WorldSkills UK Wales

Jakita Takes Home Silver in WorldSkills UK Beauty Therapy Heat

Congratulations to Jakita Roach, who won the silver medal in the intermediate category at a recent WorldSkills UK Beauty Therapy heat. Coleg Sir Gâr hosted the prestigious competition which was supported by VTCT, the specialist awarding body for the hairdressing and beauty therapy sector.

Around 20 students and trainees took part in the competition which tested skills including waxing, manicures, facials and massage. Industry experts acted as judges, observing competitors in action and grilling them with questions during each treatment!

Jakita, who is studying at Pembrokeshire College, said that she really enjoyed taking part in the competition… “my mentors taught me lots of new skills which I put into use during the event. I’m hoping that I scored enough points to go through to the final as I’ve put so much effort into preparing that I’d like to compete at the highest level”. She also gave a huge thank you to the people who had helped her in the process.

Other successful Welsh students at the competition included Katy Evans, aged 19, from Bridgend College, who won the bronze medal in the intermediate category, and Gemma Jones, aged 18, from Neath Port Talbot College, who won the bronze medal in the advanced category.

Well done to all! Here’s wishing you luck for progressing to the UK finals.

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Another WorldSkills UK Gold Medal for Wales

This time in welding. Steve Kokolin, from Pembrokeshire College, took the top spot at the WorldSkills UK SkillWeld 2010 competition. The gruelling final was held over four days at the Welding Institute in Cambridge.

Steve’s route to UK-wide success came after triumphing in the regional heats of our skillscompetition Wales. He has now beaten over 2,500 competitors to become the best welder in the UK!

Steve is currently completing the third year of his apprenticeship with Unit Engineering. He says that competing has boosted his confidence and he is really chuffed to have come this far. Well done Steve! We love the trophy - take a closer look!

It seems Steve is already becoming a bit of a local celebrity too. Take a look at some of the coverage we’ve found about Steve’s success:
  * BBC news  
  * Tenby Today
  * Milford & West Wales Mercury

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

World Class Practitioners

What does it take to be world class in your field? Well, Dean Jones, Cliff Williams and Gareth Evans are three Welsh lads who have achieved this status and can certainly tell you a thing or two.

All three have undertaken a rigorous training and development programme with UK Skills in which their skills and performance have been tested to the limit. Gareth made it on to the WorldSkills UK Squad for Calgary, whilst Dean and Cliff formed part of the ultimate Team UK that competed for our country at WorldSkills Calgary 2009.

This weekend, the professional achievements of all three were honoured further as they were awarded the prestigious City & Guilds Licentiateship (LCGI) Senior Award at an annual graduation ceremony in London. Cliff and Gareth are pictured here looking very good in their caps and robes!

Traditionally, the Licentiateship Senior Award is given to people who have worked in the industry longer but thanks to their training, Dean, Cliff and Gareth have progressed to full professional standing in a relatively short time. Congratulations all!

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

Accounting Aces

On the 31 March we pulled up the driveway of the Georgian mansion, Sketty Hall, in Swansea. Set in its own grounds with ornate Italian gardens, it is an inspiring location and we were there for a very special occasion – the final of Wales’ first ever Accountancy skills competition.

Organised and hosted by Swansea College as part of our skillscompetition Wales, the unique setting added to the excitement. We could feel the tension in the air as the teams of competitors took their seats. Each group was tasked with a number of challenges that an accounting technician would face in the course of a ‘regular day at the office’; such as, processing sales and purchase invoices, petty cash and payroll transactions and handling errors and journals. As well as testing their computer skills, the competitors were also judged on their ability to work as a team, demonstrating their communication skills and ensuring professional conduct.  

Armed with a laptop housing the accounts, a notebook and a calculator, we watched along with lecturers and supporters as the teams set to work. Entrants included learners from Swansea, Gorseinon, Bridgend and Pembrokeshire Colleges, Coleg Gwent and Coleg Llandrillo Cymru.

The gold medal went to the team of David Sadler, Lucinda Murphy and Joshua Broom from Coleg Gwent (pictured here). Obviously delighted, the team commented on how pleased but surprised they were to win saying “the other teams seemed more confident than us and seemed to be of a very high standard. It has been a fun day and has helped to give us more confidence in our abilities”. They each took home a cheque for £50 along with winning a one day work placement at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Cardiff.

Congratulations to the winning team and well done to all competitors! With thanks to Swansea College for leading the way in developing this competition and for a memorable day in an environment that leaves a lasting impression.  

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

Web Design Whiz

Websites have come a long way since the first text-based designs in the early 1990’s; and they continue to change rapidly with the advancement of supporting technologies.

Flash animations, HTML5, CSS3, Web 2.0 and now web 3.0 – for the non-expert, it’s difficult to keep up!

Luckily, Wales is working to ensure that we nurture these important skills and develop our own future web design experts.

On 24 March, we saw some of this work first-hand at the final of the skillscompetition Wales IT Web Design competition. This was the first time that Wales has held a challenge of this kind, which was organised and hosted by Swansea College. 

Participating colleges included Coleg Sir Gâr, Swansea, Gorseinon, Pembrokeshire, and Bridgend. Competitors were tasked with animation and website construction activities which took place over a gruelling 6½ hours.

It was an exciting and closely fought competition making it difficult for the judges to make the winning decisions.

Ultimately, David Bowen from Coleg Sir Gâr, took the gold medal, (pictured here with Nick Couling, Director of Faculty, Engineering and IT, Swansea College). The silver medal went to Kerryanne Tolhurst, Swansea College, and Daniel Jones, Gorseinon College won the bronze medal.

Congratulations to all competitors, to Swansea College and to all other participants for making this a highly successful event.

We are currently working on editing some video footage of the competition which we will upload to YouTube soon. Subscribe to our blog or YouTube channel to make sure you keep up-to-date.

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