Preston College Students Reach the Finals of National Skills Competition
Eight students, currently studying various subjects at Preston College have successfully won a place at the WorldSkills UK final. Over 3,000 people registered to take part in this year’s competition, where students compete in their respective areas to showcase their skills.
Over 400 students and apprentices will battle it out in the finals, across 64 disciplines. The Preston College finalists will be competing in Bricklaying, Plastering and Dry Wall Systems, Commercial Make-up and Digital Media Production.
The finalists will demonstrate their skills in November’s final at various locations throughout the UK, in hope of winning an Olympic-style medal.
Ben Blackledge, Deputy Chief Executive Officer for WorldSkills UK said; “I want to offer my congratulations to all those that took part in our programme this year, especially the finalists. After a year without competitions due to the pandemic it was really encouraging to see so many people back involved this year.
Our competitions and competition-based development programmes equip apprentices and students with the lifelong, world-class skills that will help increase UK productivity and competitiveness.”
Fiona Birtchet-Sharpe, Head of School and WorldSkills UK project lead at Preston College said; “It’s a brilliant achievement for our students, not just to be in the final, but also to have their work, skills and commitment recognised nationally. We’re proud to be working with the WorldSkills UK Centre of Excellence to enhance our teaching and innovation and provide our students with high quality technical skills as well as exposure to real-life workplaces, so that they feel confident when entering employment.”
The eventual winners will take a trip to the Channel 4 studios on Friday 26th November, to be presented their awards by TV presenter Steph McGovern on the set of her Packed Lunch television show. Good luck to all competitors, but of course – that extra little bit of ‘good luck’ goes to our eight finalists; Kieran and Mitchell in Bricklaying, Jessica in Commercial Make-up, Billy in Plastering and Dry Wall Systems and Max, Nico, Ganesh and Beres in Digital Media Production.
