We would like to Congratulate David who is employed by Oliver Valves in Cheshire, as he has been awarded a STEGTA Excellence Award for Outstanding Performance in STEGTA Training Centre. We asked David how he felt about winning the award.

“I am extremely proud to be awarded a STEGTA Excellence Award. I entered engineering through my current employer Oliver Valves 10 years ago. I have been given great opportunities which have enabled me to progress my way up from shop floor operative to Research and Development Works Manager. The career I have in engineering is enjoyable mainly because of the day to day variations in tasks and the job satisfaction through problem solving and providing solutions.

The training I have received through STEGTA has allowed me to grow my hand skills and branch out from my desk activities into the shop floor and machine shop environments with a high level of confidence and the relevant skills. The support at STEGTA Training Centre was brilliant and provided a high level of learning in a laid back working environment which is perfect when training. Support from Eddie and Dave in particular was outstanding.

I am currently finishing off the remaining areas of my advanced apprenticeship, those being BTEC Level 3 in engineering and NVQ level 3 in Technical Services. As I’m an older student and father time management is crucial in staying on top of the additional work that comes with qualifications, Rob has provided great support across these subjects and allowed me to get ahead and stay ahead.

I hope to complete my HNC in future but taking one step at a time I’m focused on completing my BTEC with the highest grade I can achieve”.

David’s Training Officer – Robert Stratford commented:

“Dave is a mature student that has always been willing to continuously develop and improve his skills.

At every progress review Dave has finished the work to the highest of standards and is always looking to see if he could finish other tasks earlier.

Whilst undertaking Level 2 Functional Skills in Maths, English and ICT, Dave was a pleasure to teach and initially he was anxious that he would not pass. However, he worked extremely hard to achieve and passed with flying colours.

STEGTA Training Instructors were very impressed with his attitude and ability, he finished all his Turning and Milling units early and to a very high standard and went on to make a puzzle as part of a ‘stretch and challenge’ task on the Milling machine.

Dave is always willing to listen and take on board any advice tips you could give him and it was a pleasure to have him in our Training Centre”.