NHC’s Stevenage Based Skills Centre Hosts WorldSkills UK “Kick-Off”
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| Andrew Gunson from Leeds College of Building |
Sabrina Thomas from Westbourne, Hants. |
North Hertfordshire College’s Skills Centre, a purpose built construction and automotive training facility in Stevenage, has been selected as the location for the launch of the 2011 WorldSkills UK team selection process. This kick-off event, taking place from 4th to 6th March, marks the opening stage of WorldSkills UK. Also, it sets in train the identification process for the country’s premier-league electrical installation specialists, and plumbers, who will be members of the UK team for WorldSkills 2011, taking place in London next year. Three young plumbers from Nottingham, London and Leeds, plus four electrical installers from Somerset, Middlesex, Hampshire and Lincolnshire will be competing in the heat.
WorldSkills UK is a framework of regional and national competitions that provides young British people with the opportunity to showcase their skills. It is also a life-changing opportunity to “go for gold” in the international WorldSkills competition, known as the “Skills Olympics,” and to gain recognition as the world’s best in a wide range of specialist skills categories.
Paul Dodds, NHC’s Director of Employer Relations for Construction and Engineering, has been involved with WorldSkills since 1995, and is WorldSkills UK’s Training Manager for Plumbing; he explained: “Most people who enter WorldSkills UK are studying in higher or further education, or training as apprentices, and already showing outstanding potential in their chosen profession.
WorldSkills UK shares a range of objectives with North Hertfordshire College. It is all about giving people the opportunity to show how good they are, and how outstanding they could be; then providing every possible opportunity to be the best in their field. People who enter this process gain major benefits that complement all teaching and learning programmes, including the injection of ambition, development of motivation and self esteem, and gaining a sense of excitement from learning and achievement.”
The NHC link with WorldSkills is already well established. In 2009, Chris Lonsdale, one of the UK’s highest rated young plumbers, was a UK team member at the bi-annual international competition in Calgary, Canada, after an intensive six months of training at the Stevenage Skills Centre. He won a Medallion of Excellence: a mark of world class skills.