About Us
We offer a responsive and supportive service to bring a personable End Point Assessment to meet your individual company needs.
Collectively, our experience has been obtained within the highest quality of industry recognition within the education and professional sectors.
We pride ourselves on the personable experience, tailoring your organisation’s needs to meet the Institute for Apprenticeships requirements.
We can proudly boast a wealth of knowledge in Apprenticeships, Work Based Learning and End Point Assessment within the public and private sectors.
Foremost, we have been in the industry and have a robust knowledge in our areas of expertise which enables us to understand the assessment process towards your company’s requirements.
Meet the Team
Andrew Dale
Director of Operations
Andrew is 1st Awards' Operations Director, his background is from Hospitality and catering, manufacturing and Education. He has trained and completed Stages at the highest level of hospitality and catering, including the Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons and William Curley's whilst then becoming a Head Pastry Chef of a one-star Michelin restaurant. Shortly after he began working in Education, he set up and managed Bakery and Patisserie courses at Levels 2 and 3. He then developed and wrote the practical elements of a Bakery and Patisserie degree of which only four similar programs were running at that time. He then worked in manufacturing where he solely worked on projects for Marks and Spencer and developed flagship products and leading innovative manufacturing methods. Whilst working for 1st Awards, Andrew consults for food manufacturers developing their dessert ranges for leading food retailers.
Tracey Sajno
Director of Compliance
A passionate hospitality industry professional with expertise in End Point Assessment, Quality and Compliance. Tracey is a highly qualified Leader and Manager who has worked in Education for over 20 years in both the public and private sectors. Tracey has worked in key roles for influential large scale and bespoke companies which guarantees a high level of understanding of the key challenges of Apprenticeships. Tracey’s high level of experience ensures that 1st Awards has the correct level of compliance to assist with any queries you may have to ensure your apprentice can maximise their potential through End Point Assessment journey.
Joanne Bailey
Customer Accounts Manager
I am Joanne and I am the Customer Accounts Manager for 1st Awards. I love working for 1st Awards because the aims, views and aspirations of the company reflect those I follow in my personal life. 1st Awards always put their customers first, the team work hard to be available to respond quickly and fittingly to customers’ needs and deliver work to a constant high standard. The 1st Awards team are extremely welcoming and friendly a value that is employed not only to customers but also to their staff too, working for 1st Awards feels like working within a great family. Outside of 1st Awards my family is the most important thing to me. I am a mum to an 11-year-old boy so spend most of my time stood on the football side line shivering or walking the golf course! I love nothing more than spending time with my son taking him on adventures and experiencing new things.
Governance
1st Awards is a privately owned End Point Assessment Organisation that is Directed by its’ two founders with the primary objective of providing consistently fair and reliable End Point Assessments for a range of apprenticeship standards.
1st Awards have a separate governance structure which operates independently of the day to day operations. The Board is primarily responsible for ensuring that 1st Awards pursues its’ quality and compliance objectives and in doing so, remains financially robust.