Previous Ceremonies
The Apprentice Graduation is fundamentally about celebrating our apprentices. Read about our previous amazing Apprentice Graduation Ceremonies and download the event brochures.
The 2023 Graduation is planned for 20th October 2023 at Rochester Cathedral. Find out more about how to participate and register as a graduate for the ceremony or how to become a sponsor or supporter on our dedicated pages. Your help ensures the ceremony is free.
Graduation 2022
The 2022 graduation saw an amazing return to Rochester Cathedral and exceeded expectations by smashing the benchmarks set by the 2019 inaugural ceremony.
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Over 170 apprentices registered of which 153 attended on the day beating the 2019 event by 70%! More than 80 employers and 25 training providers were involved again breaking our records.
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Huge thanks to our dedicated partners and 2022 event sponsors and supporters who ensured another free graduation ceremony for all the amazing apprentices that participated.
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Thanks to their support our graduates received free gowning and a free photo option taken in the beautiful Cathedral Quire.
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The event was also videoed and a short video can be seen below and a full length video featuring all graduates at the ceremony can be found on YouTube.
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A 1 minute social edit can be viewed above on this page. Enjoy!
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Graduation 2021
The 2021 graduation was our biggest ever successfully delivered via the Remo conferencing platform supported by Digital Leaders.
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Nearly 300 apprentices, 170+ employers and 18 training providers were involved breaking all records and possibly making it the largest event of its kind in the south-east if not England.
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Huge thanks to our dedicated partners and 2021 event sponsors who ensured another free graduation ceremony for all the amazing apprentices that participated.
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Thanks to their support our graduates also received an upgraded graduate pack including the new apprentice graduate badge and special commemorative mortar board tassel and 2021 charm, plus a special discounted rate on graduation attire from our partner Graduation Attire.
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We look forward to getting back to a face to face graduation ceremony in 2022. If you wish to know more please use the contact form or email info@appgradkandm.org for details of our sponsorship packages and as to how to register graduates for the ceremony.
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The full YouTube version of the 2021 event is available here.
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VIDEOS: The videos here feature left to right by row:
Introduction by Nicola Everett, Graduate Roll Set1, Set 2, Set 3 the concluding thank you video with Nicola Everett and the Amazing Apprenticeships video.
Chris Brodie of SELEP Welcome and FSB video with Mike Cherry.
Graduation 2020
Choosing to do an apprenticeship allowed me to get out of my own comfort zone, allow me to meet new people and learn something new, all the while being able to learn more about myself whilst doing it, being able to push myself further, to continue to grow and be someone who is more confident in myself and the knowledge I have gained from my apprenticeship.
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Mark Jones
Business & Administration Apprentice Level 2, Medway Council
The Kent & Medway Apprentice Graduation Ceremony 2020 was only the second incarnation of this special event, marking the incredible achievement of the county’s apprentices during 2019-20.
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The original intention, as in 2019, was to hold a prestigious ceremony at Rochester Cathedral and celebrate the apprentice graduates with their friends, parents and employers, as well as with VIP guests including dignitaries, key business organisations and education and training provider leaders.
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The Covid 19 pandemic almost resulted in the event, like so many others, being cancelled for 2020. However, rather than cancel, the Apprentice Graduation Ceremony Working Group decided that marking apprentices’ achievements and the support of their employers during such a challenging year was more important than ever.
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Therefore, organising and delivering a virtual ceremony, which was the first of its kind in England, became the focus of the working group from April. Making it happen involved an enormous amount of work behind the scenes. So whilst the virtual event may not have presented the same variables and stresses as a traditional event, it was still a leap in the dark with a whole new set of risks.
Despite the risks the rewards certainly outweighed them and 125 apprentices, from 21 providers and 54 employers, enjoyed a virtual graduation which was streamed live on 2 October 2020!
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A huge thank you to our host Nicola Everett. Nicola has been a part of both Kent and Medway Apprenticeship Graduation Ceremonies. Nicola’s bright personality and confident public speaking brought the Graduation from screen to your front garden during the virtual event.
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Many thanks to Gillian Keegan MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Apprenticeships and Skills, for addressing the Graduate Apprentices and sharing your experience as an apprentice. Your words are inspiring to our current and future apprentices.
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A final special thank you to our sponsors, without whom it would not be possible to undertake the Kent & Medway Graduation Ceremony. You can see our full range of sponsors in the event programme and on our partners page.
I would recommend anyone who is thinking about further learning, either after school or sixth form that if they want to learn and get a trade then an apprenticeship is by far the best way to go. Not only do you get all the qualifications needed but you also get to work at the same time and get paid for doing so. It’s a fantastic scheme and I highly recommend anyone to do an apprenticeship.
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Chris Rae
Rail Traction and Rolling Stock Engineering Apprentice,Southeastern
I’m incredibly proud and honoured to endorse the Kent and Medway Apprentice Graduation Ceremony. Not only to celebrate the amazing achievements of the graduates but also to support and extend huge thanks to the plethora of employers who have taken such positive and innovative steps to embrace the importance of apprenticeships within their employment settings.
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Pauline Smith
Chief Executive, CXK
Well done – a really tight and interesting event – sections were spaced well to allow the reading of names without becoming too repetitive – the talks were very good and Anthony Impey was his usual inspired self! Great exposure for FSB as first logo in the sponsor section. Congratulations to you and all involved!
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Terry Lockwood
Director Federation of Small Businesses
Really professional!
Everyone came across really well and so good to acknowledge all the apprentices. Really fab event – leading the way.
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Louise Aitken
Skills Lead
South East Local Enterprise Partnership
It looked really slick...the apprentices and presenters came across excellently!
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James Wilkinson
Digital Skills Partnership
South East LEP
As we all know, COVID-19 has affected events across the globe, especially Graduations.
Being an innovative organisation, Graduation Attire couldn’t bear to think that the Class of 2020 were not going to experience the momentous occasion that is Graduation and so they created Graduations.LIVE, a new, intuitive and content-driven celebration platform, allowing students to celebrate digitally and safely.
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We built the Graduations.LIVE platform so no achievement would go unmarked and were thrilled bring the virtual graduation to life in 2020 with students being able to create videos and photos to include in the ceremony. This year, we’ll be looking to bring more live elements into the ceremony to make it a truly special event for everyone involved.
Martin Lewis
Managing Director - Graduation Attire
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For more information about the platform and to book a FREE demonstration, go to www.graduations.live
Graduation 2019
The first-ever Kent & Medway Apprentice Graduation Ceremony took place on the 4th October 2019 at Rochester Cathedral. There were over 600 people in attendance, including 97 graduates, their friends and families as well as 120 distinguished guests. The prestigious event was hosted by Paul Andrews, CEO of Jobs in Kent and Nicola Everett of KMFM and the ceremony celebrated apprentices who had successfully completed their qualification between 1st January 2018 and 31st August 2019.
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KATO, together with the event organisers and sponsors, brought this event to life with the aim of celebrating the apprentices’ achievements in the same way as a university graduate is recognised.
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Kelly Tolhurst, Conservative Member of Parliament for Rochester & Strood, was a special guest and speaker at the ceremony. She delivered a welcome address and, together with Brian Woods, South East Regional Chair, FSB and Christian Brodie, Chair, South East LEP, hosted a VIP Business Reception.
David Ward, Chief Executive Officer of Ward Security gave an impassioned speech in which he reinforced the importance of investing in training of staff. Ward Securities provides a range of apprenticeships as part of its people strategy and currently employs 22 active apprentices within its business.
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The graduation ceremony was the culmination of months of hard work of a dedicated working group who have met frequently over the past 12 months to plan the event down to the smallest detail. The overall aim was to make it a day to remember for all the apprentices, supporters and businesses involved and it we are congratulating ourselves on a great success!
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Without our cross-sector working group it would be difficult to deliver such a large event to such a wide audience, in such a prestigious location. We would therefore like to offer our sincere thanks to the representatives from the organisations who helped make it happen.