West Berkshire Training Consortium Learning Mentor apprenticeship helps Xtrac take trainers up a gear
Thatcham-based automotive and motorsport transmission specialist Xtrac is taking its training programme up a gear with West Berkshire Training Consortium.
The company launched a dedicated award-winning apprenticeship facility at its global headquarters on Gables Way last year.
Xtrac has operated a popular training programme since the 1990s and has been working alongside Newbury College since 2003 to deliver its Level 2, 3 and 6 apprenticeships in advanced manufacturing.
It has since launched a Learning Mentor apprenticeship with West Berkshire Training Consortium -taking its training service up a level.
West Berkshire Training Consortium offers one-to-one support and is able to adjust the resources it has available to suit the needs of each individual learner it works with.
Apprentice manager Warren Page, 65, has been working at Xtrac for more than 30 years.
He began his engineering career in 1973 as an apprentice before joining Xtrac as a gear cutter and now – as apprentice manager – he is responsible for the learning, training and welfare of Xtrac’s apprentices.
Around 18 months ago discussions began with West Berkshire Training Consortium to introduce a Learning Mentor apprenticeship for the transmission company’s existing mentors.
And Mr Page has nothing but praise for the work he now does with the training consortium.
“This course has been invaluable,” he added.
“It covers everything as a holistic approach to training which is what I wanted our trainers to do.
“It has given them the knowledge and material to be able to cope with different types of learners.
“I think apprenticeships for Xtrac are crucial to our growth and progression to an aging workforce, they give the learner many opportunities that they would have never imagined when they started.
“They are in positions here as team leaders, managers, trainers, senior designers, quality engineers, production engineers, the list is endless.
“So they are actually becoming parts of the structure of the company.
“I think [the apprenticeship] was very well structured and we will repeat it.
“Apprenticeships are for a career, not just for a job and that is what we deliver.”
The additional support offered by West Berkshire Training Consortium – including its specialist training sessions – has proved invaluable to companies.
They also work with businesses to support future learning, to ensure their apprenticeship schemes are always the best they can be and support each learner in the best way for them.
One of Mr Page’s first apprentices was James O’Hagan, now 36-years-old, who trains others at the company.
He said he enjoyed the hands-on elements of work when he arrived at Xtrac and now that he is on a training apprenticeship he has had the opportunity to also brush up on his reading and writing.
“When I first started, I found out that I was dyslexic and the company helped me out and pushed me through the apprenticeship.
“I would not have got to where I was am today if they didn’t help me through.
“Recently, some of the apprentices coming through have the same issues, so I can now help them which is nice and very rewarding.
“You can see yourself in some of them, you can progress with them and by the end of it you can see how far they have come.”
Mr O’Hagan’s trainees have progressed onto different areas from office work at Xtrac to moving onto working with Formula 1 teams.
“This is through Xtrac training them to a certain standard that other companies like F1 want,” he said.
Senior gearbox technician Matt Ford has been with the company for just under 16 years after undertaking an apprenticeship with a local garage for around four years after leaving school.
Like Mr O’Hagan, he has struggled with dyslexia but says Xtrac has been supportive in getting him to where he is now.
He said: “I have always been training apprentices but as of this year I was asked to do it officially as a trainee mentor.
“From the minute we joined West Berkshire Training Consortium it has been a very welcoming package.”
“It is nice to see them [apprentices] follow the programme through.
“Even when they leave the department, you’re still catching up with them and checking in to see where they are and how they are progressing.”
The Xtrac academy welcomed its first cohort of apprentices during 2022 to its newly-built CAE classroom and adjoining practical skills workshop.
Its apprentices have been working in up to 16 company departments throughout their 18- to 48-month education.
Miller George Gregson, 31, who has also been training, has been with Xtrac for nearly 13 years.
He said: “I completed my apprenticeship here; I was also training apprentices here and quite enjoying it.
“I was team leader in the milling department.
“When they opened this department I was quite interested in being a part of helping to set it up.
“We had a clean slate of how we were going to develop this apprenticeship.
“It was the same apprenticeship I did so I wanted to make sure that it continued in the same quality.”
He said that an apprenticeship is the “right way to go” when seeking a range of skills and a strong groundwork to build on before entering a workspace.
For more information, contact employer and learner engagement officer, Rachel Eaves at rachel@wbtc-uk.com or call 01635 35975 or 07922 426414.
