Success for Dounreay apprentices who joined in Covid lockdown
One of the most unusual cohorts of apprentices at Dounreay have completed their qualifications after a worrying start to their careers.
Four years ago, eight school-leavers were left wondering if Covid had shattered their dream of becoming a Dounreay apprentice when Britain went into lockdown in the same week as their interviews were due to take place.
Denied the opportunity to impress the site’s recruitment team, they were forced to stay at home while the world around them turned upside down.
Now, four years on, all eight have passed out with qualifications in their respective disciplines after completing one of the strangest apprenticeships in Dounreay’s history.
“Their interviews were scheduled for the same week in March 2020 that the country went into lockdown,” recalled Dounreay’s apprentice training manager Carol Robertson.
“It was a weird time, to say the least. We had to postpone the interviews until the summer and even then we could only do the interviews online using Microsoft Teams, which was a bit of a novelty.
“We made offers to eight people and their start date was in the August of that year, but it was a very different experience for them to say the least. Social distancing, face coverings, legal controls on how many people could come together in one place – we had to design a very different first year for them that was quite isolating.
“A week at the college in a greatly reduced class size and a week at home doing online learning, without the usual learning placements in the workplace, meant they never really integrated socially with each other or with the rest of the site in the way they could normally expect.
“Usually, we find people who join our apprenticeships are fully up and running after six to nine months, but I’d say it was about 18 to 24 months before we could say that about the 2020 intake.
“They were a resilient bunch, though, and mostly knew of each other socially before they came together as our apprentice intake, so that eased their isolation a little. Looking back at what they endured makes me very proud to see them pass out today.”
The Covid generation received their certificates of indenture at an investiture ceremony held in Thurso and attended by guest speaker Maree Todd, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross.
The eight successful apprentices who joined in 2020 were Stuart Campbell (Electrical); Duncan Mackay (Instrument); Connor Macdonald (Mechanical); Owen Robertson-Carswell (Electrical); Ally Mackintosh (Instrument); Adam Bremner (Mechanical); Eadan Ross (Electrical); and Scott Sutherland (Mechanical).
In addition, Joe Anderson became Dounreay’s first qualified scaffolding apprentice after completing a two-year course.
The winner of the Lachie MacMillan Memorial Cup was electrical apprentice Owen Klimas. The trophy is awarded to the apprentice “showing most potential” and can be won by any apprentice in any year group. The Director’s Trophy for best all-round apprentice went to electrical apprentice Fallon Campbell.
