Monthly Updates

June 2024

We are really delighted that January 2022 cohort have now completed all their teaching.  Congratulations to all. Marks will go to exam board at the end of the month and then the end point assessment is 24th July. 

Date for your diary:

We have our twice a year apprentice-employer-staff meeting on Friday 21st  June at 9.30 -12.00 all welcome via teams. The details are below


We would like to invite you to the bi-annual Tutor, employer, apprentice and mentor (TEAM) course review meeting. This session will be led by Aimee France (AHP DA Portfolio Lead) and will have DA course leaders, course teams and apprentice course reps in attendance.

 

This meeting is a chance for us all to come together to review and discuss the AHP apprenticeship courses and continue to strive to work towards a quality experience for all involved.

The meeting will start with general discussions around shared aspects of the course that affect all AHP apprentices

We will then move into course specific break out rooms to have the opportunity to discuss course specific issues with the course leaders and course teams present.

 

All employers and mentors are welcome to join for the whole afternoon as we think it is really important that you hear the whole academic review, but we will focus more specifically on employer and mentor feedback at the latter part of the day. Feel free to nip in and out of the meeting as able if you cannot join for the whole morning. Please do forward this invite onto anyone who you feel should/would like to be in attendance from your organisation.

 

Agenda

09:15- 09:30

Joining, welcome, introductions and apologies

09:30- 10:20

DA AHP shared issues:

AHP DA Portfolio and course reapproval update

Library services, technical operations, student support

Integrated Care Curriculum learning

10:20- 10:30

Switch to new zoom rooms for remainder of meeting- links TBC

Physio

OT

TRAD

DRAD

ODP

Dietetics

Medical US

10:30- 11:15

Profession specific academic feedback

Semester 2/3 module leaders

11:15-11:45

DA AHP shared issues:

Work-based mentor and employer feedback

11:45-12:00

Summary and sharing of learning, agree actions plans

Close

 

Kind regards

Aimee

AHP Degree Apprenticeship Portfolio Lead

Click here to join the meeting

Meeting ID: 384 205 112 081
 Passcode: MTWnoe

April/May 2024

A busy few months in the DA world here at SHU. Just a quick update. We were joined with a new cohort of Physiotherapist in March. This means we have 5 cohorts running concurrently at the moment. We would encourage those who have apprentices in their organisations to support each other even if in different cohorts. 

We are busy developing the refreshed DA course which will start in March 25. We are awaiting internal and external validation, once this is confirmed we can then start developing the new curriculum. It is a really positive opportunity to make the DA bespoke to our learners.

January 22 cohort are on the final part of their course, with just one more assessment to go.  Congralutations to those who have already been successful in getting Physiotherapist Jobs.  Great news and keep tell us about them.

January/February 2024

2024 has been a busy start for all the apprentices on the Physiotherapy Program at SHU.  From last placements for our level 6 apprentices to last first year practical assessment for March 23 starters those milestones keep coming. 

We are preparing to welcome a new group of apprentices in March 2024.

Quick round up by cohort:

January 2022 starters - On the home straight to qualification but still need to keep foot on the gas. These apprentices are just completing their final placement, they return to campus on Monday 5th for their dissertation module. Then they have two modules to go, one with a focus on employability and career planning  and the final is the portfolio moduel where the apprentice reflect on their learning on the apprenticeship and evidence meeting the KSBs on the apprenticeship standard.

October 22 starters - Are on their second placement having completed two level 5 modules. 

March 23 starters - Have completed all their teaching and modules for their first year ( level 4) and have a short break from university learning (not work based or job role!) before starting their second year modules.

October 23 starters - Have completed their first two modules and start their Musculoskeletal module in February.

Dates for the Diary:

Work based Mentor training updates:

WBM with Jan 22 starters - update on support for the last months of apprenticeship 5/3/24 at 10 am on teams Click here to join the meeting

Meeting ID: 313 062 756 093
 Passcode: GNMnfT


WBM with Oct 23 starters - update after supporting apprentice for 6 months 23/4/24 at 9 am Click here to join the meeting

Meeting ID: 338 819 360 139
 Passcode: hEKmau


WBM with March 24 starters - Training for mentors with new apprentices starting in March 24 14/3/24 at 10 am Click here to join the meeting

Meeting ID: 362 013 509 431
 Passcode: 8NQnjR


APPRENTICE OF THE YEAR AND INSPIRATIONAL STUDENTS AWARDS

The annual SHU apprentice of the year nominations are open. If you are a mentor or employer and want to know more about the award and how to nominate please see this link https://blogs.shu.ac.uk/isa/


Grading system has changed, here is some Assessment information for Academic year 2023/24

This video shares information regarding the move to 0-16 grading system

November 2023

Its been a busy few months as always for the Physiotherapy apprenticeship.  January 22 starters have successfully completed level 5 (year 2) and moved onto level 6.  October 22 starters have also been successfully in completing their first year and moved onto level 5 - well done everyone.  

Both Jan 22 and March 23 starters have been out on placement in a range of settings. 

In October we welcomed our next cohort of 10 apprentices, mainly from Derbyshire trusts but not exclusively.  We are really pleased to have them on this journey. We now ahve four cohorts running concurrently and we will be joined by a further cohort in March 24.

We have now got a full cohort of reps for each group, they are as follows:

January 2022 starters - Jo Hill and Aaron Upsall

October 2022 starters - Will Richards

March 2023 starters - Rodney Dube

October 2023 starters - Amy Robinson

Thanks to all of these apprentices, they play an important role in terms of communication and feedback to the course team.

Upcoming dates:

Mentor opportunity to participate in research project on apprenticeship mentorship:

Dear apprenticeship mentors,


I am writing to ask if you are able to offer any support please in promoting a research project we are currently undertaking here at Sheffield Hallam University in collaboration with the Edge Foundation. The project offers a unique opportunity to explore AHP Degree Apprenticeships from a work based mentor perspective. We are seeking current OT and Physiotherapy work based mentors who can spare us 50 minutes of their time and we can be flexible on dates and times.

 

We would find it of enormous value to help us appreciate your contributions and your perspectives on the strengths of DAs and what can be improved about provision. We are a team of researcher so can offer good flexibility in dates during November, December and January if that is a better fit.

 

Please would you be able to promote the project and encourage participation? If you would like any further information or to be involved please contact k.stevens@shu.ac.uk


Inspirational student award


The annual SHU apprentice of the year nominations are open. If you are a mentor or employer and want to know more about the award and how to nominate please see this link https://blogs.shu.ac.uk/isa/



September 2023

As the rest of the University is preparing for return to the academic year, apprenticeships are ahead of the game! The first week of September was a busy one for all cohorts. With both level 4 groups ( March 23 and October 22 starters) have had practical assessments.  March 23 starters then leapt straight in their CVR module, while October 22 starters returned to practice. 

January 22 starters have commenced their final "year" or level 6 and have already completed the teaching block for their first level 6 module. Some key areas for apprentices to be working on in the background are identifying a topic for their dissertation. Work based mentors are in a great position to support and discuss this with their mentees.  They also need to be thinking about the achievement of the KSBs and collecting evidence of their learning.

Finally we have two cohorts out on placement, we hope the apprentices all enjoy these placements.

Updates from SHU wise:

Upcoming dates:


July /August 2023

Just sneaking into the end of July for this update. Despite the rain it is summer for most of the University so a little quieter on campus than usual but as always DA courses carry on regardless. All support services are open and available. Now is a good time to take up some of the learning opportunities that the skills centre offers https://libguides.shu.ac.uk/skills/sessions and to look into if apprentices have additional needs that support is in place https://www.shu.ac.uk/myhallam/support-at-hallam/disabled-student-support before it gets super busy in September.

Level 5 ( January 2022 starters) Have completed all their level 5 modules now and are on an on the job block until September. 

Level 4 ( October 2022 starters) Have their final teaching week of level 4 starting w/c 7th August.

Level 4 ( March 23  starters) Have final teaching block of MSK module w/c 31st July. 

Both Level 5 and Level 4 ( March starters ) have a placement block starting 11/9/23.

Next work based mentor drop in will be Tuesday 8th August at 16.00, the theme is placements. Please do join us on Click here to join the meeting 

Changes - as with everything there are several changes going on in the background. At SHU all courses are going through revalidation, and this time around it is a complete course rewrite. We will be inviting stakeholder so mentors, employers and apprentices to contribute to their thoughts/ideas on how to make the next iteration of the DA Physio course meaningful and reflective of your experiences. The apprenticeship standard for Physiotherapy will change as of September 2023 to reflect changes to the HCPC Standards. The new standard and KSBs will only apply to NEW apprentices, so our October intake. There are also some changes to the marking schemes for the academic year 23/24 I will update apprentices directly once the final details are ironed out at a University level.

June 2023

It been another busy month with plenty of learning for all our apprentices

Level 6  (January 2021 starters) Congratulations those that have successfully completed all your modules. Good luck with job hunting, formalities only now. An alumi form will be sent out shortly, we are really keen that we keep in touch. There will be opportunities to come back and share your journeys on some of our modules.

Level 5 ( January 2022 starters) Have been on campus this week for Physiotherapy Practice 2 module. There will some changes to the order of the modules from September onwards (level 6), there will be no changes to dates of teaching or placement , more info will be sent to apprentices directly.

Level 4 ( October 2022 starters) Will be on campus w/c 12th June for Cardiorespiratory module. Congratulations on excellent placement feedback.

Level 4 ( March 23  starters) Have just had back first assignment marks, well done all who passed. If you were not successful contact the module lead and your AA.  Also completed a week of teaching. Work based coach has been confirmed as Lisa Norman who is our current level 6 coach so know the Physiotherapy apprenticeship well. She will be in touch.

In other apprenticeship news:


Calling all apprentices, employers, ambassadors and individuals who champion apprenticeships... the National Apprenticeship Awards 2023 are opening for applications soon!

 Back for their 20th year, the National Apprenticeship Awards are a fantastic opportunity to showcase the apprentices, employers and champions who have gone above and beyond.
Entries to the awards will open from 5th June to 30th June 2023. It is free to enter the awards, and all entries must be made through our application website.
 
We have nine categories to recognise exceptional employers, apprentices and apprenticeship champions:
 Apprentice of the Year and Apprenticeship Champion categories
 •  The Amazon Intermediate Apprentice of the Year Award (level 2)  
•  The BAE Systems Advanced Apprentice of the Year Award (level 3)
 •  The Royal Navy Higher or Degree Apprentice of the Year Award (level 4 or higher)
 •  The Lloyds Banking Group Rising Star of the Year Award (Apprentices that have made impressive progress in their career to date, and have the potential to go even further. Nominations are made by their employer).
 •  The Royal Air Force Apprenticeship Champion of the Year Award (Individuals who go ‘above and beyond’ to champion apprenticeships. Nominations are made by a colleague or contact who recognises an individual’s ‘champion’ credentials).

 Employer of the Year categories
 •  The BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT SME Employer of the Year Award (for organisations with 1 to 249 employees)
 •  The British Army Large Employer of the Year Award (for organisations with 250 to 4,999 employees)
 •  The Teeside University Macro Employer of the Year Award (for organisations with 5,000+ employees)

 New for 2023
 •  The Social Justice Apprentice Employer of the Year Award (Awarded to an organisation which demonstrates the impact they have had in creating opportunities and support for apprentices who are disadvantaged or under-represented)
 •  The IfATE Apprenticeship Development Partner of the Year Award (Awarded to an employer who has gone the extra mile to develop, approve, review and revise apprenticeships in partnership with IfATE)

 
 Webinars to explain the awards process in more detail, including hints and tips on completing your application, will be available on our application website from 5th June.
Dates for your diary

 Nine face to face regional ceremonies will be held during October 2023, with the national ceremony taking place on Wednesday 29th November 2023.
Click here to find out more about the National Apprenticeship Awards
 In the meantime please join the conversation on Twitter using @Apprenticeships and #AppAwards23
If any of your colleagues would like to join our mailing list, please ask them to complete this short form.
Thank you!
The National Apprenticeship Awards Team


May 2023

Hard to belief that we are nearly halfway through 2023, time is flying! So May is the final month for our January 2021 starters. It is wonderful to hear them share their learning journeys across the apprenticeship. As a course team it has been a pleasure to see them all grow and develop over the last 2 and half years, we wish them all well for their future careers. 

Level 6 ( January 2021 starters) have now completed their final module and assessment for the apprenticeship.  Key dates are 16/5/23 for submission, the results will go to the exam board on 28/6/23. The final, end point assessment process happens on 23/7/23 and then the apprentices are able to apply for HCPC registration. We look forward to seeing you at graduation and hearing all about qualified life.

Level 5 ( January 2022 starters) completed block 3 placement this month and are currently on the job. They will be back in University for a teaching week on 5th June.  Well done all on placement - great feedback from educators.

Level 4 ( Derbyshire October 2022) are finishing their first placement block on 19th May. The halfway feedback was excellent, we look forward to catching up with educators this week to see how the remainder of the placement has gone.

Level 4 (March 2023 starters) are on the job at the moment, they are submitting their first written assignment on 16th May.  We continue to wait for the appointment of work based coaches, this will mean a delay to the first quarterly review. If mentors have questions please do get in touch with Karen or AB. Holly Nicholson is the allocated academic advisor for this cohort. Her email is hn8320@exchange.shu.ac.uk.

In other apprenticeship news:

As part of the Inspirational student award we had 3 apprentices nominated, Natalie Cain, Ellis Porter and Yuk Yee Chang. Yee was the overall winner of the award for the faculty of Health, Wellbeing and Life sciences. Well done all of you for your nominations and Congratulations to Yee. https://blogs.shu.ac.uk/isa/2023/04/26/apprentice-of-the-year-award-2023/


Dates for your diary (see events tab for ongoing dates)

AHP DA Mentor/Employer drop in 

Wednesday 24th May 16.00 Maytas/Pebblepad Click here to join the meeting 

DA Physiotherapy Course leader drop in

For apprentices and mentors. Thursday 18th May 17.00 Click here to join the meeting 

Tutor, employer, apprentice and mentor meeting 12/6/23 at 13.00

Dear all

 

We would like to invite you to the bi-annual Tutor, employer, apprentice and mentor (TEAM) course review meeting. This session will be led by Aimee France (AHP DA Portfolio Lead) and will have DA course leaders, course teams and apprentice course reps in attendance.

 

This meeting is a chance for us all to come together to review and discuss the AHP apprenticeship courses and continue to strive to work towards a quality experience for all involved.

The meeting will start with general discussions around shared aspects of the course that affect all AHP apprentices

We will then move into course specific break out rooms to have the opportunity to discuss course specific issues with the course leaders and course teams present.

 

All employers and mentors are welcome to join for the whole afternoon as we think it is really important that you hear the whole academic review, but we will focus more specifically on employer and mentor feedback at the latter part of the day. Feel free to nip in and out of the meeting as able if you cannot join for the whole afternoon. Please do forward this invite onto anyone who you feel should/would like to be in attendance from your organisation.

 

Please email k.stevens@shu.ac.uk if you wish to attend

April 2023

Busy month for all our apprentices.

Our level 6 (Jan 2021 starters) Have been on campus this week working as a fabulous team to support each other bring together their final piece of academic work as part of the Capstone module. Key dates are 16/5/23 for submission, the results will go to the exam board on 28/6/23. The final, end point assessment process happens on 23/7/23 and then the apprentices are able to apply for HCPC registration. It has been wonderful having them all on campus for the last time, they have been on a tough but rewarding journey and will make fabulous Physiotherapist. Many thanks to all of the mentors for your support so far, nearly done. The deadline for the National Student Survey is the end of April, please can all level 6 apprentices complete this, The University makes a donation to student MIND for every completed survey.

The level 5 apprentices (Jan 2022 starters) are on their block 3 placement. Halfway calls were completed last week and it was a pleasure to hear such positive feedback.

Our Derbyshire cohort level 4(October 2022 starters) are on their first placement block. We hope that they are all enjoying putting into practice their learning so far.

The level 4 ( March 23 starters) are back in University on Monday 24th to complete their first module and to start their second - Foundations of Physiotherapy. This is the first profession specific module where we cover basic of anatomy, tissue healing, pain physiology, clinical reasoning and assessment skills. They will also meet their academic advisor. 

We ran a well attended online and face to face mentor training session in early April. All new mentors will be recieving Maytas access in the next few weeks. If you have not received it by the end of April please get in touch. 

Dates for your diaries:

AHP Degree apprenticeship Mentor/Employer drop in 24/5/23 16.00-17.00 Links on here 

DA Physiotherapy Course leader drop in for apprentices and mentors 18/5/23 17.00-18.00 Click here to join the meeting 


Tutor, Employer, Mentor, Apprentice meeting 12/6/23 TBC




Nominations for inspirational teaching awards are open:


Each year the university offers students the chance to recognise a member/members of staff for their contribution to teaching, your development or support provision whilst at SHU. Please do consider nominating as it would be great for any of our Degree Apprenticeship team, academic or otherwise, to be recognised for the hard work they put in to support the course and your development (it really does make someone's day when the University lets us know someone (it’s anonymous) thinks they’re great!).


“Has an inspirational teacher or staff member made a positive difference to your time at Sheffield Hallam? This is your chance to nominate them for an Inspirational Teaching, Outstanding Student Support, or Outstanding Academic Adviser Award. We invite you to take part in these awards by nominating the staff who have inspired teaching, motivated, or supported you. If there is a person who has made a positive difference to your time at Sheffield Hallam either inside or outside of the classroom. You can nominate any teaching staff, Academic Adviser, or member of support staff for an award. Support staff can be from Student Support, Student Finance, Library Services, Careers Services, Work-Based Learning Coach, plus many other areas of non-academic support at Sheffield Hallam.”

Nominations are now open until midnight on Sunday 30th April 2023.

SUBMIT YOUR NOMINATION HERE



Chartered Society of Physiotherapy Conference:

= CSP Conference = 

Student tickets only £29

The 2023 conference theme is Physiotherapy: Transforming Population Health. Our focus is on how physiotherapy can transform population health to reduce health inequalities, and we will examine this from four perspectives (Themes).

Programme - Book tickets

There will also be a student conference, separate to the above, priced £10. Details in first link above



March 2023

Welcome to the New DA Physiotherapy website. As a course team we want to have a site that houses useful information about the DA Physiotherapy course and a means to stay regularly in touch for all our apprentices, their work based mentors and employers.

What's new this month: We are really please to welcome our new starters. We had 34 new apprentices join us from all over the UK to start their Physiotherapy journey. They will be joining 6 other AHP apprenticeships on their journey including the first ever medical ultrasonography course. For new work based mentors there is a training event on Thursday 30/3/23 - see events section for further details.

Our level 6 (Jan 2021 starters) are working super hard with their final assignments in their last couple of months before they will be leaving us for the world of qualification. The majority have completed final placement and have the final "capstone" module to go, which runs in April and then submits in May.  It is really exciting hearing about their plans for the future.

The level 5 apprentices (Jan 2022 starters) are gearing up for their block 3 placement which commences week beginning 27th March. Good luck to all, enjoy and work hard.  the next teaching block is week commencing 5th June 2023.

Our Derbyshire cohort who started in October 2022 are on the job currently and due out on their first placement on Monday 10th April.   Final allocations are being made. Any queries do get in touch with the AHP placement team. They have all been successful with their first two modules, keep up the hard work. They will have their first practical exams on April 5th. We will also be completing all mandatory training on that date that was postponed due to snow.

In other apprenticeship news:

We celebrated National Apprenticeship week in February, sharing some of our apprentices journey's