We have some incredibly exciting news to share from Serenity Loves.
We have been named finalists in THREE categories at the Peterborough Apprenticeship Awards 2026, recognising not only two of our fantastic apprentices, but Serenity Loves itself for our commitment to apprenticeship training and development.
Our three finalist places are:
- Bella – Finalist, Intermediate Apprentice of the Year
- Jessica – Finalist, Advanced Apprentice of the Year
- Serenity Loves – Finalist, SME Employer of the Year
To have one finalist would have been wonderful.
To have two of our apprentices individually recognised alongside Serenity Loves as an employer is something we are immensely proud of.
But for us, these finalist places represent something much bigger than an awards ceremony.
They represent years of commitment to apprenticeships, the hard work of our apprentices and educators, the support of our entire salon team and training provider, and our belief that established salons have an important part to play in protecting the future of the hairdressing industry.
Why Apprenticeships Matter So Much to Serenity Loves
Apprenticeships have been part of the fabric of Serenity Loves since we opened our doors in Peterborough in 2012.
Over the years, we have supported more than 30 people through qualifications and training, with former apprentices progressing into successful careers as stylists, senior stylists, educators, self-employed professionals and business owners.
Today, we continue to employ and train apprentices within our salon.
We do this because we believe passionately that hairdressing is a skilled, professional career – and the best way to protect its future is to continue creating opportunities for the next generation.
However, taking on an apprentice is about far more than giving someone a job.
A successful hairdressing apprenticeship requires practical training, theory, assessments, models, mentoring, supervision, feedback and countless hours of hands-on experience.
It also requires something that is much harder to quantify:
• Patience, encouragement and belief.
• Young people don’t walk through our doors as finished hairdressers.
That’s the whole point. They come to us to learn.
Our responsibility is to give them an environment where they can make that journey safely – developing their technical ability while also learning communication, customer service, professionalism, time management, confidence and resilience.
The Challenge Facing Hairdressing Apprenticeships
Our finalist places feel particularly significant at a time when hairdressing apprenticeships are facing enormous challenges nationally.
The number of people starting and completing hairdressing apprenticeships has fallen dramatically over the last decade.
At the same time, salons are facing increasing operating costs, staffing costs and financial pressures, while providing high-quality training requires significant investment from an employer.
For some businesses, taking on apprentices has simply become too difficult.
We understand why.
Training an apprentice isn’t the cheapest or easiest way to run a salon.
It requires members of your experienced team to step away from their own work to demonstrate techniques, supervise services, answer questions, provide feedback and assess progress.
There are training days, models to organise, additional products used, quieter appointment times while skills develop and the inevitable mistakes that are simply part of learning.
But we believe the question our industry has to ask is:
If established hairdressers and salons don’t train the next generation, who will?
• There is no future workforce without training.
• There are no future senior stylists without junior stylists.
• There are no future educators, salon managers or salon owners without somebody giving people their first opportunity.
That’s why, despite the challenges, Serenity Loves continues to invest in apprenticeships.
What Being a Finalist Means to Bella
Celebrating Bella – Intermediate Apprentice of the Year Finalist
We are incredibly proud to see Bella named as a finalist for Intermediate Apprentice of the Year.
Bella’s journey is a wonderful example of why apprenticeship pathways matter.
Her route into hairdressing wasn’t completely straightforward.
Bella initially joined Serenity Loves as a junior beauty therapist before discovering that her real passion was hairdressing and making the decision to change direction.
Starting again in a different area takes courage.
Learning has also presented challenges for Bella. She has had to discover the ways of learning, processing information and preparing for assessments that work best for her.
But she has continued.
She has worked hard, listened, practised, developed her knowledge and pushed herself outside of her comfort zone.
Most importantly, we have watched her confidence grow.
One of Bella’s real strengths is her ability to connect with clients. Technical skills can be taught and refined through practice, but making someone feel comfortable, listened to and cared for is an incredibly important part of being a successful hairdresser.
Seeing Bella develop both personally and professionally throughout her apprenticeship has made us incredibly proud.
Being selected as a finalist recognises not only where she is now, but everything she has overcome and achieved to get there.
What Being a Finalist Means to Jessica:
“Being a finalist means so much to me. I’m so grateful to Serenity Loves and everyone in my life who has supported, encouraged and believed in me. Moments like this help me realise how proud I am of myself, not just for reaching this moment, but for how far I’ve come and everything it took to get here.”
– Jessica
Celebrating Jessica – Advanced Apprentice of the Year Finalist
We are equally delighted that Jessica has been selected as a finalist for Advanced Apprentice of the Year.
Jessica is completing her Level 3 Hairdressing apprenticeship and has demonstrated outstanding progression throughout her training.
She has built a loyal and growing client base through professionalism, excellent customer service and consistently high standards of work.
She regularly receives fantastic feedback from clients and has developed into a confident member of our salon team.
Jessica has also taken real ownership of her apprenticeship.
Her online learning and coursework have been completed to an excellent standard, she independently organises and secures models when needed for training and assessments, and she balances working with clients, practical training and coursework extremely well.
Perhaps one of the loveliest things for us to see has been the growth in her confidence.
The Jessica we see working with clients today has developed enormously from the apprentice who began her journey.
She is increasingly self-assured in her decisions, communicates confidently with clients and has developed the professional standards we want to see in the next generation of our industry.
Jessica also understands that learning doesn’t stop when you become qualified.
She takes feedback positively, wants to improve and continues to push herself.
Those qualities will take her a very long way.
A Word From Serenity Loves Founder, Jo Bevilacqua
“Apprenticeships have always been incredibly important to me because somebody has to be prepared to invest in the next generation. The reality is that training apprentices isn’t easy. It takes a huge amount of time, patience, financial investment and commitment from the whole team, and with the pressures salons are facing today I completely understand why fewer businesses feel able to do it.
But I also worry about what happens to our industry if we stop. Every experienced stylist, educator, manager and salon owner started somewhere, and at some point somebody gave them an opportunity to learn. I believe we have a responsibility to keep creating those opportunities.
Seeing Bella and Jessica recognised individually makes me incredibly proud because we have watched first-hand how hard they have worked and how much they have grown. To then have Serenity Loves recognised as an employer alongside them means so much because it acknowledges the work that goes on behind the scenes every single week to make apprenticeships successful.
This isn’t my achievement. It belongs to our apprentices, our educators, our whole team, Achievement Training and Skills, and the clients and models who trust and support our learners. Training the next generation really does take all of us – and I couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve created together.”
– Jo Bevilacqua, Founder of Serenity Loves
Serenity Loves – SME Employer of the Year Finalist
Being named a finalist ourselves for SME Employer of the Year is incredibly special.
We don’t view apprenticeships as a side project at Serenity Loves.
They are a fundamental part of our business.
We have deliberately built training into our salon structure because we want apprentices to experience what working within a real, busy salon is actually like while having the support they need to learn.
That means working alongside experienced professionals, interacting with clients, attending training, practising techniques, sourcing models and gradually building confidence and responsibility as their skills develop.
Our aim isn’t simply to help someone pass an assessment.
We want to develop employable, confident and capable professionals who can build long-term careers in hairdressing.
A qualification is incredibly important, but there is a big difference between having a certificate and feeling genuinely confident on the salon floor.
Our job is to try to bridge that gap.
That is why we continue to invest heavily in education, practical experience and ongoing development.
We are enormously proud that so many people who started their careers with us have gone on to progress within the industry.
Some have remained within Serenity Loves and progressed through our own career pathway. Others have gone on to build careers elsewhere, become educators, work independently or start businesses of their own.
Of course, as an employer you would always love talented people to stay with you forever! But the bigger picture matters too.
If someone leaves Serenity Loves as a more skilled, confident and employable hairdresser than when they arrived, we have contributed something positive to our industry.
And that matters.
Apprenticeships Take a Whole Team
Although the award nomination may have Serenity Loves written on it, our SME Employer of the Year finalist place belongs to our whole team.
Training apprentices doesn’t happen because of one person.
It happens because experienced members of the team are willing to share their knowledge.
It is the stylist who stops to demonstrate a technique.
The educator who finds another way to explain something when it hasn’t quite clicked the first time.
The colleague who lets an apprentice observe their consultation.
The person who gives constructive feedback after a service.
The team member who reassures someone before an assessment.
The colleague who celebrates when they finally master something they have been practising for weeks.
Sometimes the most important thing an apprentice needs to hear is simply:
“You’ve got this.”
That culture of learning and encouragement is something we work extremely hard to maintain at Serenity Loves.
So to every member of Team Serenity who has contributed to training an apprentice over the years:
Thank you.
This recognition belongs to you too.
Thank You to Achievement Training and Skills…
We also want to give a very important thank you to Achievement Training and Skills for their continued support of our apprentices and our apprenticeship programme.
A successful apprenticeship relies on a strong partnership between the apprentice, employer and training provider.
While we provide the day-to-day salon environment, practical experience, mentoring and support, having the expertise and guidance of a training provider is an essential part of helping apprentices work towards their qualifications and achieve the standards expected of them.
Good communication between the salon, apprentice and training provider can make an enormous difference – particularly when a learner needs additional guidance, when assessments are approaching or when we need to work together to find the best way to support an individual’s progression.
We are extremely grateful to Achievement Training and Skills for the support they provide to our apprentices and for working alongside us as we continue to develop the next generation of hairdressing professionals.
Thank you for being part of their journey – and ours.
And Thank You to Our Clients and Models
There is another group of people without whom salon-based apprenticeship training simply wouldn’t work:
Our clients and models.
If you have ever volunteered to be a model for one of our apprentices, booked an appointment with a developing stylist or allowed an apprentice to assist during your service, you have contributed to someone’s education.
• Every head of hair is different.
• Every client consultation is different.
• Every challenge teaches something new.
Mannequin heads and classroom training are extremely valuable, but nothing replaces the experience of working with real people.
Our clients give apprentices the opportunity to practise their communication, consultations, time management and technical skills in a genuine salon environment.
And we know that sometimes booking with someone who is still developing requires a little extra patience.
We never take that trust for granted.
The encouragement our apprentices receive from clients can also be incredibly powerful.
A positive review, a compliment after an appointment or a client choosing to rebook with them can give a developing stylist an enormous confidence boost.
So if you have ever supported one of our apprentices:
Thank you.
You have played a part in their journey too.
…And Thank You to Our Clients and Models
There is another group of people without whom salon-based apprenticeship training simply wouldn’t work:
Our clients and models.
If you have ever volunteered to be a model for one of our apprentices, booked an appointment with a developing stylist or allowed an apprentice to assist during your service, you have contributed to someone’s education.
• Every head of hair is different.
• Every client consultation is different.
• Every challenge teaches something new.
Mannequin heads and classroom training are extremely valuable, but nothing replaces the experience of working with real people.
Our clients give apprentices the opportunity to practise their communication, consultations, time management and technical skills in a genuine salon environment.
And we know that sometimes booking with someone who is still developing requires a little extra patience.
We never take that trust for granted.
The encouragement our apprentices receive from clients can also be incredibly powerful.
A positive review, a compliment after an appointment or a client choosing to rebook with them can give a developing stylist an enormous confidence boost.
So if you have ever supported one of our apprentices:
Thank you.
You have played a part in their journey too.
More Than Just an Award
Of course, we would absolutely LOVE to bring home an award – or three!
But whatever happens when the envelopes are opened, being selected as finalists in three categories has already given us an opportunity to reflect on what our apprenticeship programme represents.
It’s about Bella.
It’s about Jessica.
It’s about the apprentices who came before them.
It’s about the apprentices who will hopefully walk through our doors in years to come.
It’s about our educators.
It’s about our team.
It’s about Achievement Training and Skills.
It’s about our clients and models.
And ultimately, it’s about protecting the future of an industry that has given so many of us careers we love.
The Peterborough Apprenticeship Awards 2026
The winners of the Peterborough Apprenticeship Awards 2026 will be announced at the awards ceremony on:
Thursday 24th September 2026
Holiday Inn Peterborough West
We will be there celebrating Bella, Jessica and our entire team – and keeping absolutely everything crossed!
Whatever happens on the night, we couldn’t be prouder to say:
• Bella – Intermediate Apprentice of the Year Finalist
• Jessica – Advanced Apprentice of the Year Finalist
• Serenity Loves – SME Employer of the Year Finalist
Three finalist places.
Two fantastic apprentices.
One team committed to helping secure the future of our industry.
And that, for us, is already something worth celebrating.
Interested in a Hairdressing Apprenticeship in Peterborough?
If you’re considering a career in hairdressing and would like to know more about apprenticeship opportunities, training or future vacancies at Serenity Loves, we’d love to hear from you.
Although we are not actively recruiting for apprentices at this time, there may be opportunities in the near future.
Hairdressing can offer an incredible career with opportunities to specialise, progress, educate, manage teams, work independently and even eventually own your own business.
It takes hard work, commitment and a willingness to keep learning – but for the right person, it can be an incredibly rewarding career.
Keep an eye on the Serenity Loves website and social media pages for future apprenticeship, training and career opportunities.
