Bullied Blue blossoms as apprentice

Blue Ridley (featuring as one of the stars of ‘Training@Hopwood’ campaign)

19 year old Blue Ridley from Bury has secured an apprenticeship in Customer Service, in a move that has raised her confidence after suffering bullying at school.

Blue’s new job is at Hopwood Hall College, where she was already a student at their Rochdale campus, studying for a Level 3 NVQ in Textiles. However, her confidence took a knock last year, as she was convinced she’d fail her BTEC National Diploma. In fact, she passed with 3 Merits and a Pass! However, even on successful completion of her qualification, Blue still didn’t feel she was confident enough to pursue her ambitions (of firstly, going on to university and then securing a job at The Manchester Art Gallery).

Blue was bullied at school and this was affecting her confidence and self-esteem; she wanted to overcome her paranoia and the lack of confidence she was facing when dealing with people; so, Blue decided that she needed to gain more experience in customer service, in order to help tackle her fears.

She applied for the Customer Service Apprentice position at Hopwood Hall College and got it! Now she is completing her Level 2 NVQ in Customer Service, whilst working for the rest of the week in the College’s Learning Resource Centre. Blue leaves her home in Bury at 6.45am each day to begin her journey to work, where she provides support to students studying various subjects at the College including her favourite, Art & Design.

Blue is so pleased that she chose to become a Customer Service apprentice, saying, “It’s raised my self-confidence; I love working with people and I’m less frustrated and calmer...This will give me the experience to work in whichever field I want to in the future.”

Blue has blossomed in confidence since starting her apprenticeship; in fact, she is even one of the stars of an advertising campaign for the College’s newly rebranded training division ‘Training @Hopwood’; Blue along with 9 other apprentices who are employed by the College, are featuring in the campaign aimed at businesses around the Greater Manchester area.

With her new found self-assurance, Blue is ready to take on university; she is currently putting together her application to study an Art History Foundation Degree at Bolton University next year.