Coleg y Cymoedd achieve record number of medals at the World Skills UK awards

Coleg y Cymoedd has achieved record-breaking success at this year’s World Skills UK awards, bringing home seven medals – the highest the college has ever attained at the competition.

A partnership between employers, education providers and governments, World Skills UK is an independent charity that supports young people across the country to develop and showcase their skills via competitions-based training, assessment, and benchmarking.

The variety of competitions available champion the talents of learners in a range of fields, with entrants also having the opportunity to apply to represent the UK at the global World Skills ‘skills Olympics’ where they will compete against national teams from over 80 countries around the world.

This year’s awards saw 13 Coleg y Cymoedd learners compete in the nationwide competition with more than half securing medals.

Matthew Watts, Enterprise, Skills and Employability Coordinator at Coleg y Cymoedd said: “World Skills UK is an exciting opportunity for our learners to enhance their skills and become more employable. A lot of work and extra training is put into preparing for the awards by both the tutors and learners which is reflected by the brilliant success we achieved at this year’s competition.

“Each learner that has been involved in the competition has shown a dedication to their field, excellence in their work and a determined attitude to excel within each of the stages of the competition. The results speak for themselves.”

This year, two Coleg y Cymoedd learners, Ruben Duggan and Cole Peters, brought home gold medals at the awards in the plumbing and Network System Administrator communication technology categories respectively. Four silver medals were won by Lewis Hart in communication technology as well as by GE Aviation apprentices, Megan Christie, Pawel Abramowicz and Jamie Williams who were each awarded in the Manufacturing Team Challenge Aviation category.

 A further bronze medal for Network System Administrator communication technology went to Coleg y Cymoedd learner Zack Morris, while Caerdav apprentice and Coleg y Cymoedd learner Kaleb Szymanski received a highly commended award in the  Aircraft Maintenance competition.

 The World Skills competitions, which run at regional, UK wide and international levels, are an opportunity for learners to finesse their skills and training in their chosen field, access great higher education opportunities, and increase their employability.Each skills competition is judged by an expert panel within the industry through a range of practical and scenario-based tasks, with the best performing participants progressing in the competition.

Coleg y Cymoedd has worked with industry partners such as GE Aviation and Caerdav to provide the essential additional training and practical experience needed for learners to excel throughout each stage of the competition.

Matthew added: “Alongside the dedication of our learners and tutors, we’re also grateful to our industry partners who have given up their time and facilities to support learners’ training. It’s been a group effort by all, and it’s great to see that effort rewarded.

“We’re continually working on ways to improve learners’ industry and enterprise skills – it’s something we’re always developing and aiming to embed throughout curriculum areas at Coleg y Cymoedd. We’re looking forward to congratulating the learners who took part in the World Skills UK competition in the new year, alongside announcing the new international squad for 2023.”

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