Students win medals galore at national skills contest
STUDENTS and alumni from North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College (NWSLC) have won a haul of medals as part of a national skills competition.
The college, which has a campus in Hinckley won 16 medals at the national WorldSkills UK finals last year, putting the centre the top of the table in England, and fourth in the UK.
The medal winners had previously been recognised at the college’s online Celebration of Achievement event in January and this was the first opportunity they had to join together and celebrate in person.
The college’s medal haul included five Gold, three Silver and eight Bronze medals.
Those attending the ceremony included Gold medal winner Samuel Abbott, from Coventry, who works as an apprentice for E. Brook
Joinery, and won the Gold medal in the joinery competition.
Sam attends the college’s specialist construction Harrowbrook Campus and is committed to completing his training and progressing in his career as a joiner.
He has an ambition to compete for a place in the UK team for WorldSkills in Lyon in 2024.
Kelys Ramsay, from Nuneaton, won a Gold medal in the Foundation hairdressing category after she rose to the challenge of creating a stunning bridal design for long hair against the clock.
She said that she had felt honoured to take part in the competition and was ‘over the moon’ to win
Gold.
Kelys said that her experience competing for WorldSkills UK has improved her confidence and she is hoping to join the hairdressing industry when she has completed her college qualifications.
Samuel Barnes, from Leicester, secured the top spot in the Foundation motor vehicle skills competition and has proved himself to be an able student.
He is currently progressing well on the autocare technician programme and is set to fast-track on to the next level.
His skills test required him to carry out a technical procedure on a vehicle in a workshop making sure that safe working practices were followed.
College principal, Marion Plant, who is also deputy chair and trustee of WorldSkills, said: “We were delighted to welcome so many of our talented medal winners to the college to celebrate in person and to receive their medals.
“The college performed very
strongly in the competition last year and we are so proud of all our students who worked so hard to achieve such fantastic results.
“Congratulations to all of them, and thanks to their tutors who helped to keep them on track and provided them with so much support and encouragement.
“We were delighted that the outcome put us at the top of the medals table for English colleges and particularly pleased that our students excelled in the foundation skills competitions, placing our college at the top of the league table for the whole of the UK.”
We are so proud of all our students who worked so hard to achieve such fantastic results College principal Marion Plant