<p>The Digital industry is growing at a quick pace – 6x quicker than any other industry in the UK, with lots of exciting opportunities to work with the latest technology available in the area.</p>

<p>In order to meet the growing demand of industry, we have launched our brand-new Digital Career Excellence Hub, which provides opportunities for our learners to develop the skills needed by local employers – and get a head start on their career!</p>

<p>Students will use ‘real world learning’, with a curriculum that is co-designed by our employer endorsers, focussing on employer briefs and real-life scenarios to encourage up to the minute workplace problem solving. On top of that, as a Microsoft Showcase College, we will upskill learners with the latest digital tools and technologies.</p>

<p>As mentioned, skills is a critical element of our Digital Career Excellence Hub, with learners working on their hard skills such as:</p>

<ul>
<li>Vendor Certifications</li>
<li>Systems Thinking</li>
<li>E-safety</li>
<li>Commercial Awareness</li>
<li>Research</li>
</ul>

<p>And their soft skills as well, some which include:</p>

<ul>
<li>Problem Solving</li>
<li>Communication</li>
<li>Teamwork</li>
<li>Organisation</li>
<li>Innovation</li>
</ul>

<p>Digital organisation, Eloquent Technologies is one of our digital endorsers, and their Managing Director, David Ford said: “The biggest constraint to growth is finding exceptional talent. We partner with Weston College to future proof our business, working with young talent, which has proved to be an effective pathway for our business.”</p>

<p>Through this partnership, and the Career Excellence Hub, our digital learners have the opportunity to gain vital work experience with local employers like Eloquent Technologies, which is a real benefit to those studying courses with us at Weston College.</p>

<p>You can find out more about our Career Excellence Hubs, and the benefits that they bring, <a href="https://www.weston.ac.uk/career-excellence-hubs">here</a>.</p&gt;

<p paraeid="{9f539a15-e306-4532-b02d-2b9ab5f7ec30}{154}" paraid="2129286135"><a href="https://www.ucw.ac.uk/">University&nbsp;Centre Weston&nbsp;(UCW)</a> computing learner, Jack&nbsp;Kimmins,&nbsp;will be representing the UK&nbsp;after&nbsp;recently&nbsp;being&nbsp;announced as the gold medal winner at the national WorldSkills&nbsp;Web Design&nbsp;finals.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p paraeid="{9f539a15-e306-4532-b02d-2b9ab5f7ec30}{208}" paraid="744553904"><a href="https://www.worldskillsuk.org/">WorldSkills UK</a> is an independent charity that works with employers, education and governments, supporting young people across the world via competitions-based training, testing their ability to achieve world-class standards in the biennial ‘skills Olympics’.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p paraeid="{9f539a15-e306-4532-b02d-2b9ab5f7ec30}{214}" paraid="1350750527">Over 3,000&nbsp;learners&nbsp;registered to take part in the UK-wide competitions in&nbsp;March 2021&nbsp;and Jack&nbsp;was&nbsp;just&nbsp;one of four hundred&nbsp;who made it into the finals, which&nbsp;was&nbsp;split into 64 disciplines.&nbsp;</p>

<p paraeid="{9f539a15-e306-4532-b02d-2b9ab5f7ec30}{244}" paraid="631212351">The Web Design&nbsp;category&nbsp;finals,&nbsp;hosted by&nbsp;the&nbsp;Weston College&nbsp;Group&nbsp;at <a href="https://www.westonwintergardens.co.uk/">The Winter Gardens in&nbsp;Weston-super-Mare</a>,&nbsp;was between nine competitors&nbsp;from across the country&nbsp;and&nbsp;took&nbsp;place over two days. The finalists were tasked with&nbsp;building&nbsp;a website, employing their skills of html, JavaScript&nbsp;and front/back-end coding to bring the detailed brief to fruition.&nbsp;The final products were then anonymously judged by a panel of digital experts from renown organisation Jisc, Airbus and the UK Hydrographic Office.&nbsp;</p>

<p paraeid="{7b9ec851-d063-49c6-a1b5-32de6bd364dd}{51}" paraid="1354010774">After the challenging finals&nbsp;were completed, the winners were announced at a <a href="https://www.worldskillsuk.org/news/congratulations-to-all-our-finalists… ceremony</a> hosted by TV presenter Steph McGovern from her&nbsp;Channel 4&nbsp;“Packed Lunch”&nbsp;studio on Friday 26 November.&nbsp;It was here that Jack was announced as the national gold&nbsp;medallist.&nbsp;Also&nbsp;Level 3 Apprentice Luke Merchant&nbsp;a Weston College student&nbsp;was&nbsp;named&nbsp;as the Silver&nbsp;medallist&nbsp;in the Automotive Technology finals.&nbsp;</p>

<p paraeid="{7b9ec851-d063-49c6-a1b5-32de6bd364dd}{101}" paraid="151229628">Congratulations also goes to Weston College students Mircea&nbsp;Ionescu&nbsp;and Amelia Lee who also competed in the Web Design and Beauty Practitioner finals respectively.&nbsp;</p>

<p paraeid="{7b9ec851-d063-49c6-a1b5-32de6bd364dd}{101}" paraid="151229628">Currently in his third year, Jack is studying <a href="https://www.ucw.ac.uk/courses/applied-computing-bsc-hons/">Applied Computing BSc (Hons)</a>&nbsp;at UCW. This degree level course is part of the <a href="https://www.weiot.ac.uk/">West of England Institute of Technology</a>, a collaborative partnership between education providers and businesses from across the West of England,<strong>&nbsp;</strong>collaborating to design and deliver flexible, higher-level technical learning.</p>

<p paraeid="{7b9ec851-d063-49c6-a1b5-32de6bd364dd}{111}" paraid="318809884">Jack commented:&nbsp;“I feel very proud,&nbsp;I was really shocked when my name was read out! My web development&nbsp;knowledge&nbsp;has&nbsp;grown&nbsp;throughout&nbsp;doing this project&nbsp;as well as my time management skills.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p paraeid="{7b9ec851-d063-49c6-a1b5-32de6bd364dd}{147}" paraid="1398143447">“The finals were a really memorable occasion and I’m looking forward to training for the next stage.”&nbsp;</p>

<p paraeid="{7b9ec851-d063-49c6-a1b5-32de6bd364dd}{153}" paraid="1020292732">Learners that achieve the gold medals at the national finals then get invited to join the UK WorldSkills Squad.&nbsp;Not&nbsp;dissimilar&nbsp;to Team GB for the Olympics, the gold&nbsp;medallists&nbsp;will be then go on to&nbsp;compete&nbsp;in the international finals which will&nbsp;take place in France in 2022.</p>

<p paraeid="{7b9ec851-d063-49c6-a1b5-32de6bd364dd}{187}" paraid="1981815977">Jack&nbsp;continues:&nbsp;“I will be now representing the country in the field of Web Design. I feel very proud doing so and I’m going to try my absolute hardest.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p paraeid="{7b9ec851-d063-49c6-a1b5-32de6bd364dd}{201}" paraid="1058763096">“The staff at UCW have helped me&nbsp;immeasurably.&nbsp;I’d like to thank my tutor Jason Hill for&nbsp;all&nbsp;his hard work and help.&nbsp;I’d recommend everyone gives it a go and tries to push themselves with this opportunity.”&nbsp;</p>

<p paraeid="{7b9ec851-d063-49c6-a1b5-32de6bd364dd}{229}" paraid="1041645576">Weston College’s involvement with WorldSkills&nbsp;is just one&nbsp;of the&nbsp;exclusive&nbsp;opportunities available&nbsp;to learners&nbsp;through their&nbsp;newly launched&nbsp;<a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwesto…; rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Career Excellence Hubs.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p paraeid="{152bad5e-d2e9-45f0-acdf-a7b299f62f53}{13}" paraid="329265915">At the College each subject area forms its own specific Career Excellence Hub, endorsed by relevant sector employers which help to create a study programme with lots of career boosting benefits,&nbsp;including&nbsp;WorldSkills competing opportunities.&nbsp;</p>

<p paraeid="{152bad5e-d2e9-45f0-acdf-a7b299f62f53}{23}" paraid="1500131203">Weston College Group Principal and Chief Executive, Dr Paul Phillips CBE added:&nbsp;“Many congratulations to all of our WorldSkills winners. I am so proud&nbsp;of all of you, representing our college and&nbsp;confirming your amazing talents. We wish Jack the very best of luck with the international stages, it truly is a fantastic achievement.”&nbsp;</p>

<p paraeid="{152bad5e-d2e9-45f0-acdf-a7b299f62f53}{43}" paraid="1955587570">Deputy CEO of WorldSkills UK, Ben Blackledge, says that success in UK-wide finals is a litmus test for the future of the economy.&nbsp;</p>

<p paraeid="{152bad5e-d2e9-45f0-acdf-a7b299f62f53}{49}" paraid="1460574395">“These young people are a real inspiration. They are an example to us all and are to be congratulated. To have excelled after such a difficult year shows their dedication and drive is second to none.&nbsp;</p>

<p paraeid="{152bad5e-d2e9-45f0-acdf-a7b299f62f53}{55}" paraid="1289988791">“Skills are the lifeblood of every economy, creating high quality jobs, rewarding careers, inward investment and growth.”&nbsp;</p>

<p paraeid="{152bad5e-d2e9-45f0-acdf-a7b299f62f53}{61}" paraid="1890023431">A huge congratulations to all of our WorldSkills finalists and medal winners. We are so excited to follow Jack’s journey to&nbsp;represent the UK in&nbsp;France for the WorldSkills finals!</p>

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<p data-pm-slice="1 1 []">On 11th and 12th of November 2021, <a href="https://www.weston.ac.uk/what-can-i-study/courses-16-18-year-olds/compu… 3 Computing</a> learner Mircea Ionescu will be competing in the grand finals of the prestigious WorldSkills national&nbsp;competition!</p>

<p><a href="https://www.worldskillsuk.org/">WorldSkills&nbsp;UK</a>&nbsp;is a biannual ‘skills&nbsp;olympics’ that supports young people by testing their ability to achieve world-class standards. This national event normally takes place in the Birmingham NEC, however this year the 64 different competition&nbsp;areas are being hosted separately at across the country.</p>

<p>Mircea is one of nine students across the country to have made it to the finals in Web Design, which will be hosted by Weston College at <a href="https://www.westonwintergardens.co.uk/">The Winter Gardens Pavilion in Weston-super-Mare.</a></p>

<p>We caught up with the Nailsea School alumni who added:</p>

<h3><em>"I first heard about World Skills from my Website Development Lecturer in my first year, who encouraged me to take part in it.</em></h3>

<h3><em>"In order to get selected for the World Skills finals, I had to design a professional looking website during the qualification stage of the competition. Then during the semi-finals I had to complete the full front-end development of a website testing my skills in HTML and CSS production.</em></h3>

<h3><em>"I am very excited to have been chosen to compete in the World Skills finals, I also feel a great deal of pride in the recognition of the hard work of both my lecturers and I. &nbsp;</em></h3>

<h3><em>"Weston College has played a very important role in my journey to the World Skills finals, all the skills I have learnt during my time here are being tested during this competition. My tutor, Jason Hill, has helped me to get ready for this with great coaching and competition preparation.</em></h3>

<h3><em>"I have learnt so much already during my time with the World Skills contest. I understand how to work under the pressure of time constraints better than ever and I have vastly expanded my knowledge of development languages such as PHP and Javascript."</em></h3>

<p>This exciting news is just one of the fantastic&nbsp;career&nbsp;enhancing opportunities&nbsp;available at the college, through the&nbsp;newly launched&nbsp;<a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwesto… Excellence Hubs.</a>&nbsp;</p>

<p>At the College each subject area forms&nbsp;its&nbsp;own specific Career Excellence Hub, endorsed by relevant sector employers which&nbsp;help to create a study programme with lots of career boosting benefits, WorldSkills competing opportunities is one of these.</p>

<p>Mircea will also be joined in the finals by <a href="https://www.ucw.ac.uk">University Centre Weston (UCW)</a> student <a href="https://www.weston.ac.uk/news/computing-star-jack-heading-worldskills-f… Kimmins.</a></p>

<p>After finishing his Level 3 course, Mircea plans on staying with the team at Weston to study the <a href="https://www.ucw.ac.uk/courses/applied-computing-bsc-hons/">BSc Applied Computing degree course at UCW</a>.</p>

<p>The winners of all WorkdSkills competitions will be crowned at a ceremony hosted by TV presenter Steph McGovern from her Packed Lunch studio on Friday 26 November.</p>

<p>We'd like to wish Mircea the very best of luck!&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p><a href="https://www.weston.ac.uk/what-can-i-study/courses-16-18-year-olds/compu… here to learn more about our Computing courses and Career Excellence hubs</a></p>