Glastonbury bakery Burns the Bread has teamed up with Strode College in Street to run the first Bakery Apprenticeship in the South West.

The hospitality sector is constantly growing and evolving, with new job roles being created all the time, requiring an increase in skilled workers.

This sector makes a massive contribution to the UK economy and in the South West - it is one of the largest employers across the region.

Being based in the heart of Somerset, Strode College's Employer Engagement team are continuing to develop their strong working links with businesses in the region, with the aim of enhancing their range of hospitality apprenticeship schemes.

To extend their working links with businesses, the college has collaborated with award-winning bakery Burns the Bread to establish the first Baking Apprenticeship in the South West.

Established in 1983, Burns the Bread is an iconic institution in the area. Since its inception, the business has steadily expanded into the successful award-winning business you see today with three generations of the Burns family at the helm.

Adding to their recent victory of being crowned Best Bakery in Somerset, Burns the Bread have now also been crowned both Best Bakery in the South West and Best Bakery in the UK at the National Bakery Awards.

Burns the Bread is a lot more than just a bakery, they are setting a new standard for the baking industry to help address the skills gap and to provide wider employment opportunities for the community.

Strode College are now working in partnership with Dave Lovett, operations manager at Burns the Bread, to boost the number of skilled bakers in the region with the development of a new baking apprenticeship.

This partnership and apprenticeship will enable structured and high quality bakery training for young people and help Burns the Bread achieve its dream of boosting the number of skilled bakers in the region.

Bob Burns said: "I have been a baker since I was 12 years old.

"Baking is my passion along with helping other people. I bought this bakery back in 1983, when I moved to Glastonbury.

"I wanted a business in a small town, so that it could become part of the community. For me this business has never been just focused on profit - it has always been about sharing my baking passion with my family and the community.

"We initially thought about offering a Burns the Bread apprenticeship, training students to our own industry standard.

"However, working with the Ofsted outstanding Strode College has presented the perfect opportunity to work in partnership to deliver this apprenticeship with a team who share our passion and desire to recruit more baking trainees.

"As a former apprentice myself I have always advocated the provision of such training for young aspiring bakers."

Mr Burns started his bakery career in the 1960s as an apprentice at Hayman's Bakery, in Ilton, near Ilminster, while attending Taunton Technical College on a day release scheme.

When he took over the 200-year-old Glastonbury bakery in 1983 and established Burns the Bread, a number of the company's trainees and apprentices also attended the same college.

This continued for quite a few years, but as the general interest in becoming a baker diminished and the number of bakery businesses declined so many colleges, including Taunton, amalgamated their dedicated bakery courses into their general catering training.

As time passed, the company became increasingly concerned about the inability of the local colleges to deliver effective bakery training.

Although Burns the Bread was able to offer on the job training, this did not necessarily lead to a formal recognised qualification for the trainee.

In the last 20 years, Mr Burns has run theory based bakery training, along with retired baker Henry Jeffries, who became their master baker and craft trainer.

Henry joined the business to run the Association of Scottish Bakers NVQ Training courses. After training approximately 25 staff in both retail and bakery training, the NVQ courses ended when the government funding ceased.

Mr Burns had the opportunity to buy a unit at Adlam's Central Park in Glastonbury which he converted into a purpose-built bakery training facility.

The initial purpose of these facilities was to run bakery courses open to the public on a weekly basis.

However, this meant that for much of the time the premises were not being fully utilised. Following discussions at the company on how to continue a training programme, and talking to Strode College regarding what they were able to offer in the way of recruitment and training, the partnership began.

Strode principal Katy Quinn said: "We are absolutely delighted to be working in partnership with this iconic local brand with similar values to Strode College.

"We are very excited about the potential of this apprenticeship programme and look forward to training the bakers of the future."

Strode College currently have four apprentices on the programme, with a further two about to join.

They are completing the qualification by attending Burns the Bread's new training centre one day a week to undertake training with Paul Bentley (Strode College's lead hospitality trainer and assessor) and Henry Jeffries.

They will deliver the full bakery apprenticeship then set a structured homework programme to support the coursework with regular on-site visits.

Henry said: "This is a brilliant opportunity for us and we are so lucky to have the unique facilities here to offer this training, as we are the only small bakery to have this practical training facility.

"I am delighted to be the craft trainer for this apprenticeship, and it seemed the perfect opportunity to be involved, with my background in delivering NVQ training.

"Burns the Bread always wanted to offer training for new recruits, and when Paul Bentley, from Strode College, enquired if there was anything they could do to help the growth in bakers coming out of this region, it seemed beneficial to both parties to formulate a partnership.

"This is a pilot scheme which has got off to a very good start and we hope it will continue to grow."

Paul said: "For myself, delivering a range of hospitality apprenticeships here with Strode College, I see this as a fantastic opportunity for bakers who want to develop their skills and knowledge and be recognised for that with a NVQ bakery qualification.

"I think that it is a wonderful course, and that the partnership between two local providers is really getting the best from everyone and the bread that is hand made by the apprentices is just the best!"

Gemma Dyer, aged 17, is undertaking this apprenticeship with Burns the Bread, but had also been working for the company a few months before starting this apprenticeship.

She said: "I already work at the Burns the Bread branch in Glastonbury High Street, as it's the only actual bakery out of all the branches – everything gets made in the Glastonbury store.

"The idea of undertaking this apprenticeship was put to me by Dave Lovett, operations manager of Burns the Bread.

"I have found this pathway to be a good opportunity and it gives me the chance to learn something I wouldn't learn elsewhere.

"I am really enjoying my apprenticeship so far and so looking to carry it forward with a career in baking in the future.

"I have always been interested in nutrition and a lot of the theory learning involved in this apprenticeship covers what I'm interested in."

To find out more about apprenticeships on offer at Strode College, contact the Employer Engagement team on 01458 844457 or [email protected].