Wednesday 12 June 2019 saw the official opening of JTL’s latest dedicated training centre in Carlisle.
With a brand new and fully equipped electrical workshop, the centre has been designed to offer top quality training to electrical apprentices in the Carlisle and wider Cumbria area. The centre was officially launched by JTL’s chief executive Jon Graham, CEO of Cumbria LEP Jo Lappin, and the new Mayor of Carlisle, Councillor Marilyn Bowman.
This centre is the latest of a number of dedicated centres and joint ventures JTL has launched in the last few years. JTL has centres operating successfully in Birmingham, Tankersley, Norwich, Oxford, Yeovil, Orpington, Maidstone, Ashford and Langley Mill in Nottinghamshire – and now in Carlisle. There are plans for a further centre to open in York later this year.
Introducing JTL to the attendees at the opening, chief executive Jon Graham said, “We are delighted to be here in Carlisle and the welcome we have received already has been very rewarding and clearly shows there is an appetite for the kind of training we offer here in the city and the surroundings areas. At present, we are planning to run electrical apprenticeships on block release delivering the necessary training over two years – the full apprenticeship still remains as four years – but delivering block release training works particularly well for companies that work away from their base. We currently have one block in the first year and one in the second year ready to work from this centre.
“We will also be offering day release training here from September and this will be delivered over three years, so we will have block and day options available for employers and we expect to run one stream of each from September.
“We are looking to recruit new apprentices to join us from September, to join 19 currently in their second year and 16 in their first year.
“We’ve been recruiting apprentices across the North West and in Cumbria for many years and it may come as no surprise to you to hear that recruitment has improved since we announced the opening of this centre. It’s important that employers recognise that we consider this centre as their centre. It’s important to us that our open invitation to them to visit and see what we do, gives them the opportunity to help us develop the training here to reflect the skills and attitudes that they see as important, as we develop their future employees.”