Congratulations Rebecca Jones – Apprentice Baker of the Year 2020

Local lady, Rebecca Jones has won TAFE Queensland’s Bakery Apprentice of the Year Award for her outstanding efforts over the past three years of her apprenticeship at Ed’s Bakery.

Studying the full baking skill set of bread, cake and pastry, the third-year apprentice beat 50 others from all over Queensland, made up of other outstanding students.

“To win the Apprentice Baker of the Year Award, students are assessed on their attitude, ability and the quality of their assessments and baked products, and Rebecca showed us she had all of that in spades,” said Richard Hibbert, Bakery Teacher & Workplace Training Officer, TAFE Queensland.

“On top of her positive attitude, it was her superior technical skills that set her apart. While she was positive, enthusiastic and hard-working her understanding of baking bread, cakes and pastry were sensational.”

An example of her positive attitude was her commitment to learning her craft, which saw her commute from Rainbow Beach to South Bank in Brisbane for four-day workshops starting at 4am, where she enthusiastically became an expert baker.

“Her attitude was obvious from the beginning – which reinforced our high opinion of her,” continues Richard. “Her broad range of her skills was impressive because students are usually strong in one area but Rebecca is strong in every area. She’s a great all-round baker.”

During his visits to Rebecca’s workplace, Richard saw first-hand how she was implementing her TAFE Queensland training into her role, and he wouldn’t be surprised if Rebecca could run a bakery’s whole production.

TAFE Queensland has partnerships with major baking chains to independent bakers’ state wide.

Partnerships like these enable students to access unique, work-integrated learning, which leads to successful job outcomes, something Rebecca has achieved, working with Ed’s Beach Bakery in Rainbow Beach Queensland.

“She’s a very worthy recipient of TAFE Queensland’s Bakery Apprentice of the Year Award and it’s great that she’s using her skills to work with an employer who supports her, who also shares our high opinion of her.”

“We have every confidence that if she wanted to she could easily start her own business and would be very successful. By winning this industry-recognised award, combined with her skills and attitude, Rebecca has a very bright future ahead of her!” concludes Richard.

Owners of the Ed’s Bakery, Rod and Sharon Parker said: “We are so proud of her and this award is so well deserved. She is a lovely girl and deserves the best and it has been a pleasure to have her here at Ed’s Bakery.”

For more information about accelerating your career with TAFE Queensland, call 1300 308 233 or visit tafeqld.edu.au and apply today to see where TAFE can take you.