Gold and glory for Team UK

Team UK – made up of the nation’s top young apprentices and students – has returned from the EuroSkills Finals in Budapest covered in precious medals and glory.

Among them is a former Catering and Hospitality student from Gower College Swansea.

Collette Gorvett, who now works at The Ritz in London, competed against 19 others in the Restaurant Services category and was awarded a Medallion of Excellence.

In total, Team UK scooped one Gold, three Bronze and seven Medallions of Excellence. These results, which placed the UK in ninth place out of 27 countries, bolstered organisers WorldSkills UK, whose mission is to accelerate careers and achieve excellence and optimum levels of skills performance.

“We are immensely proud of Collette’s achievements at every stage of this process,” says Learning Area Manager Mark Clement. “This experience has made her even more determined to achieve and she is eager to continue with her coaching in preparation for the next stages of competition (WorldSkills Russia 2019) where she will battle for the UK place against fellow Gower College Swansea alumni Ryan Kenyon, who now works at Cliveden House.”

“Collette continues to be a great role model for the College and an inspiration to other students,” adds lecturer/mentor Nicola Rees. “Despite being based in London, she is returning to the Tycoch Campus very soon to assist me in the training of Paige Jones and Paulina Skoczek, who are preparing for the WorldSkills UK LIVE National Finals.”

“This is a fantastic result for Team UK and the country as a whole,” says Dr Neil Bentley, CEO of WorldSkills UK. “We were gunning for a top ten position and we got it! These brilliant young people – training and preparing to be among the very best across Europe -are the UK’s new generation of high flyers.

“Budapest was a litmus test to see how the UK might fare when we leave the European Union next year. We had an amazing result and the team worked incredibly hard, but we can’t be complacent.  Other countries across Europe are investing heavily in skills development and we need to ensure we don’t fall behind.

Governments, employers and the education sector must embrace this success and use the energy and momentum generated here to inspire to help propel economic growth and productivity.”

Full results:

• Gold, Beauty Therapy (Holly-Mae Cotterall, Reds Hair Company)
• Bronze, Mechatronics (Danny Slater and Jack Dakin, Toyota Manufacturing UK)
• Bronze, Mechanical Engineering CAD (Ross Megahy, New College Lanarkshire)
• Bronze, Hairdressing (Gavin Jon Kyte, Reds Hair Company)
• Medallion, ICT Specialists (Cameron Barr, Nescot and Shane Carpenter, Nescot and BAE Systems)
• Medallion, Cooking (Nicolle Finnie, City of Glasgow College)
• Medallion, Floristry (Elizabeth Newcombe, Guildford College of Further and Higher Education and Rhubarb and Bramley)
• Medallion, Welding (Scott Kerr, Coleg Menai and PFS)
• Medallion, Plumbing and Heating (Matthew Barton, Kendall College and WE Barton)
• Medallion, Restaurant Services (Collette Gorvett, Gower College Swansea and The Ritz)

About WorldSkills UK: WorldSkills UK is a partnership between business, education and governments.  We work to accelerate the development of young people’s skills from national to world-class standards. We’re creating a new generation of high flyers that give UK employers a competitive edge.

For 65 years, WorldSkills UK has been a leading player in WorldSkills International. This global movement brings together 78 countries to organise the biennial ‘skills Olympics’. We have a track record of success and have been in the top ten in the WorldSkills global benchmark for the past ten years. 

We help young people think about their futures by delivering experiential careers events and deploying high-achieving young role models to inspire others to follow in their footsteps. Our flagship event, WorldSkills UK LIVE, is the nation’s largest skills, apprenticeship and careers event.

At EuroSkills Budapest 2018, 22 members of Team UK competed in 19 skills.