To mark National Apprenticeship Week in the UK, Ella Nash and Max Silver, two apprentices from the BSSS Executive Team, have highlighted their experience on their apprenticeships and how it has benefitted them. National Apprenticeship Week brings together businesses and apprentices across the country to shine a light on the positive impact that apprenticeships make to individuals, businesses and the wider economy. We can safely say that the organisation has benefitted from the hard work, enthusiasm, fresh ideas and commitment of our apprentices; so we are great supporters of the apprenticeship programme and this initiative.
Hear more from our apprentices below…
Ella Nash – Apprentice Marketing and Events
I started my journey at the ¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ in September 2025 as a Marketing and Events Apprentice. Although I had little experience in marketing, I knew it was a route I wanted to explore. Choosing an apprenticeship felt like the right step, as it allowed me to gain hands-on experience while gaining a qualification at the same time. As National Apprenticeship Week focuses on celebrating opportunities and raising awareness of apprenticeships, I felt it was important to share my experience and what I have gained so far.
Throughout my apprenticeship, I have had the opportunity to develop skills I already had as well as new ones. I have gained more confidence using software such as Canva and the Adobe Suite, this allowed me to develop my creativity. I have also gained experience by supporting marketing tasks, managing tasks, and working as part of a team.
During my time at BSSS, I have attended three events: a Working with Soils course, an ABPCO awards evening, and the Early Careers Conference. Attending these events has allowed me to improve my networking skills by speaking with professionals from across the sector. These experiences have helped me feel more confident in professional settings.
During the working weeks, Wednesday is dedicated to college, where we follow a curriculum that supports my apprenticeship. A major focus of this is portfolio work, which plays an important role in demonstrating the skills and knowledge I have developed. By the end of the apprenticeship, I will be assessed on my portfolio and the evidence included within it. Throughout this process, I get support from my college tutor and colleagues.
So far, my apprenticeship has provided valuable opportunities to develop my digital skill set, strengthen my networking abilities, and build confidence. It has reinforced my interest in marketing and has shown me how valuable apprenticeships can be in building a strong foundation for a future career.
Max Silver – Apprentice Membership Administration Officer
I began my journey with BSSS almost 2 years ago now, which feels almost ridiculous to say as it really does not feel like it has been that long. I am now coming to the end of my apprenticeship with BSSS, and at this point, I believe that I have developed massively, both as a person and in terms of my expertise. I no longer feel like an apprentice, instead feeling like I am a full member of the team and have been mostly independent in my work for some time now.
During this time with the Society, I have been the main point of contact for members and stakeholders due to me overseeing our Admin email and phone calls. I have also been present at some events, such as Groundswell, our Annual Conferences as well as our Early Career Conference 2025 in which I got to speak with a lot of members our members as well as our various stakeholders. The experience I gained from these was invaluable, and it felt amazing to be able to promote an organisation that I feel I have had a role in developing and changing.
Throughout my time working with the Society, I have been able to lead and participate in many projects that have helped to develop my skills. Some of these include our member segmentation project, in which I was responsible for gathering and presenting the data on our members to help further our goals towards Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). I was also responsible for researching suggestions for our Society patron, for which I was pleased to see that Kate Humble was eventually chosen. Overall, I have found it incredibly rewarding to feel like a big part of something that is growing and that I feel I have had some ownership of.
Alongside my work day-to-day there has, of course been the learning element with Bedford College, through which I have had excellent support to help me get to the stage where I am now ready to become a fully qualified business administrator. As part of this college work, I have had to undertake a project of my choosing that I feel improves something in the Society. For my project, I chose to lead on creating a new webpage that provides a good overview for what soil is and why it is important. This project has now been completed, and I believe that this has helped to give an excellent overview for the public to understand why soil is important.
In summary, my experience with BSSS has been excellent. My work with the Society has developed my skills with software thanks to our frequent use of our CRM system, Microsoft office software and website building applications. My skills with balancing and organising my workload and ability to communicate with a team and stakeholders have been massively improved. I’ve had a real sense of pride in my work and have felt like I have played my part in the Society’s continuing success.
