Nine Telford College students have qualified for the regional finals of a competition which could ultimately see them representing the UK in the global ‘skills olympics’.
WorldSkills UK is a partnership between education, industry and the government, designed to boost the prestige of technical and professional education by embedding world-class training standards.
Nine Telford College health students – from both the T-Level and level three BTEC health and social care courses – will be flying the flag for the college in the regional finals from June 23-25.
They are Samantha Nyamudandara, Lilia Faulkner, Macy Major, Laila-Mae Bradley, Emily Jones, Nithya Jacob, Holly Brennan, Ellen Mensah, and Asante Aning.
Holly Brennan, from Leegomery, said: “I want to have fun in the competition and use it to further my skills, helping me to progress towards my career goal of becoming a paramedic.”
Leah Marshall, the college’s T-Level curriculum team leader, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to have so many of our health students making it through to the regional finals.
“The competition is very much aligned with the curriculum they are following here, so it helps to give them experience of putting what they are learning with us into practice.
“More than that, though, it also provides wonderful enrichment opportunities for them to broaden their communication and networking skills – boosting their confidence and giving them something really useful to add to their CVs.”
Telford College’s Wellington campus has this year been chosen to host the regional health and social care WorldSkills finals for the first time.
More than 40 students will be competing for eight places in the national final, due to be held in Cardiff in November. National winners will then get chance to represent the UK on a global stage – the next WorldSkills global final is being held in Shanghai, China.
WorldSkills UK is part of the global WorldSkills movement, involving more than 80 countries, which supports young people with competitions-based training, assessment and benchmarking.
Organisers say: “Much more than a competition, WorldSkills aims to combat prejudices around professional training to respond to the challenges of these sectors – and to encourage young people to choose these professions of the future.”
