WorldSkills UK Wales

What a Performance!

Wales upped its WorldSkills UK medals tally again recently with winning performances by Charlotte Knowles and Pip Johnson.

Both were students at Yale College and took part in a number of acting competitions, leading to the WorldSkills UK final. Charlotte won the gold medal and Pip took the silver, beating their competitors from across the UK.

Both have clear ideas about the direction of their immediate futures…. Congratulations both!

Help raise the profile of vocational skills, WorldSkills and skills competitions in Wales

Gold Medal for Welsh Engineering Champion

Dave Randels took the top prize recently at the WorldSkills UK CNC Milling competition, held at Yale College, Wrexham.

His route to the top included victory at our SkillsCompetition Wales regional event, before beating his UK-wide competitors at this final.

Dave’s success may take him to the next WorldSkills International competition when it comes to London in 2011. His tutor at Yale College, Paul Green, should have some worthwhile tips to give him as he has been out in WorldSkills Calgary participating as a technical observer!

Wales secured two other medals via Yale College, with Paul Howard taking the silver, and Harry Morgan taking the bronze, in CNC turning. These students too will have their eyes on WorldSkills London 2011.

For those of you who don’t know, CNC milling and turning requires individuals to use computer numerical control (CNC) machines to cut and shape metal into components used in manufacturing. Operators control the automated tools digitally using numerical codes, and they need to understand the manufacturing process in order to programme the machines accurately. 

As our supporting picture shows, whilst the skills required are highly technical, the result is quite a work of art!

Help raise the profile of vocational skills, WorldSkills and skills competitions in Wales

Floristry in Focus

Team UK’s Joe Massie won the bronze medal in floristry at WorldSkills Calgary 2009. Whilst our eyes were focused on the ultimate competition, a little closer to home Wales’ own budding floristry stars were showing their skills recently.

Charlotte Cooke, from Abergavenny and a Coleg Gwent student, won the gold medal at the final of the UK Skills Floristry competition. She competed in the over two years’ experience category.

Another Welsh competitor, Amy Doyle from Kinmel Bay in Conwy, won the bronze medal in the under two years’ experience category.

Competitors are required to work with a previously unseen selection of flowers, foliage and sundries to create a variety of floral designs, including wired pieces, bouquets, body adornments and room decorations.

We’ll be keeping our eyes on these talented individuals as their skills blossom further!

 

Help raise the profile of vocational skills, WorldSkills and skills competitions in Wales

Have You got What it Takes?

To compete at the very highest level and represent your country is a huge privilege and takes years of honing your skill.

Competitors in the UK would have progressed through a series of local, regional and national competitions that are run every year. Each competition stage gets tougher but the experience is highly valuable – you meet great people whilst you learn and improve your skills!

If you compete in a UK final and do well enough, you may be asked to attend a Squad UK selection event. Successful candidates at this stage are then invited to undertake an intensive skills based training programme (which usually lasts 16 weeks). Throughout this training, you are assigned a training manager who is a UK technical expert in their field.

Following this process, individuals are chosen for Team UK – the actual team of competitors who will represent their country at the WorldSkills International level competition. The WorldSkills Calgary 2009 Team UK was chosen from several thousand competitors across the country!

Should you make it as far as this stage you will then undergo even more skills based training to refine your skills to world-class standards.

Local skills competitions will launch across Wales and the UK in October 2009. Watch this space to find out more and be in with a chance of representing your country at the next international competition when it comes to WorldSkills London 2011.

Help raise the profile of vocational skills, WorldSkills and skills competitions in Wales

Some Serious Talent Spotting

Jet lagged and back but still euphoric over Team UK’s incredible performance at WorldSkills Calgary 2009!

Over the past few days we’ve seen an amazing level of craftsmanship, creativity and awe inspiring talent.

Reviewing our footage, we’ve pulled together this montage to show you some of the world class skills on display:

 

Help raise the profile of vocational skills, WorldSkills and skills competitions in Wales