Coronavirus
Updates: Colleges & Business Units | Commercial Outlets and Nurseries
Advice for: Students, Parents and Carers | College Applicants | Apprentices
Updates: Colleges & Business Units | Commercial Outlets and Nurseries
Advice for: Students, Parents and Carers | College Applicants | Apprentices
SkillWeld 2018 is one of the UK’s most prestigious national welder competitions. One of the semi-finals rounds took place at Canterbury College on 20th June: six students were given four hours to weld different materials using a range of different processes. This event gave students the opportunity to show off their skills and take part in processes that they may not usually encounter in the classroom, adding to their experience and widening their knowledge.
The SkillWeld Finals will be held at the Skills Show at the NEC Birmingham in November and the winner will be crowned SkillWeld 2018 champion and given an opportunity to progress to SkillWeld’s international competition.
Stephen Haynes, SkillWeld Coordinator, said: “The purpose of this competition is to upskill students, which allows them to use processes and materials, such as heavy pipe, which they would not usually come across in their lessons. This is a great challenge for the students and a fantastic experience that will set them up for future careers.”
James, a Level 2 Welding & Fabrication student, said: “This is a great experience. I’m so happy that my lecturers have chosen me to take part in this event. I can try out some processes that I haven’t tried before, such as part-welding a TIG route.”
The competition is sponsored by Air Products, who attended the event, supplying products to the students, enabling them to use industry-standard equipment during this task. Chris Porter from Air Process said: “I’m really pleased to be working with the younger generation and to be supporting this event. It is a great opportunity to give students a chance to try out equipment they may not have used before.”
Code A Weld, who sponsored the event, run a Welding Procedure and Qualification Testing service. Senior Inspector at Code A Weld, Clive Slocombe, was part of the judging panel. He said: “In sponsoring this event, we are hoping that the next generation of workers will perceive Code A Weld to be one of the sources of their industry knowledge. We hope to inspire the industry’s future workers, and so it has been fantastic to be part of this event.”
Three of our students, Calum Heslop, Mitchell Prebble and Jafaar Ghliss, were commended for their work in this round of the semi-finals. Students must wait until mid-August to find out if they have scored highly enough to be a part of the National Finals.
Congratulations to all involved in the competition and best of luck to our students.
