L2 Apprenticeship Standard for Retailer

At Pier Training we hold learner and employer at the heart of everything we do. Our staff are fully qualified and have a wealth of direct experience of the industry sector they deal with. They deliver the training in the workplace to match the working time of employees including shift patterns to avoid disruption to business output.

With a philosophy based on assurance of quality, our aim is to be recognised as one of the national forerunners in training and development, for clients in the private and public sectors. We continue to make strides in the journey towards this goal.

We are passionate about the development of both individuals and organisations. We pride ourselves in delivering quality development solutions and support that add measurable value for organisations.

Our Vision:

Our vision is to be a provider of high-quality training which makes a positive impact on apprentices’ lives and the lives of those around them. We want to ensure the career and academic progression of our apprentices in their respective professions. Our vision is to be a chosen provider of training for employers and be recognised by regulatory bodies as an ‘outstanding’ training provider with quality at the heart of everything we do.

This vision is reinforced in the work our team performs in delivering innovative and quality teaching and learning for our apprentices. The workforce we train and develop will need to be the future industry drivers of the social and economic fabric of the country.

Our Mission:

Our mission is to help apprentices realise their potential by making training an inclusive and enjoyable journey where they can start to differentiate their yesterday from today and make their future look even better.

Our Values:

Passion and dedication are embedded in our business culture; we take pride in the training we deliver, which adds measurable value to our clients’ businesses. The passion and dedication are evident through all levels in the business from team members to the senior leaders.

Integrity and honesty are an essential part of our business; every member of our team works hard to ensure we deliver on our promises. We have maintained long-term relationships due to meeting and exceeding clients’ expectations.

Ethos based on quality is at the heart of everything we do. We strive for excellence and our learners are stretched and challenged in their respective learning journey.

Reward and recognition encourage productivity. We at Pier Training recognise our staff and learners for the work they do.

Strategic aims

We support apprentices at different levels with varied abilities and prior skill sets. Our programmes are designed in a way that they support employers’ collective goals, thereby providing a bespoke training option for the individual apprentice. We recognise that not all apprentices progress at the same pace and some require additional support. Our teaching methods incorporate a solution for all capabilities.

We strongly believe in working in partnership with our customers; therefore, our business development team is supported by the curriculum design team in understanding the core staff upskilling requirements of the customers.

Training programmes are designed to incorporate customers’ wider business priorities. We will continue to develop our partnership working with all current and prospective customers. We set our clear expectations from all stakeholders right from the onset which help us to achieve desired results.

We support our staff in helping them support our apprentices. We go through a rigorous recruitment process to ensure we recruit staff members with the appropriate skill set. We also continue to support them throughout their employment journey through various standardisation processes and continuous professional development training programmes.

Majority of our apprentices are now completing their End Point Assessments with distinctions. We would like to continue to develop our training provision to maintain these results across all programmes.

We strive to achieve higher retention rates for apprenticeship delivery. Our current Qualification Achievement Rate is 83.3% across all programmes, this is much higher than the national average. Our strategy is to never give up and continue to find innovative ways to help apprentices complete their learning milestones.

The business continues to diversify its revenue stream by developing commercial training programmes offered to our customers. Our aim has always been to provide a baseline start for our apprentices, who are not ready to embark on an apprenticeship journey, by delivering sector-specific minimum standards training.

We are also working on promoting apprenticeships with the 16-18 age group. Our aim is to support individuals who are part of the disadvantaged group. The strategy is to support and develop individuals bottom up, thereby giving employers a long-term solution to their staff recruitment challenges.

We believe in doing things even better. To achieve this strategic aim, we have appointed a highly qualified External Governor who shares her extensive experience gained within the Further Education sector providing constructive critical feedback and suggestions for improvement.

The business has invested time and resources during the latter part of 2018 in sourcing the best digital platform to develop its remote learning capabilities. The strategy has helped the business to maintain continuity of training delivery during the Covid-19 pandemic. The blended learning approach continues to develop the IT learning capabilities of our apprentices and we will continue to develop in this area.