Wakefield EH Apprentices reflect on the value of apprenticeships

During National Apprenticeship Week 2025 CIEH joined with the Environmental health team at Wakefield Council to share their experiences both as an employee and an employer on the benefits apprenticeships can bring.

We spoke with Emily, Duncan, Olivia and Nicola, all studying for apprenticeships and all coming from different life experiences but each discovering the rewarding and varied career Environmental Health can offer.

“I love the hands-on, practical experience”

18-year-old Emily Guest is from Wakefield and has taken the most ‘traditional’ route of the apprentices we spoke to, coming straight from school to study a degree apprenticeship.

However, her degree is far less traditional, utilising the wonders of modern technology she spends one day a week studying online at Weston University Centre over 200 miles away.

She combines this with practical learning working as part of the Environmental Health team at Wakefield Council, getting out in her community learning the ropes alongside her more senior colleagues, and it’s clear she’s loving every minute.

“I like science – I’m not a massive essay writer or even a natural academic,” she explains Being able to have that hands-on, practical experience as well as having a more personal, teaching role where I am talking and advising people rather than having my head in a book all day was something I found really attractive.

“I really enjoy all aspects of it, but I think it’s the fact I can choose between all these different teams and go out and try different things (that I enjoy). I’m especially interested in the food side at the minute.

“Meeting all the different people and businesses, talking to them about their lives and how they ended up doing what they do – it’s my favourite part.”

Emily says an Environmental Health apprenticeship has so far proved to be a great choice for her and has her excited about what is still to come.

She says she has no hesitation in recommending both Environmental Health and apprenticeships as a route into this rewarding career.

“I would recommend Environmental Health to anyone who wants to try and do something different and put themselves out there and gain the confidence to do it,” she said.

“I think through college and high school you are really pushed to go on to university and to be an academic person and I’m not sure that’s natural for everyone.

“So, I would definitely recommend the apprenticeship route for people who are more hands on and more practically minded just as a different option and something that should be viewed equally as having a degree and going to university.”

“Working in environmental health gives me an opportunity to try and give something back”

For 34-year-old Duncan Campbell, an Environmental Health apprenticeship has offered him the opportunity to change career and to give back to his hometown.

After dabbling in jobs from warehousing to arboriculture, Duncan spent the last six-and-a-half years working in hospitality but was keen to find a career which would work for him in the long-term.

“The idea of doing an apprenticeship was quite attractive to me because it gave me the opportunity to get a degree level qualification but also work at the same time and be paid money,” he said.

“University is very expensive now and as someone with financial responsibilities I wouldn’t have been able to go and do a full-time degree if I wasn’t working alongside it.

“I’m at that point in my life when I’m trying to figure out what I want from my future and working in Environmental Health gives me an opportunity to try and give something back, make a difference and look after the people in Wakefield that I’ve lived around.”

Duncan studies one day a week in-person for his degree apprenticeship at Leeds Beckett University alongside his work at Wakefield Council and although he has only been in post for four months, he loves being part of the authority’s Environmental Health team.

He said: “It’s a really varied team with a lot of different people, all doing lots of varied and interesting things every day. There are always new scenarios cropping up that even people in the team with years of experience are asking each other questions and coming up with the best way to move forward.

“There’s never a dull day – there’s always something new to figure out and problems to solve, working together to find the best option.”

“To me environmental health is all about helping people”

Olivia Blackham, 24, from Doncaster, is a Learning Development Practitioner Apprentice at Wakefield Council.

She came across an advert for the role at the right time in her life when she was looking for something more fulfilling and where she could help people, and a career in Environmental Health fit the bill.

“Over time I’ve found I really love working with people; I love helping people,” she explained.

“That’s what I’ve done with all my jobs, and when I started teaching English as a second language, I really loved making that impact on people, so I wanted to do something more.

“When I saw this apprenticeship come up on the Wakefield Council website, I knew it was perfect because to me Environmental Health is all about helping people and this job was going to give me the opportunity to teach and provide that help.

“I love how different every single day is. Not one of my weeks is ever the same and it keeps you interested and on your toes. I can have really busy weeks and I can have weeks where I focus on my continuous professional development and look at improving my skill set, which I’m really supported in doing. I get so many incredible opportunities.”

An apprenticeship has enabled Olivia not just to embark on a career she is passionate about, but also to take her first step on the property ladder, something she could only dream about before starting her apprenticeship.

“Going to university used to be unique and you were pushed towards that option,” she said. “But now everyone goes to university and employers are wanting more. They want experience as just having a degree doesn’t make you right for a job, you need to prove you can do it.

“I think an apprenticeship gives you all that. I’ve come away with several qualifications, not just my apprenticeship. I’ve been given opportunities; I’ve won awards and been involved in some incredible projects across the country.

"At the same time, I’ve been able to earn money and buy a house and I didn’t start saving for that until I started my apprenticeship. I couldn’t have imagined that when I was at university.”

“I enjoy helping people and giving them guidance”

An Environmental Health apprenticeship is not only an option for those in the infancy of their careers or those looking to take a new direction.

They can also be an opportunity for those who want to use their life experience and passions to make a difference later in their career, and that’s certainly the case for 54-year-old Nicola Kilkenny.

An Animal Health and Welfare Officer at Wakefield Council, Nicola is currently studying for an Environmental Health apprenticeship, joining Emily studying online with Weston University Centre.

She said: “My passion is animal welfare and after I closed my dog grooming business got involved in the regulation of businesses under animal welfare to ensure they are meeting all the welfare needs of the animal.

“Animal welfare was my route into this role. I know it’s not covered so much in Environmental Health, but it does come under that in our department at Wakefield Council.

“I’m very passionate about how animals are cared for and ensuring they’re not abused. Any animals that are not cared for we can regulate them to ensure they are. That is why I love doing my job.

“I enjoy helping people and giving them guidance. There is a lot of that involved in Environmental Health.

“I would definitely recommend it, if you enjoy meeting people, helping people and resolving issues. It’s a very worthwhile job.”

“It’s a career we are passionate about and it’s a privilege to be able to encourage that passion in others.”

The Environmental Health service at Wakefield Council have been actioning their Retain, Recruit and Develop Strategy since 2022 and have fully embraced apprenticeships as part of that.

Ruth Rhodes, a Chartered Environmental Health Practitioner and Team Leader of Commercial Services at Wakefield Council, said that apprenticeships have offered a wide array of benefits to the authority and her team.

She said: “It has been really exciting to recruit and train so many apprentices across the service. It’s a career we are passionate about and it’s a privilege to be able to encourage that passion in others.

“Nurturing new talent comes with a responsibility on us to ensure we share our knowledge, skills and experience but it also an opportunity for those who have been here a while to learn new tricks too.

“The new insight and innovation our apprentices bring to our working lives is not to be underestimated. Their enthusiasm to get stuck in, for example some of the research tasks, monitoring, data gathering and public health projects which we don’t as a rule get time to do really adds value to our work.

“It has also been heart-warming to witness our existing staff allowing themselves to be questioned, giving their time freely and gladly and allowing people to grow and make mistakes in a safe space.”

Further information on apprenticeships in Environmental Health can be found on the CIEH website at http://www.cieh.org/apprenticeships 

Watch the interviews with the Wakefield Environmental Health apprentices here: https://youtu.be/bao_A-_n0xk