Gold medal haul makes us England’s highest performing college!

Caption: Digital Video WorldSkills UK Winners

Students from North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College have triumphed at the national finals of the WorldSkills UK LIVE competition, putting the College in first place in England, and fifth in the UK.

The students won Gold medals for culinary arts and digital video production, and Silver and Bronze for customer service. In addition, as part of the Inclusive Skills competition for young people with special educational needs and disabilities, students won Silver and Bronze medals for media and woodworking.

The competitions were held on Saturday, 17 November at the NEC in Birmingham as part of the UK’s largest showcase for skills, careers and apprenticeships.

Gold medals were awarded to Chloe Lloyd-Hughes for her flair in the culinary arts, and to Sam Ebdon, Oliver Hargreaves, Niamh Preston and William Smith for their skills in digital video production.

Abdirahman Ibrahim picked up the Silver medal for customer service, while the Bronze medal went to Tia Rowe. Jordan Tolley was Highly Commended for his skills in IT.

In the Inclusive Skills competition, James Coates and Molly Boughey won Silver medals for media, and James Deacon secured the Bronze.

Creative Media student, Sam Ebdon told us how he had worked with his team to produce a two-minute video based on WorldSkills UK using the poem ‘Desiderata’ by Max Ehrmann, designed to inspire a 16-18-year old audience. Sam said, “This is the first film competition I have ever won, and the experience was absolutely amazing. We all took different roles to make sure every element was right and were very pleased with the end result.”

Chloe Lloyd-Hughes who studies Professional Cookery was tasked with preparing a range of dishes within a strict time limit and impressed the judges with her interpretation of a bread and butter pudding which she prepared with hazelnuts and yellow raisins. She was most proud of her duck recipe which she created using celeriac puree, dill oil and port sauce. Chloe said, “Taking part in the competition was a brilliant experience and I really enjoyed it. Competitions help to build your confidence and it’s great to meet so many different people.”

College Principal and Chief Executive, Marion Plant OBE said: “This achievement is simply amazing and provides further evidence of the exceptional talent of our students and the capabilities and commitment of our teaching staff who have devoted many hours to supporting their students to become competition-ready.

“Competitions are an excellent way of enabling students to practice real-world employability skills including performing under pressure, delivering to tight deadlines and being judged by employers against industry standards.

“Taking part in live activities inspires young people to get enthusiastic about their future career options. We are delighted with our students’ success and hope that they will be encouraged by their experiences to progress well in their future careers.”

WorldSkills UK LIVE was attended by over 85,000 visitors over three days including skills and apprenticeships minister Anne Milton MP. Around 500 students competed across 70 skills disciplines.