Monthly Archives: April 2016

Highfield staff gear up for London Marathon 2016

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This Sunday marks the 35 th annual London Marathon.

Our Managing Director Christian Sprenger, IT Director Ashley Reddy and Becky Ashley will be lacing up their trainers to run a gruelling 26.2 miles in aid of our chosen charity VICTA, alongside Olympic athletes Dame Kelly Holmes and Iwan Thomas.

This fantastic charity provides equipment and services and hosts events that help blind and partially sighted children and young people to develop socially, emotionally and educationally, as well as offering their parents a vital network of support and information.

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Becky and Chris at the Chesterfield Marathon – trying to get some miles in preparation for the 26.2 challenge!

Chris has now been dubbed by all of us at Highfield as ‘marathon man’ as this weekend will be his 3 rd appearance at the event (we’ll keep you informed if he can beat last year’s finish time of 3 hours 29 minutes!), however for our IT Director Ashley and marketing manager Becky, it will be their first time competing.

After signing up for the challenge back in May last year, they have all embarked on rigorous training regimes and Chris has regularly been seen testing his endurance on lunch breaks! We’ve summarised Ashley’s training in numbers below using information gathered from his fitness device.

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As this went to press, the Highfield heroes have received over £1,500 in sponsorship so far for the London Marathon, and we certainly put the fun in fundraising at our Christmas party, which saw our wonderful team donate over £1,000 in just one night!

To support them on their adventure this weekend, please click here

90th birthday marks royal recognition for Highfield

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Highfield will be helping HM Queen Elizabeth II celebrate her 90 th birthday this year after winning the UK’s most prestigious business accolade, the Queen’s Award for Enterprise.

The Highfield Group, one of the UK’s leading education organisations, was announced as the winner of the award as part of the national celebrations to celebrate HM The Queen’s 90 th birthday on 21 April.

Sprenger Family Queen’s Award winners are chosen by a panel that includes the Prime Minister and leading figures from government and industry, making it one of the most sought after accolades for British businesses.

Highfield is one of the UK and Middle East’s leading suppliers of compliance, apprenticeship and work-based learning qualifications, training materials and e-learning. It is one of the UK’s largest exam boards, and is actively involved in the development of the UK workforce and productivity, as well as contributing to government plans for three million apprenticeships by 2020 and the switchover to apprenticeship trailblazers.

The organisation, which has its headquarters in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, works with some of the biggest names in international business to help develop their staff, including PepsiCo, Nestle, Marks & Spencer and Superdrug, and each year supports over 2 million learners across the globe to achieve their educational aspirations.

Jason Sprenger, Highfield Chief Executive, said, ‘I’m incredibly proud of this fantastic achievement, which is a testament to our exceptional team and their dedication to our core values of quality, value, service and integrity. It is proving to be an amazing 12 months for Highfield.  We are continuing to expand domestically and internationally, with offices recently opening in Sheffield, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, plus a new international headquarters planned for Doncaster later in 2016, and have numerous other blue chip companies that have committed to working with us going forward’.

Representatives from Highfield will receive the award in person from Her Majesty at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace on 14 July 2016.  A further ceremony with the Lord Lieutenant of South Yorkshire, Mr Andrew Coombe, will take place at Highfield’s offices later in the year.
For more information on Highfield, go to www.highfieldabc.com

For regular updates, go to https://twitter.com/HighfieldABC and www.facebook.com/HighfieldABC

For more on the Queen’s Award, go to www.gov.uk/queens-awards-for-enterprise/overview

Important changes to the SIA application process

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The Security Industry Authority (SIA) is launching a new self-service website, aiming to simplify the licence application process and introducing the new ways of applying for licences and managing your licensing requirements.

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From spring 2016, all licence applications and renewals will be completed through the new self-service website via your personal or business account. Your new online account will give you greater control of the application process, acting as a central hub for all information regarding your licence.

It is important that applicants and businesses are aware of these changes and confident with the new procedures. To clarify how the new self-service website will work, and introduce some of the key functions they have added to make the application process quicker and easier, the SIA has produced a series of video tutorials to help you understand what it will be like to use the new system.

To ensure that you are sufficiently prepared for the upcoming changes, we encourage you to use these videos for both your own instruction and to communicate the changes to your colleagues/learners.

Further advice and information regarding the new self-service website is available on the SIA website: www.sia.homeoffice.gov.uk/changes