WorldSkills Competitions
WorldSkills Competitions & Coleg Cambria
Coleg Cambria students have been competing in the WorldSkills competitions for a number of years now, across many different sectors and skills. Many of our students have progressed through to WorldSkills competitions from the Skills Competition Wales competitions, also known as Welsh Skills, with some progressing through to opportunities to go through to Squad and on to Team UK to compete in the WorldSkills International competitions.
Coleg Cambria at WorldSkills UK LIVE 2019
The below videos give an overview of what it is like to be a WorldSkills UK competitor, the experience you can get from it and how it can help enhance not only your CV but your skills and you as a person.
WorldSkills 2019
WorldSkills 2019: Beauty
WorldSkills UK LIVE 2019
Each year at the end of November the WorldSkills UK National Finals usually take place at the NEC in Birmingham. This event is a large event hosting all of the final competitions across three days open to the public for free.
At this event, approximately 80,000 people from schools and colleges across the UK attend to watch the finals take place and visit and chat to potential future employers about careers, opportunities and apprenticeships. The event closes on the Saturday night with the medal ceremony for the competitors, their families and the sponsors.
Below are videos containing interviews and live footage from each of the four industry zones covered in the arena: Health, Hospitality and Lifestyle; Engineering; Construction and Infrastructure; Digital, Business and Creative.
Health, Hospitality and Lifestyle
Engineering
Construction and Infrastructure
Digital, Business and Creative
What competitions can I take part in?
You can only register for one competition at a time (in each competition year) but there are a variety of competitions available across the different sectors and skill areas. For up to date information about the competitions you can take part in along with Pre-Competition Activity Guides and Competition Rules, take a look at the WorldSkills UK National Competitions page here or their searchable list of competitions here with information on each competition such as entry criteria and useful resources.
Timeline
Below is a rough timeline of when different stages of WorldSkills Competitions take place based on the 2021 competitions cycle.
How to take part?
You can sign up to receive updates from WorldSkills UK on the page for the competition you are interested in and often there will be a space to register your interest in a competition while competitions are not running. If you do either (or both) of these you will be notified when registrations open for the next WorldSkills UK National competitions.
Once registrations open you can register yourself for your chosen competition. During your registration process, you will be asked to provide details about yourself and your course. You will also be asked to provide contact details for your tutor – please get their relevant contact details in advance (this will usually be their name, work email address and work telephone number) – and if you are under 18 or taking part in an Inclusive or Foundation competition you will also need to provide contact details for a parent or guardian so that they can approve your registration.
Make a note of the email address you use during the registration process (we recommend your student email address and that you check it on a regular basis) as this is where you will receive all information about your competition along with reminders about what you need to do, when and by what point of the deadlines.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please email rona.griffiths@web.cambria.ac.uk.
Where can I go from there?
If you are age eligible and achieve Bronze, Silver or Gold at the WorldSkills UK National competitions you may be offered the opportunity to go forward to Squad to train for the chance to be selected for a place in Team UK and compete at a WorldSkills International competition. International competitions take place every 2-years with the most recent International cycle having taken place at WorldSkills Kazan in Russia in 2019.
The below videos capture some of the experiences had by the competitors who took part in the WorldSkills Kazan.
WorldSkills Kazan 2019
WorldSkills Kazan 2019: Day 1
WorldSkills Kazan 2019: Day 2
WorldSkills Kazan 2019: Day 3
WorldSkills Kazan 2019: Day 4
Skills Competitions at Coleg Cambria
Rona Griffiths, Learner Experience & Enterprise Manager at Coleg Cambria, explains how the various Skills Competitions work and why students should compete in the competitions on offer through Coleg Cambria.
*** Please note that the dates for the WorldSkills International competitions have changed since this video was produced and WorldSkills Lyon will now take place in 2024 instead of 2023 due to a 1-year delay because of Covid and lockdowns. ***
