the stand before I arrived. She had arranged the careers booklets and leaflets along with the display board with careers information and she confidently spoke to the students about her role and other roles that they might be interested in for the future – this is something that usually takes time to feel confident in doing but Sophie was not phased by the situation at all. She really hit the ground running that day and has since attended lots more similar events. Now she is even organising the events,
4. Can you highlight a time when the learner took the lead in suggesting and implementing improvements?
Sophie was asked to coordinate the careers events for schools and colleges. Sophie quickly realised that the process in place involved a lot of emails back and forth with the people attending the event, the venue and our team. She suggested setting up a calendar which everyone attending could access with all the details of the events, who would be attending, resources needed etc. This has been so helpful and has dramatically reduced the number of emails being sent – an excellent suggestion that has proved to be very helpful.
5. Share a moment when the learner’s commitment to learning was evident.
Sophie always puts her all into learning whether that be the apprenticeship workshops, research for her assignments, on the job training or specific courses. Sophie’s commitment to learning was noted by one of our system partners who invited her to join a course they were running to learn about mental health first aid. As she did so well on the course, she has now been invited to join one of their hospital teams for a day to gain some experience of delivering front-line care in a community hospital.
6. What notable achievements or successes can you attribute to the learner in their role?
Sophie has taken full responsibility for organising meetings, preparing agendas, taking meeting minutes and distributing key documents and for our care leavers project and apprenticeship forum. She has even chaired one of the meetings when the regular chair person was unavailable.
Sophie is a real asset to the team and has far exceeded our expectations as an apprentice – she has a very promising future in the NHS and I know she will not have any problem in securing a role when she has completed her apprenticeship.
Here’s what Tutor, Fransisca Clay had to say about Sophie Westwood achievements:
“Sophie has been progressing very well and constantly ahead of target. She has high initiative and has been working on various projects with her line manager and independently. Sophie is working really well in the team. She learns new tasks very quickly, and the workshops and on-the-job training are helping Sophie to develop both personal and business skills. Sophie is starting to take on more responsibility in the role and always approaches her work enthusiastically and professionally. She demonstrates excellence in several areas, with gained skills and knowledge throughout the course, her initiatives and ‘can do’ attitude display great ability to develop herself within her. She often comes up with ideas in delivering small to medium projects in her work. She is reliable and also a good support to her colleagues and fellow learners. Her commitment to her work and the apprenticeship demonstrated in her coursework and praise from her manager. She has a good rapport with her line manager, colleagues, and her tutor and has been fully supported. This has made her learning journey successful thus far.”
Here’s what Sophie herself has to say:
Do you feel that the training has benefited you?
Yes, the training has benefitted me in my role. It has taught me skills that I use daily such as Planning and Organisation and IT Skills. Learning and developing these skills means that I am able to complete the work I am set from both my apprenticeship and in the workplace accurately and efficiently. It also gives me more confidence when completing work.
Have you had to overcome any difficulties whilst doing you’re training?
The main difficulties I find during the training is completing the workload for my employer and the apprenticeship tasks and fitting in the off the job training. This isn’t always, just during busy periods of time at my workplace.
Are there any skills that you have developed during your training that you believe will help you career-wise in the long term?
Yes, we have had workshops on skills such as leadership skills and project management. This is because completing my apprenticeship can lead me into management roles or even becoming a project manager within my organisation.
