25 Mar 2014
Taylor-Jayne Fox, Business Development Manager at Graham Engineering Ltd has received the sixth Cogent SSC Award for Outstanding Leadership in Nuclear Skills.
The prestigious Award was one of several handed out at an Awards Dinner organised by the National Skills Academy for Nuclear and Cogent SSC, on March 20 2014 at the Mercure Hotel in Manchester.
The Cogent Outstanding Leadership in Skills Award recognises an individual who has demonstrated outstanding commitment to ensuring that the UK nuclear sector has the skills it needs to continue to be a world class industry. The judges were looking for someone who had gone beyond their job description.
Taylor-Jayne’s passion for skills has led to a radical programme change in how the company develops it employees, particularly through the Apprenticeship route. Graham Engineering Ltd has a long tradition of recruiting apprentices going back over thirty years, until recently however, the company had found it difficult to make the connection between further and higher education. This changed in 2012 when Graham Engineering Ltd enrolled its first apprentice onto a part time BEng degree in Mechanical Engineering, delivered by Manchester Metropolitan University. This successful test run has opened up new progression opportunities to all apprentices employed by the company.
Taylor-Jayne’s determination to find a solution to a problem which had plagued the company for some time has resulted in a happier and more motivated workforce, with a desire to keep on learning and has allowed the company to take advantage of new working practices.
Taylor-Jayne has implemented a new vision for Apprenticeships within the company, putting apprentices on a structured learning path, aligned with today’s modern working practices. Further improvements introduced by Taylor-Jayne include an apprentice policy, upping the intake of apprentices, identifying additional training opportunities for them, and introducing an in-company awards scheme for apprentices.
Taylor-Jayne said, “I’m deeply honoured to have received this prestigious award in front of my peers and I’m very proud of the progress we’ve made at Graham Engineering to attract, develop and support apprentices.”
Taylor-Jayne’s work in the local community to support the recruitment of apprentices and engage key stakeholders didn’t go unnoticed when selecting a winner.
Joanna Woolf, Cogent CEO said: “the Award for Outstanding Leadership in Skills gets harder to judge every year, but there can only be one winner. Taylor-Jayne Fox and her peers at Graham Engineering Ltd should be very proud of picking up this highly regarded accolade. The Award recognises the contribution that Taylor-Jayne has made to developing skills within the business and raising the profile of Apprenticeships within the community. Not taking anything away from Taylor-Jayne’s fantastic achievement but I must also congratulate Graham Engineering for picking up its third UK Nuclear Skills Award in two years.”
Jean Llewellyn OBE, Chief Executive of the National Skills Academy for Nuclear added, “the Outstanding Leadership in Skills Award highlights individuals who have really gone the extra mile to ensure opportunities for up skilling and Continuous Professional Development (CDP) are available to individuals. I would like to congratulate Taylor-Jayne on this award, she is a very worthy winner who contributes a huge amount to skills development for the UK nuclear industry, I’d also highlight the exceptional dedication of both Barbara Jones from AMEC and George Andrews from NIS Ltd who were also very deserving finalists.”
-ENDS-
Photo left to right: Jennie Chapman, Head of Campus Partnerships; Taylor-Jayne Fox, (Award Winner) Graham Engineering Ltd and former Olympian Roger Black MBE.
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