WorldSkills UK has announced over 400 students and apprentices who will be battling it out across 64 disciplines to be crowned national skills champions.

We are extremely proud to share that this includes four students from the Weston College Group: Three Weston College learners and one degree learner from University Centre Weston (UCW).

Following 2020 and a year without competitions, over 3,000 people registered to take part in the UK-wide competitions back in March.

The finalists will compete for gold, silver and bronze from 9-19 November, with the winners crowned at a ceremony hosted by TV presenter Steph McGovern from her Packed Lunch studio on Friday 26 November.

This year sees the finals taking place in locations across the UK for the first time. From the Industrial Robotics final in Ballymena, to Heavy Vehicle Engineering in Cardiff, Cyber Security in Lanarkshire and Web Design at Weston College, the 25 venues cover all four corners of the UK.

Ben Blackledge, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, 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.”

This exciting announcement is just one of the fantastic career enhancing opportunities available at the college, through our newly launched Career Excellence Hubs.

At the College each subject area forms it’s own specific Career Excellence Hub, endorsed by relevant sector employers which help to create a study programme with lots of career boosting benefits. Thanks to the College’s amazing industry connections, both locally, nationally and internationally, our school leaver programmes are developed by focussing on increasing future employability, and developing the skills learners need to have a successful career in the sector and making them stand out from the crowd when they get to job applications and interviews.

Dr Paul Philips CBE, Principal and Chief Executive of the Weston College Group added: “A huge congratulations to our students Luke, Amelia, Oran and Jack. The Weston College Group really values the skills and experience that the WorldSkills UK competition-based development programmes offers our students.

"We are very much about ‘careers not courses’ at Weston College and this is what has been the catalyst for our sector specific Careers Excellence Hubs.  WorldSkills UK aligns with this perfectly as it is designed by industry experts and enhances the practical skills and knowledge taught on training courses by assessing an individual’s employability attributes against set criteria in a competitive timed environment. 

“I am excited to see our competing learner’s journeys as they build on their employability skills and develop in confidence.”

The WorldSkills UK competition-based development programmes are designed by industry experts and enhance the practical skills and knowledge taught on training courses by assessing an individual’s employability attributes against set criteria in a competitive timed environment.

The programme has a real impact on those taking part, with 90% of previous entrants saying their career progression improved after competing and 86% stating their personal and employability skills had improved.

Click here to see the full details of the finals and the names of all finalists.

Click here to visit the WorldSkills UK website