Apprentice Aces it with Top Grades for Assessment

Millie Hawkins, now 18, began her Business Administration apprenticeship at Unique Group in September 2023 completing it in one year (September 2024), with resounding grades for many elements. 

Choosing an apprenticeship over A Levels, Millie combined the experience of learning whilst working with a ‘much better outcome.’ For her course, Millie studied modules in General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Finance, Stakeholder and Shareholders and some other financial, legal and more generalised aspects of the business. 

She described her Distinction grade as the: “…best outcome I could have gotten.” Millie, after much hard work and dedication, scored top marks for her End Point Assessment (EPA) at the end of her apprenticeship, too. She says of her now permanent position with Unique Group, “Before, Tuesdays were my college day, and I made sure I did all my college work then. For my EPA I did ‘the transfer of data to a new system’, which is apt as we have many new clients, we do this for. In fact, in the last year, we’ve had over 4,000 new clients.”

Unique Group where Millie works is a family-run business started in the 1990s and they are specialists in fire protection, smart homes, electrical, renewable and property solutions. More recently, they have taken on larger contracts with the RNLI and Sunseeker in Poole. For Millie, a typical day might be monitoring system alerts, invoicing, client and issues management and many other office duties; many of which include Excel spreadsheets! She says: “There’s lots of responsibility, which is good.”

In the future, Millie says she would possibly be interested in maybe pursuing a different apprenticeship or subject, but she would not do a higher level of apprenticeship in Business Administration as she would rather learn something different. In her spare time, she has also been enjoying traveling.

Rounding up, Millie said of her subsequent role in Unique Group: “I 100% chose the right company to do my apprenticeship with. I got offered roles with other companies - but turned them down.” She added: “The harsh reality of 9-3 at school then straight to an 8-5 in the workplace is a lot harder than people realise and a gradual increase and transfer across with studying and learning is a lot easier.” 

Kelly Price, Millie’s Manager at Unique Group said: “Millie has settled in nicely at Unique, approaches all tasks given with enthusiasm and is eager to learn new things.”

She added: “She loves organising and preparing spreadsheets and completes these in a timely manner alongside invoicing, scheduling and corresponding with customers. Millie has been a great addition to the Unique family and we look forward to seeing how she progresses.” 

The college extends a big well done to Millie and heartfelt good luck on her future career!