Around 200 apprentices are set to join Newcastle’s Parkdean Resorts after the leisure operator announced plans for new programmes across its UK network of holiday parks.
Parkdean Resorts – the UK’s largest holiday park operator – has announced it will start delivering up to 200 apprenticeships nationwide after getting Employer Provider Status by the Education and Skills Funding Agency.
The group, which owns and run 67 parks across the North East, Yorkshire, North West, Devon and Cornwall, Dorset and South East, is now an official apprenticeship training provider and will be subject to Ofsted inspections across its parks and central support office in Gosforth, Newcastle.
The 200 vacancies will be spread across the country including in North East, the Lake District and Devon and Cornwall over the next two years, with apprentices joining the business from the autumn.
It will deliver a number of apprenticeships, offering structured, on and off-the-job coaching from day one, in a range of roles including hospitality team members and supervisors, team leaders and senior production chefs.
Maggie Pavlou, human resources director at Parkdean Resorts said: “We’re delighted to be recognised as an official training provider of apprenticeships. Parkdean Resorts’ success has been built on the basis that our people’s primary focus is delivery of excellent customer service.
“We are therefore very clear our apprenticeships will be sector-leading programmes.
“This year we have invested heavily in delivering bespoke training and development programmes across our estate, so this announcement enhances our planned people investment. It will provide a robust framework upon which we can plan our future strategies.”
Alyson Robson, apprenticeship programme manager added: “The seasonality of our business and peak activity periods occurring at weekends mean that we had to look internally to ensure that we could offer bespoke apprenticeships and programme delivery that would help our people shine.
“We spend a lot of time listening to the needs of our business, and the people development team already has an excellent reputation for designing and delivering programmes which have led to a significant number of well-earned promotions.
“We are very much looking forward to welcoming our first intake later this year.”
This announcement follows Parkdean Resorts recently being awarded the Investors in People Gold Standard Award for the second time, marking it as one of the UK’s best people businesses and recognising its ongoing commitment to people development and investment.
