COLLEGE STUDENTS SHINE IN NATIONAL WORLDSKILLS UK FINALS

Students from North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College (NWSLC) are waiting with bated breath for the results of the national WorldSkills UK finals after competing in four skills competition categories. NWSLC students are all hoping for the chance to join Team UK on an international stage at the ‘Skills Olympics’ in Shanghai in 2022. Judging is now underway and the medal ceremony is due to be hosted live by Steph Govern in her Channel 4 ‘Packed Lunch’ studio on Friday 26 November 2021.

NWSLC was proud to host the national finals in digital media production and visual merchandising at its creative arts Hinckley Campus and at the adjacent Atkins Building in Hinckley. Finalists Jake Benson, Reece Todd, Ryan Maguire, and Frankie McCarthy tested their skills in the digital media production skills competition with a brief to create a report on climate change. Ella Nicholas, Owen Chattaway, Abbie Simpson, Megan Shields, and Madeleine Lock created stunning retail displays on the theme of ‘Summer Loving’ in the visual merchandising category.

Beauty therapy students Mia Harper, Laura Vyse, Aisha Khalifa, and Grace Elliot competed in the creative make-up category. Samuel Abbott represented NWSLC in the joinery category of the construction competition.

In addition eleven talented students from NWSLC are competing this week in the national finals of the Foundation Skills competition which is designed for those with special educational needs and disabilities and was originally conceived and first started by NWSLC.

Marion Plant, OBE FCGI, Principal and Chief Executive of North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College, who is also deputy chair and trustee of WorldSkills, said, “It has been a wonderful competition and it has been a privilege to host the finals in two categories here

at our Hinckley Campus. Seeing our students work so diligently and creatively under the watchful eye of the judges has been extremely rewarding and we wish them all the best for the final medal ceremony.”

Alumni from NWSLC are continuing to train to represent the UK on the world’s stage at the bi-annual WorldSkills competition in Shanghai in October 2022. Former student and Nuneaton chef Chloe Lloyd-Hughes will compete in the culinary arts category while Ellie Ruff will take on challenges in visual merchandising. Both are members of the prestigious WorldSkills UK Talent Development Programme after previously excelling in its national skills competitions.

Ellie Ruff used the national finals as an opportunity to work with her WorldSkills UK coach and training manager and created her own retail display showcasing a clothing range of gamers.

Ellie said, “Training alongside the national finalists was a fantastic opportunity for me to work with others as I usually spend a lot of time working on my own. I learned a lot about getting the balance and flow of my window design right as part of this latest challenge and benefited from having my coach and manager giving me advice on how I could improve the display.”

Ellie will go on to take part in two further training sessions before the end of the year as she works towards team selection for WorldSkills in October 2022.