Ufi-Supported Organisation Wins Two WorldSkills UK Awards

News by Stephen Hinde, Community Manager for Ufi VocTech Trust

An organisation supported by Ufi VocTech Trust was awarded first place in two categories at The WorldSkills UK Awards on Thursday 28th January.

Stoke on Trent-based Acorn Training Ltd, an apprenticeships, skills, justice and employability provider, won awards in the Diversity and Inclusion Heroes Awards.

The awards honour, celebrate and shine a light on individuals and organisations who go above and beyond to champion diversity and inclusion within their organisations and the wider skills system.

Acorn Training Ltd won the Network of the Year award for their work in supporting LGBTQ+ communities in building safe and secure futures.

Find out why they won by watching their awards ceremony winner's video:

Acorn Training Ltd's Managing Director, Gareth Fallows, was awarded first place at the awards that focused on Diversity and Inclusion.

Gareth's difficult early life has been the motivation in building Acorn Training Ltd's success.

This video highlights why Gareth's early life inspired his determination to build Acorn Training Ltd into the inclusive community it is today - playing a vital role in enabling the LGBTQ+ community to succeed in life and work:

Acorn Training Ltd was awarded a grant from Ufi's VocTech Now funding call in 2020 - a direct response to address challenges to learning introduced by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Key Workers - Business as Usual in an Unusual Way project developed a blended learning solution to enable continued engagement of 150 new and 500 existing key worker apprentices and adult learners in the early years, residential childcare and health and social care sectors. Acorn Training equipped a new digital content creation studio and transformed their approach to learning design across the whole organisation.