College tops the UK charts at hair and beauty skills competition

Students of beauty therapy, hairdressing, barbering and make-up artistry from North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College (@nwslc_official) have won 18 medals in the finals of a national skills competition achieving the accolade of Best Performing College in the UK. The talented students triumphed at the skills contest on 18 May 2024 in Blackpool securing seven Gold, six Silver and five Bronze medals overall.

Students tackled a range of skill categories as part of the Association of Hairdressers & Therapists (AHT) competition from body painting and commercial nail art to high fashion hair styling and editorial make-up. NWSLC students tested their skills against finalists from across the UK including those from Wales and Scotland.

Winning their Gold medals for a range of highly creative themes, students impressed the judges with their ability to design and deliver Vivienne Westwood body paint, bring to life demons using prosthetics, and use makeup cleverly to create film characters and fantasy figures. Students secured Silver medal places for glamourous drag makeup, bridal makeup and body painting, and Bronze medals for Avant Garde hair design, ageing makeup and male hair-styling.      

The Association of Hairdressers & Therapists was founded by a group of hairdressing teachers as a national network of like-minded specialists. Members are teachers, trainers or assessors of hairdressing or therapy subjects, who hold or are working towards teaching/assessing qualifications.

Media make-up tutor Leanne Newitt said,

“We are so delighted with our students’ performance in this demanding skills competition. I am really proud that so many of them have secured medals again this year. It is truly rewarding to see them perform so well in their chosen disciplines of beauty therapy, hairdressing, barbering and make-up artistry. Being named as the best performing college in the entire country is a huge accolade and testament to the determination and dedication of our students and their teachers in supporting them.”

Marion Plant, OBE FCGI, Principal and Chief Executive of NWSLC, said,

“We are extremely proud of our students for their standout success in this prestigious national skills competition. They have worked incredibly hard with the help of their tutors to improve their skills to compete at this level and the entire college is delighted with what they have achieved.”