Talented young people from across Wales have been recognised as world-class experts at the WorldSkills International competition in Russia.
The event is the world’s largest skills competition and took place across four days in Kazan with young people from more than 63 counties battling it out to be awarded a medal in their chosen skill.
Electronic Engineering students from Gower College Swansea have taken part in a WorldSkills UK regional heat at the Tycoch Campus.
The regional heat, part of the WorldSkills competition framework and organised in partnership with SEMTA, comprised three practical activities - electronic construction, test and measurement, fault finding – and a theory test.
The top students from this event will go forward to the next stage in the competition, with the ultimate goal being selection to represent Wales and the UK on the global stage.
Gower College Swansea students performed exceptionally well at the recent WorldSkills UK LIVE National Finals at Birmingham’s NEC.
Electronic Engineering student Jamie Skyrme took home a Gold Medal in the Industrial Electronics category after undertaking a challenging set of competition tasks including fault finding, electronic design, programming and prototyping.
The UK’s top apprentices and learners will be going for gold at the WorldSkills UK LIVE National Finals on 15-17 November.
Among them will be two Electronic Engineering students from Gower College Swansea - Matthew Belton and Jamie Skyrme.
They will attend the event at the Birmingham NEC and undertake a challenging set of competition tasks including fault finding, electronic design, programming and prototyping.
An apprentice from Gower College Swansea has become the first Welsh student to make the Worldskills UK Squad in the sector of Industrial Electronics.
James Williams, who works at Haven Automation in Fforestfach, will now undergo two years of intensive specialist training which could take him all the way to the Worldskills World Finals in Kazan, Russia, in 2019.
A group of Digital Technology students from Gower College Swansea have competed in a WorldSkills competition, held at the Tycoch campus in association with Semta and Premier EDA Solutions.
It was an intensive day with four main parts to the competition: a soldering/construction exercise; a theory paper; a prototype challenge using a breadboard and a software programming test.
The winners were named as Kieran Belton (Gold), Cody Wilks (Silver) and Ryan Thomas (Bronze).
Two Gower College Swansea students brought home medals from the recent Find a Future Skills Show at the Birmingham NEC.
ILS student Kayleigh Lewis was awarded Gold in the ‘Inclusive Cooking Skills’ competition, where she was required to prepare and present filled wrap-style sandwiches and flat breads while demonstrating the correct preparation, hygiene and safety skills throughout.
“Kayleigh didn’t seem fazed at all leading up to the competition and took it all in her stride,” says Learning Area Manager, Mark Clement.
Winning an engineering competition proved just the job for Gower College Swansea student Stefano Amoruso when one of the judges offered him an apprenticeship.
Stefano won the recent WorldSkills UK Industrial Electronics regional final at the Tycoch campus and will now go on to compete at the Skills Show at Birmingham’s NEC in November. There is also the potential of a place at the WorldSkills International finals in Abu Dhabi in 2017 in the pipeline.
Gower College Swansea students took the top three places at the recent Worldskills Industrial Electronics regional heat at the Tycoch campus.
In first place was Stefano Amoruso, followed by Matthew Sutch and Niko Leuchtenberg.
The students' results will now be scored against the other regions (including England and Ireland) and, if they make the top 12 in the country, they will represent Wales and the UK in the NEC national finals in November.
Photos: Chris Costello
Bands comprising Level 3 Vocational Music students from Gower College Swansea swept the board at the recent SkillsCompetition Wales Popular Music regional heat.
The students, from the Extended Diploma course at the Llwyn y Bryn campus, competed against musicians from eight other colleges across Wales, performing two original songs each before a panel of judges.
Zen Dogs took Gold and Inscape were awarded Bronze at the event at Theatr Ffwrnes in Llanelli.