Coronavirus COVID-19

We take Coronavirus COVID-19 extremely seriously and are doing everything possible to mitigate the risk to our students.

Our cleaners have initiated a cleaning programme using products to help reduce the risk and we also clean door handles, switches, work surfaces etc. during the day.

We have provided sanitisers at the entrance and around the building to reduce the possibility of transmission, should anyone be carrying the virus and are asking students to wash their hands thoroughly on a regular basis.

If possible, please ask your candidates to bring their own sanitiser.

There is no reason NOT to attend courses and rest assured we are keeping a close eye on developments and will act accordingly.

In the meantime if any of your staff/candidates answer YES to any of the questions below:-

1. Have you visited Mainland China, Japan, Hong-Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Macao, South Korea or Singapore recently?

2. Have you visited Europe in the past 14 days?

3. Have any family members, who reside with you, been to any of the above locations or exposed to the Coronavirus COVID-19 within the last 14 days?

4. Do you currently have any flu-like symptoms, cough or fever?

Please contact us immediately so that we can rearrange their training.

As the situation changes we will take measures, as we see fit, to ensure the health and safety of our students and staff alike.

New Era, New charity

We are thrilled that in this new decade, we have decided to support Moorfields Eye Hospital as our favoured charity.

None of us can function well without sight and having been party to many of the advances that have been made over the last few decades due to the research done by Moorfields, it is a deserving charity.

Having raised almost £25k for Help for Heroes over the past decade, we have decided, with the help of our student’s donations to the coffee machine, to spread the love to another, well deserving charity.

We hope that you will continue with your support of our charity when you next visit and would like to thank you in advance.

No Deal Brexit and F Gas Certificates

Some important information issued by REFCOM

https://www.refcom.org.uk/news/no-deal-brexit-and-f-gas-certificates/

Looking for an Apprentice/Looking for an Apprenticeship

There isn’t a week goes by without being asked if we know of anyone looking for a position as an Apprentice/Trainee/Improver and not a week when we are not asked if we know of anyone looking to employ someone who is wishing to train.

Sadly, its rare we can fit the two together although we do try really hard to do so.

Its usually the case that when we know of an opening, we don’t have a candidate in that area of the country and visa versa.

To that end we are opening a register so that companies looking to employ and train can register the fact and likewise, candidates who are looking for an opening can also register with the hope that we may be able to help in some way.

If either of these scenarios apply to you, please get in touch via our Contact Page

Employer Guide to Apprenticeships

The National Apprenticeship Service has issued a new guide for Employers of Apprentices.

Its an extremely useful document, updating employers looking to take on an Apprentice and wishing to train them, using their Levy Funds.  It explains the benefits, responsibilities, apprenticeship reforms and the Apprenticeship Levy.

What we thought was especially interesting was the Quick Guide for Employers dealing with the ‘Myths’ surrounding the Apprenticeship programme.

Click the link for more information

There are NO MYTHS about it, as an ‘RACHP Specialist’ on the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers, if you wish to enrol an Apprentice, give us a call.  We are enrolling now for starts in December 2018.

Understanding the Requirements of the New Apprenticeships in RACHP for Levy Paying Employers

There has long been recognition that the current Apprenticeship Programme does not achieve the high standard of skills and knowledge required by todays industry and that there is a dire shortage of suitably skilled technicians.  Today’s engineers need a high level of knowledge and skills to work with more complex systems with an increasing emphasis on energy efficiency and the environment.

To achieve this, the new Trailblazer Apprenticeship has been developed to stand alongside the new funding rules whereby larger companies pay into the Levy and can use their account to train their Apprentices, (or those of another company).  Funds expire 24 months after they enter an employer’s account if unused.

 These funds MUST be spent with a registered Training Provider of THE LEVY PAYERS’ CHOICE.

• The Levy can ONLY be spent to fund new Apprenticeships.
• The Employer/Training Provider/Apprentice must work in partnership together as never before.
• Candidates will preferably hold Maths and English at Level 2 prior to commencement (or must achieve them)
• Contracts must be put in place between all parties
• There must be agreed working hours
• There must be a minimum Apprentice wage paid
• 20% of the Apprentices time must be spent in training ‘off the job’
• 80% of the Apprentices time at work ‘on the job’
• Each Apprentice must have a Mentor at work
• Detailed records MUST be kept (all documented and authenticated) by all parties
• Employer/Apprentice MUST commit to a three year training programme
• An End Point Assessment to be completed at the end of the programme
• The End Point Assessment is carried out by an INDEPENDENT Assessment Organisation (chosen by the Employer)
• On successful completion the ESFA will issue an Apprenticeship certificate to the Employer.

We can accept contracts from Levy Paying Employers for the RACHP Apprenticeship!

• We are a Registered Main Provider with the Education, Skills and Funding Agency (ESFA)
• We have therefore passed due diligence, capability, competence and financial health (rated outstanding)
• We are an Independent Training Provider approved to offer this Apprenticeship
• We have been successfully delivering this type of training for over 27 years
• We can offer you a comprehensive service
• We will assess your candidates prior to enrolment
• We will provide training to YOUR MENTORS and provide ongoing support to them
• We will support your Apprentices and mentor them throughout their Apprenticeship
• We will train your Apprentices to our normal high standards
• We will ensure your apprentices are only ever part of a small group (12-16 max)

To find out more about this course please click here

Level 3 6090

After a successful visit from our City & Guilds External Quality Assurance Verifier we have now been able to obtain the certificates for our first group of successful candidates who completed their Level 3 qualification recently.

The EQA commended us on the high standard of work produced by our students ‘relating to complex RAC Systems’ especially in the 301/302/303 units that require load calculations, equipment selection and balancing and commissioning and performance testing.

Staff were also praised for the standard the learners achieved and their dedicated efforts in delivering this complex systems qualification.

Open Day 2018

Friday saw the first of our two open days for this year, which saw the usual numbers coming in to have a chat about their requirements and to look around, meet the staff and generally get acquainted.

The rush meant that we weren’t able to demonstrate water boiling at 23°C this year but hopefully we will do that at our next one.

Yes, refrigeration systems CAN heat water!

We had plenty of interest in the new 6090 Diploma as well as our ten day New Starter course, a great place for those plumber, heating engineers, gas fitter, wishing to add to their skill set.

Looking forward to doing it all again on Monday 25^th June, hope to see you here?

A Momentous Day at Ellis Training Works!!

Our first Level 3 6090 group finished their City & Guilds Diploma in RACHP, which was very exciting for them and us.  It’s an emotional time for us all when we say goodbye to our students, especially when their journey with us has spanned three years, seen them grow in their knowledge and mature as ‘real’ RAC engineers, real because when we asked what bits they liked best the following topics were mentioned:

·         Refrigeration and Air Conditioning heat load calculations and equipment selection and balancing

·         Using P-h diagrams for a range of refrigerants to select the most effective Retrofill alternative for high GWP refrigerants like R404A

·         Plotting and using psychrometric charts for performance testing evaporators on VRF systems

·         Commissioning and testing multi evaporator/multi compressor complex systems, ducted air systems and water to water heat pumps systems

·         Testing and fault finding 3 phase electrical systems

Not all did their Level 2 with us and those that didn’t did a bit of pre-course preparation but as an old hand at this training, I have rarely been able to work with such a dedicated, hardworking, enthusiastic group as this.  We’ve pushed them hard, through an intensive work programme developing their basic principles to a stage where they can and do apply their knowledge thoughtfully and thoroughly.  I’m proud of them, very proud of them, and it’s been a privilege to work with them!

There are those, who should know better, that are tempted to be disrespectful about modern training qualifications but when they have experienced the City & Guilds 6090 Level 2 and Level 3 I’m sure they will see the light.  These are truly qualifications for the future.

Yes, they’ve got the tee-shirt but very much more.  Remember these faces, they are the future of the RAC industry!

6090 Diploma Continued.

We have just enrolled our first group of 6090 students at Level 2, having previously enrolled this years Level 3 candidates onto it too!

Being one of the first colleges to have enrolled students onto this course, we were extremely excited about updating our old 7189 Diploma courses to the new one, albeit it only needed a few tweaks here and there.

What is even more exciting to us is that unlike the funded Apprenticeship that the colleges have to offer to receive the funding from Government, as an Independent Provider we can offer a Level 2 only Diploma, and then follow it with the Level 3 if required.

What does this mean in practice?

If a company wishes to send their apprentice to college on a government funded course, they must have a contract with the college and agree to support their apprentice for the whole three years of the course which is great, however there are many potential apprentices who may not be willing or able to commit to three years.  The student must have or achieve a pass in Maths and English to be able to complete their apprenticeship and this is often a requirement that the colleges insist on prior to enrolment.  The company will have a contract with their apprentice which guarantees 80% of their time is spent working with an experienced engineer/mentor who is giving them ‘on the job training’ and the other 20% is spent in college, off ‘the job’.  It’s obviously very prescriptive and of course it must be as its tax payer’s/levy payer’s money that is being spent.

There is a workbook to complete by the end of the programme and an End Point Assessment which MUST be passed.

Of course, there will be sanctions applied to any college/training provider or company who are unable to comply with these requirements.

How does this impact us?

We are lucky enough to be able to stay with our mantra ‘if you are keen to learn, we are keen to train you’.  We have chosen not to take the funding available to us, preferring freedom from bureaucracy.  This means our results are not driven by the funding, we can concentrate on the quality of our training delivery.

There are no entry requirements or for Maths and English unless the student wants it.

While we would like you to assist your apprentice by giving him support and training with an experienced engineer, you aren’t contracted to this.

You don’t have to commit your apprentice to the whole three years of the programme.

There are no sanctions if you or your apprentice fails.

They don’t have to take the End Point Assessment unless they really want to.

Successful candidates would have a Level 2 and/or a Level 3 Diploma in Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heat Pumps.

We can be far more ‘laid back’ about our approach as you would expect of any private provider, while still offering the full package, small class sizes and top-quality teaching and learning, in a fully equipped training centre.

It’s a very true saying ‘you only get what you pay for’.

New Website Launched

We are excited to announce our New Website which went live today!

Our website now also features our new Logo which we think you will agree is very much of today.

While we are still tweaking it, we think that the overall design showcases us for what we are, a quality training company who put the learning of our students first.

Using our new website we intend to offer more courses, more information, more photos of our Training Centre and a monthly ‘Hints, Tips and Discounts’ item to those who subscribe, to help out there in the real world with real problems.  So sign up, get involved, get informed.

Update: City & Guilds 6090 Trailblazer qualification

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, we have been very enthusiastic supporters of the government’s new ‘Trailblazer’ apprenticeship standards. These standards have been developed by employer and consultant groups known as ‘trailblazers’ and I have been pleased to make a contribution to the development of a new apprenticeship standard for our own industry.

One of the things that excites me most about the new City & Guilds 6090 qualification single Level 3 Apprenticeship course is that it represents a shift in emphasis – away from the old model of knowledge acquisition and regurgitation and back to an emphasis on knowledge acquisition, application and use, while being employed and trained as an Apprentice.

This kind of approach to training and assessment promises to deliver tremendous value to our industry – producing technicians and engineers with enhanced competence and greater skill levels, better equipped than ever to deal with practical challenges in the course of their everyday work.

For example, where trainees in the past might have been asked to ‘define the gas laws’, they are now asked to ‘use the gas laws when tight testing a system’. So, there is greater emphasis on the integration of the 80% ‘on the job’ with the 20% ‘off the job’ training time, with collaboration between employers and training colleges, as evidenced in the newly altered, synoptic approach to Endpoint Assessment.

At the time of writing this, Ellis Training Works is still the only training organisation listed on the Register of Approved Training Providers to deliver the new RACHP Apprenticeship C&G 6090 programme to employees of levy-paying companies. (We are still hopeful that we may acquire funding to be made available to non-levy paying companies, but we are not entirely certain at this stage).

As recently as June this year, the government altered the rules with regard to Endpoint Assessments, meaning that training centres and employers have not had much time to respond. As a result, nobody has really been in a position to go forward.

Our Trailblazer Apprenticeship programme was submitted to Ofqual, the Government Regulator, before these rule changes were made, so it will have to now be reassessed in the light of the new rules. I take the view that training and qualifications are an ever-changing process, and that government action in tightening rules can actually help to safeguard the funding process.

So at this stage we are very much looking forward to starting with the nee RACHP Apprenticeship qualification. I will keep you updated on progress!

John