Our apprentices: where are they now?

9^th - 15^th February is National Apprenticeship Week and we're looking at the journey our three museum and gallery apprentices have taken.

This is the second part of our Museums and Galleries Apprenticeship series. Read this part first to learn where our apprentices started. Meet our apprentices | Kirklees Council

Mae

For the past 18 months I have been an Apprentice Technician with Kirklees Museums and Galleries. Part of the Curatorial and Technical Team, my role had me working behind the scenes with the collections. My main responsibilities included cleaning objects and gallery spaces, monitoring pest activity and environmental conditions, fixing displays, and installing exhibitions. On our social media pages, you may have also seen me working on projects like The Red Dress, No Patch of Green Too Small, and Heritage Open Days.

One highlight over the past year has definitely been working on the exhibitions, coming from a Fine Art background, this is something I hope to do in the future. This includes the exhibition 'A Stitch in Time' which I was project lead on, meaning I was responsible for selecting and researching the objects, writing the interpretation, designing the gallery space and hanging the final show. This was a really valuable experience as I was able to learn how an exhibition is put together from a curatorial perspective, not just as a technician, and see the project from beginning to end.

Another highlight for me was my college experience. The only college to provide our course in the whole of the UK was in London. Although this doesn't sound like a good thing when you're based in Kirklees, part of our college days included visiting lots of museums in London that I wouldn't have had the chance to see otherwise. On these visits we had behind the scenes tours from other museum professionals, met lots of new people, learned how their careers developed and saw how other institutions functioned. This was a real insight into my potential future career and widened my experience outside of Kirklees Museums and Galleries. Some of my favourite institutions we visited were UCL Grant Museum (because I'm fascinated by weird things in jars) and Hampton Court Palace because of the amazing painted ceilings and the unique combination of Tudor and Baroque architecture.

The last few months of my apprenticeship involved going through 'Gateway' and preparing for my End Point Assessment (EPA). For us, this involved consolidating all our written assignments into a portfolio to be presented to our assessor during a three-hour professional discussion, as well as preparing two observations (tasks to be assessed on the day) to showcase certain skills we had learned. For one of my observations, I wanted to re-display some archaeological fragments in the Roman's gallery. These are fragments of 2,000-year-old wooden posts which would have supported the northern defence tower at Slack Roman Fort. They are pretty significant pieces and were easy for visitors to overlook due to their case being low down with no additional lighting. Due to certain light levels causing damage to objects, installing lighting in this case wasn't an option, so I had to come up with a different solution. Working alongside the Senior Technician, Andrew, we designed and made a new plinth for them to stand on, painting it white to brighten the space. On the day of my EPA, I installed this plinth, as well as showcasing other skills I'd learned such as condition checking and packing for transport.

Overall, my EPA was a success, and I managed to pass my apprenticeship in December 2025. Luckily, there are major projects happening with Kirklees Museums and Galleries and I have been able to secure a position as an Assistant Curator. I'm really excited about this new role, especially as I will be continuing to work closely with and take care of our collections. Now, the main part of my role is to ensure all objects stored in Tolson Museum have been documented sufficiently and safely packed for transport. This is to work towards developing Our Cultural Heart, and hopefully as I get further stuck into this role, I will be able to identify significant objects to put on display in the new museum.

If someone was debating whether to do an apprenticeship, I would definitely say go for it! Completing this has opened more opportunities for me than my degree ever did. I feel the practical skills have given me a strong foundation for my career and I never would have met so many museum or art gallery professionals elsewhere. There have definitely been challenges over the past 18 months, but tough experiences have given me the essential skills to get me where I am now. Hopefully, I can develop these further and continue to work in the culture and heritage sector in the future.

Nathan

The last year has been a great experience to be involved in so many projects and finishing my apprenticeship. Because of what the technician apprenticeship covered, I was able to learn about so many aspects of how museums operate which was amazing because of my interest in them. I have worked in the workshop to build plinths, help install exhibitions as well as take part in documentation of the large collection.

The educational side of the apprenticeship was challenging at times, staying on top of assignments, but there was also a lot of fun. We went on various trips to different museums and historic sites; places I may not have seen otherwise and see our learning in practice. My favourite visits have to have been Westminster Abbey, HMS Belfast and Hampton court. The end point assessment was very daunting and stressful as the date got closer, but thankfully the assessor was very nice and understanding and I was able to pass.

I really enjoyed being hands-on at work, especially when being trained on workshop machinery, using a variety of tools and working on exhibitions. Being able to see a design come to life gave me a large amount of pride and satisfaction and it was great to meet and work alongside many talented artists and skilled professionals. The variety of work made it, so every day was different which was good to have a varied experience and learn different skills as well as keeping things entertaining. However, this did also bring some challenges such as being unprepared for the day or having little to do.

After passing the apprenticeship I applied to be an assistant curator and I was fortunate enough to get the job, and it is now my current role within the council. Overall, I enjoyed my apprenticeship a lot, I worked with some amazing people and can't wait for what the future holds.

Charlotte

Hi, I am Charlotte and after completing my Content Creator apprenticeship at Kirklees Museums and Galleries, I have now transitioned into the role of Content Creator.

Moving into this position has been really exciting as I am now able to use all the skills I developed during my apprenticeship and build on them even more. I still manage the social media accounts for Oakwell Hall, Tolson Museum and Bagshaw Museum, as well as the main Kirklees Museums channels, but I now have more responsibility and confidence in how I plan, strategize and create content.

My role still involves visiting our sites, creating engaging posts and sharing them across our social media platforms. I continue to photograph events, exhibitions and the museums themselves, as well as filming and editing video content. However, I am now more involved in planning campaigns, organising content schedules, making sure our online presence stays consistent and up to date and raising awareness of the collections.

A big part of my role is continuing to build our bank of images and videos, so we always have fresh content to use for promotions and future projects. I am regularly capturing new material across all sites to make sure what we share online truly reflects what is happening in our museums.

My favourite thing about transitioning into this role has been seeing how much I have grown in confidence as well as the significant growth in our social media accounts. From planning content to working closely with different teams, I feel proud of how far I have come. I continue to learn something new every day, whether that is about our collections, local history or new ways to create engaging digital content, and I am very grateful to now be doing this as my full-time role.

See the content that Charlotte creates on our Instagram or watch the video below to get a flavour of Tolson Museum!

We are incredibly proud that all three of our apprentices have successfully graduated and now hold roles within the heritage sector and we can't wait to see what they achieve in 2026!