Dental apprentice scoops regional award

A dental apprentice training with Midlands training company Performance Through People (PTP) has scooped the top trophy in the Greater Birmingham Apprenticeship Awards 2022.

Summar Wilkes (pictured), from Smile Style Dental Care Centre in Stafford, has been crowned Greater Birmingham Apprentice of the Year 2022.

Judges praised 18-year-old Summar for the way she has tackled personal setbacks to excel in both her studies and on-the-job training for her Level 3 Dental Nursing apprenticeship.

Summar, who juggles her studies, work and being a home-carer, won the Health, Education and Care category at the awards, and was then crowned overall Apprentice of the Year.

Other PTP winners at the awards included:

• Aaron Neary, on a Level 3 Team Leader apprenticeship with Wolverhampton-based Ansaldo Nuclear Ltd, who won the Engineering and Manufacturing sector.
• Hollie Tomkins, on a Level 3 Business Administration apprenticeship with West Midlands Ambulance Service in Dudley, who won the Professional Services sector.
• Fairytales Day Nursery, a major client of PTP, which won the Small Employer category

Rob Colbourne, chief executive of PTP, part of the BCTG Group, said: “We 're so proud of Summar who worked weekends and sacrificed her social life to manage her studies and training, while also taking on caring duties for her mother at home.

“She has shown exceptional maturity for someone so young and is a credit to her employer by not letting any setbacks affect her work, where she is due to finish her apprenticeship next spring.

“We were also thrilled to have seen Hollie and Aaron pick up their well-deserved awards, as well as Fairytales which does so much for its apprentices. ”

PTP 's success at the Greater Birmingham Apprenticeship Awards 2022 follows a hat-trick of honours it picked up at the very first Ladder for the Black Country Apprenticeship Awards earlier this month.

Mr Colbourne added: “We 're very lucky to have such dedicated staff here at PTP who really do go above and beyond with their focus in bringing out the very best in all our apprentices. ”

Speaking at the awards ceremony, Summar said she felt “really overwhelmed ” by winning the two awards.

She said: "I care for my mother, which has been quite challenging at times, and I've not always been able to meet deadlines but my tutor has been really helpful with pushing them back for me.

"I've enjoyed being able to work and study at the same time and learn on the job - it's a lot more helpful than trying to learn sitting down in a classroom.

"My goal is to qualify as a dental nurse and then train in the field of orthodontics which I will also be able to do on the job via more courses.

“My long-term aim is to work up to becoming an orthodontist, I would really love that."

The awards were run by BirminghamLive in partnership with the Ladder for Greater Birmingham campaign, which was launched in 2018 and has created thousands of new apprenticeship opportunities across Birmingham and Solihull.

The Apprenticeship Works, also part of the BCTG Group, were finalists in the Small Employer of the Year category, and BCTG host employer MSC Industrial were finalists in the Medium Employer of the Year category.

The annual awards were held at Edgbaston stadium in Birmingham with BCTG Group as the headline sponsor.