AMBER Petit, who works for Yamazaki Mazak in Worcester, has been acclaimed one of the county's top apprentices.

The 20-years-old, a former student at Bishop Perowne School and Worcester Sixth Form College, won the commerce level two apprentice of the year category at the 2015 Worcestershire Group Training Association Annual Apprenticeship Awards, beating strong competition from 60 other entrants.

Miss Petit, who lives in the Northwick area of Worcester, has worked at Mazak in Badgeworth Drive, for only ten months as a business administration level two apprentice, gaining experience in both the sales and finance departments and mastering important business principles, such as project and budget management.

She completed her one year level two programme in only five months and is now starting her AAT accountancy qualification, before beginning the level three programme of her apprenticeship next year. Miss Petit is one of five business administration apprentices employed by Mazak, with 10 per cent of the company’s workforce now consisting of apprentices.

She said: "I chose the Mazak apprenticeship scheme instead of attending university as I love hands-on learning and the opportunity of gaining real-world work experience. I live locally and drove past Mazak all the time growing up. I knew it was a great local employer and was determined to apply for an apprenticeship straight after my A-Levels.”

Dave Barnett, learning and development manager at Yamazaki Mazak, added: "We really value our apprentices and the part they play in making Mazak a great place to work. Amber has been an outstanding apprentice and has made a superb contribution in the short time she has been with us. We presently have 62 apprentices enrolled on our scheme in both factory and business administration roles, but are always on the look-out for the next generation. We are currently recruiting apprentices for our 2016 intake and I would urge anyone interested to submit their application as soon as possible.”