Heidi joined Heart of England Training in November 2019. She delivers Customer Service at Level 2 & 3, Office Practitioner Level 2, Teaching Assistant Level 3, Learning Mentor Level 3 and School Business Professional Level 4.

Before becoming an educator, Heidi was a cover supervisor as well as a Teaching Assistant, gaining the apprenticeship qualification through Heart of England Training.

So, what convinced her to change roles? Heidi said she sees the school system as a ‘one-size fits all’ scenario. Finding it heart-breaking watching non-academic learners struggle.

“When you’re in a school, there are GCSEs and GCSEs, there’s no other option. Not all learners are academically gifted, some are more practical…they’re almost set up to fail because there’s no other option for them”.

Heidi was approached by Liam O’Connor, her educator at the time, about the job. As she couldn’t go to university because of ‘adult responsibilities’, Heidi saw it as an excellent opportunity, feeling she would be making more of a difference.

“We’re giving those people that probably didn’t do very well at school, the opportunity to succeed”

Heidi has felt everybody at Heart of England Training has been ‘lovely’ and ‘welcoming’, as she had never worked in an office environment before.

“I’d always been in an educational setting where there were children, students or young people. So, on that first day I was absolutely petrified.”

“It was made a little bit better by the fact I already knew Liam, because he was my educator” she added “but I did start at the same time as Liam Fox, literally on the same day, so we kind of had each other”.

During her time at Heart of England, she has been gaining a reputation as a ‘resource queen’, going the extra mile for her learners.

“I’ve got loads of additional resources that I will create for my learners” she said “I’ve been told that I go the extra mile…because my background is SEN, I’m used to changing the way things are done to meet the individual needs of children and young people”.

When asked to describe herself in one word, Heidi said “Positive”.

“I always find a solution to the problem, rather than find a problem to prevent a solution”

Heidi’s top piece of advice for someone starting an apprenticeship is: “Be prepared to put the work in”

“Just because it’s different to how it would have been done at school, doesn’t mean it’s the easy option…put that effort in, and you’ll most definitely get the result at the end of it”.