Apprenticeship Bus
2025 Tour Information
Every year, the Apprenticeship Bus embarks on a three-day roadshow across the city of Portsmouth, bringing apprentices from local businesses and organisations directly to senior schools.
This initiative enables Year 10-11 students an opportunity to engage with apprentices, face to face, providing them with an authentic, first-hand insight into the world of an apprenticeship.
In 2025, the bus will travel from Wednesday 13th to Friday 14th February.
The Apprenticeship Bus is delivered in partnership with:
Information for businesses and apprentices joining the tour
This page will be updated with new and relevant information between Nov 2024 and Feb 2025 and will be your point of reference.
Businesses are required to complete the Apprenticeship Form for each apprentice attending.
Businesses taking part in 2025:
General Information
The bus is confirmed to travel from Wednesday 12th to Friday 14th February 2025.
Kirsty Hill is supporting as the Shaping Portsmouth Education & Community Programme Lead.
Simon Ingram, Mountjoy, and Chloe Bolton, PCC, are the volunteer programme leads.
Contact Information
Kirsty Hill: kirsty.hill@shapingportsmouth.co.uk / 07908712242
Pick-up and Drop-off
Each day, pick-up will be on Isambard Brunel Road in the city centre at Park & Ride stop 
. Drop-off will be on the opposite side of the road at Park & Ride stop 
.
The timings will vary from day to day:
Wednesday 12th
Pick-up: 08:15
Drop-off: 15:30
Thursday 13th
Pick-up: 08:00
Drop-off: 15:30
Friday 14th
Pick-up: 08:00
Drop-off: 15:30
On The Day
The full schedule for the week is available here.
The Apprenticeship Bus will head to the pickup location in Portsmouth City Centre, and will then tour Portsmouth each day visiting the scheduled schools before returning to the drop-off location.
The majority of young people will be in years 10 and 11 and they may not have had much opportunity to find out about Apprenticeship opportunities that are open to them.
At each school we will run a Speed Networking Session, which will introduce the apprentice ambassadors/volunteers to the students. Students will have the opportunity to ask questions and learn from the apprentices’ experience and insight, to help them make decisions about their next steps.
Apprentices from the 2023 and 2024 Roadshows briefly discuss their time on the bus and pass on their advice for apprentices on the 2025 tour.
Playlist
Training
Shaping Portsmouth will be hosting an informal training induction for all apprentices.
These sessions are to set expectations of the day for the apprentices and to support them in identifying some key talking points around their journey and experiences. This will help support everyone in feeling more confident and able to talk to young people on the day of the event.
All apprentices will be required to attend one of the onboarding sessions. This is a two-hour face-to-face session. This will take place on Monday 10th February 2025 at the Portsmouth Guildhall. There are two sessions, 10:00 to 12:00 and 13:00 to 15:00. You can select your preference for the session you would like to attend using the Apprentice Form.
Catering
Shaping Portsmouth will be providing lunch for each apprentice per day. Allergy information is included in the Apprentice Form.
Marketing
Bus branding
The Stagecoach bus will be fully branded and wrapped with all the logos of businesses taking part in this programme, thanks to the support of MediaFleet.
Consent
The Shaping marketing team and media partners will be taking photos and videos throughout the tour for social media and marketing purposes. Please confirm your consent via the form.
If you would rather NOT be included in any imagery please make yourself known to the team on the day so we know who to look out for.
Press
Our media partners will be invited to join the bus for a media session on Monday 10th February. Details to be confirmed.
Social Media
Shaping Portsmouth will be posting updates from the bus on our social media channels throughout the tour.
You are welcome to share our social media posts from the event, and make your own posts to promote your apprentices taking part. Please do tag us in your posts and use the hashtags below.
#ApprenticeshipBus2025 #NAW2025 #SkillsForLife
NO PHOTOS MAY BE TAKEN WHEN PUPILS ARE PRESENT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.
Please direct your marketing teams to the channels below prior to the 10th February to help support the promotion of this inspirational and impactful week.
