Horticulture Level 2 Apprentice THAME TOWN COUNCIL FAO - TOWN CLERK

What you will do in your working day

• To learn how to operate and maintain a wide range of grounds maintenance tools and machinery.
• To learn how to identify and carry out play equipment repairs and fixing replacement parts.
• Making safe damage and taping off equipment out of use.
• Repainting where necessary and general maintenance.
• To learn how to carry out monthly play area inspections.
• To perform a wide range of grounds care tasks such as mowing (subject to age and possession of a current drivers’ licence), strimming and litter picking.
• To perform a range of horticultural tasks as required, including weeding, feeding, planting, pruning, sowing, hedge cutting and watering of beds and hanging baskets.
• To carry out ad-hoc repairs including painting to Council owned buildings.
• General housekeeping of the Town Council depot and vehicles.
• Posting and removal of notices from play area notice boards.
• To carry out any other duties commensurate with the post that may be required by the Operations Manager or Maintenance Supervisor.
• To play a flexible role as part of a small team to ensure the smooth running of the daily operational services.
• To successfully complete apprenticeship training by meeting regularly with your apprenticeship assessors and internal verifier, travelling to training when required and completing all assessments material in a timely fashion.

The training you will be getting

Your training will be provided by both your employer and the Grey Seal Academy. All training is delivered face to face at the workplace either on site or videoconferencing; this includes x1 training session and x1 coaching session per month.  

You will have access to an online portfolio and virtual learning environment to assist your training and assessment during your programme. During the Apprenticeship you will learn the following topics:

• Communication; communicating with others, including clients, the public and colleagues. This may require basic IT system use
• Team working; work alone and as part of a team effectively and recognise how all staff are dependent on each other to meet business objectives
• Health and safety; apply relevant health and safety processes and procedures. Implement specific industry information on hazards relevant to horticultural environments
• Follow safe systems of work and safety information provided by employers. Implement environmental protection policies and procedures
• Environmental; prevent and control local pollution incidents e.g. use of spill kits
• Planting, plant growth and development; care for plants correctly in different environments, including basic irrigation methods, planting methods and identifying plant deficiencies
  Install various soft-landscape materials e.g. shrubs, trees, herbaceous, bedding, grass areas and seed. This will include site preparation, planting, sowing, turfing, preparation of seed beds and mulching
• Soil cultivation; cultivating and improving soils by mechanical methods and by hand; making and amelioration of growing media and soils
• Tools, equipment and machinery; safely use tools e.g. spades, rakes, shovels; equipment e.g. tape measure and spirit level and machinery e.g. pedestrian controlled mowers, hand held strimmer, hedgecutter
• Vegetation control; following processes and methods of site clearance, using tools and machinery for pruning and vegetation control, including basic turf management
• Follow weed control methods
• Propagation
• Site presentation; work to a specified finish

Upon completion of the Apprenticeship you will gain the following qualifications and standard:

• Horticulture Operative Level 2 Standard
• Emergency First Aid at Work Level 3
• Safe use of Pesticides Level 2
• Level 2 Award in the Safe Application of Pesticide Using Hand Held Equipment
• Functional Skills in Mathematics Level 1 / 2 (if applicable)
• Functional Skills in English Level 1 / 2 (if applicable)

What to expect at the end of your apprenticeship

Possibility of progressing to a higher-level apprenticeship or permenant employment within the organisation