SDC to host WorldSkills Competition
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- Created on Thursday, 07 June 2012 12:11
WORLDSKILLS UK, part of the world’s largest vocational skills competition, is coming to South Devon College twice this summer.
Competition heats are taking place across the country in a range of disciplines. There’s everything from carpentry and plumbing to dry-stone walling, hairdressing and robotics. Two of the most popular categories are health & social care and beauty therapy, and the competitions to find the best beauty therapists and social carer workers in the South West will be hosted by South Devon College on 13 & 14 and 26 June 2012 respectively.
“It is a pleasure for South Devon College to be hosting - for the first time ever - the South West heats for Beauty Therapy,” said Lynda Blackmore, Section Head for Hair, Beauty and Complementary Therapies at the College, “These competitions provide an excellent opportunity for individuals to compete with competitors from other organisations and publicly showcase their skills. They aim to drive up the level of expertise, reward real talent and promote higher standards of teaching. We look forward to supporting our own competitors as well as welcoming all competitors from the surrounding South West areas.”
“We are delighted to be hosting the South West heat of such a prestigious competition,” said Kate Davis, Senior Section Head for Child, Health and Social Care at South Devon College, “It’s an honour to welcome the best of the best to compete at the college in a competition that has seen some success for us in the past. We hope to repeat that this year.”
Staff from the National Skills Academy for Social Care, which runs the social care competitions in partnership with the National Apprenticeship Service, visited the College earlier this month to finalise arrangements.
Emily Bari, Project Co-ordinator for WorldSkills at the Skills Academy, said: “the WorldSkills UK Caring Competitions are a fantastic opportunity for employers and training organisations to showcase the skills of staff and students – of all ages – and to celebrate true excellence in social care. We are thrilled to be working with South Devon College, with its magnificent facilities, to promote the competition.”
The College’s hair & beauty facilities are also being used for the beauty therapy WorldSkills heats, with the competition entrants competing in their training salon ‘Inspirations’. At both the beauty therapy and health and social care heats, competitors will show their skills in different settings that they would expect to encounter in their everyday work, such as providing personal care for older people and first aid for health and social care, or tackling reflexology and advanced nail techniques for beauty therapy. After being judged by panels of experts from across the region, the winners and commendees will be announced at a gala ceremony in the evening, and may be invited to compete in the national finals in October 2012.
Places can be booked for the health and social care evening ceremony on 26 June: for more information, please contact Kate Davis on 01803 540 394 or via email on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
The National Skills Academy for Social Care takes the lead in the social care sector in providing guidance and direction on leadership in social care. The Academy’s involvement with WorldSkills is part of its wider remit to identify, foster and celebrate excellent leadership in social care at all levels of the workforce. For more information, visit www.nsasocialcare.co.uk or call us on 020 7268 3082.
South Devon College offer a wide range of health and social care courses, from level 1 right up to university level with the Foundation Degree in Healthcare Practice, they also offer a wide variety of beauty therapy courses in both Paignton and their new facilities in Newton Abbot.
