SPARKS Learner of the Year 2021

We’ve got a winner! It’s been an awesome journey and we’ve seen some incredible work.

In order to keep to social distancing guidelines, this year’s competition took a slightly different structure but was just as challenging for the learners!

ROUND ONE:

LEARNER

OF THE YEAR 2021

Level 2 and Level 3 learners from across the country were chosen by their lecturers to represent their college in Round One, in which they completed an online written test to showcase their knowledge.

LIVE FINAL

ROUND TWO: The top two scorers from each of the six competition regions completed a series of fault-finding exercises and participated in a ‘Professional Discussion’ video call for the chance to represent their region at the live final. The six regional winners undertook a 5-hour practical test with a technical expert judging their work for the chance to become the SPARKS Learner of the Year 2021.

James Gaskell Farnborough College of Technology Ieuan Jones Coleg Gwent Tom Tyler City of Wolverhampton College Adam Pitcher Oldham College Simeon Farrar York College Will Durston Weston College

Ieuan Jones Coleg Gwent SPARKS JUDGES: NAPIT’s Technical Team are the official judges of the competition, assisting with the creation of the assessments for the learners, leading the Professional Discussions and scoring the learners’ work in all rounds. Head judge is Trevor Milner, Technical Manager at NAPIT. In addition to Trevor, the judges for the finals were:

Geoff Brittain

David Scully Gary Linney

SPARKS SPONSORS:

Tom Tyler City of Wolverhampton College

Adam Pitcher Oldham College

Simeon Farrar York College

Will Durston Weston College

Official Tool Sponsor

Official Van Sponsor

Tom Gillam from Schneider Electric said:

“We’re delighted to be supporting such an important competition. During the pandemic, the UK’s electrical students and apprentices have suffered more than most. The SPARKS competition provides us with the opportunity to incentivise and reward the community and inspire more to follow. We’re looking forward to seeing the potential and talent of the next generation of electricians.”

PRIZES

£1,000 CASH!

We had some fantastic career-boosting prizes, including £1,000 cash for the winner and £500 for the runner-up from Schneider Electric plus some awesome products donated by the sponsors.

MEET THE RUNNER UP

Simeon Farrar, Level 3 at York College, was the runner-up of this year’s competition. Here’s what he had to say.

SPARKS: Has taking part in the competition changed how you feel about your abilities? Simeon: It’s given me more confidence in myself because you haven’t got anyone to ask and have to work off your own knowledge to do it all.

SPARKS: What was the best thing about the competition? Simeon: I think the practical in the final. I enjoy doing practical. Some parts were complicated, and some parts I thought were easy, but probably the practical final was my favourite part. SPARKS: What would you say to people considering entering in 2022? Simeon: Do it. It’s a good experience, you learn a lot of stuff. If you get the chance, take it. It’s given me validation that I am good at the stuff I do and I’ve enjoyed it as well. It’s shown me that I’ve taken onboard the learning, made my work good and also how much I enjoy electrical work. I did enjoy electrical work before but I just enjoy it a lot more now.

“The competition has given me validation that I am good at the stuff I do and I’ve enjoyed it as well”

SIMEON FARRAR

YORK COLLEGE On 21st May, after three rounds of competition and some incredible demonstrations of ability, Tom Tyler, a Level 3 apprentice at City of Wolverhampton College, was announced as our SPARKS Learner of the Year 2021. We caught up with him to ask what winning the competition meant to him.

SPARKS: How does it feel to win the competition? Tom: It hasn’t quite sunk in yet but it feels amazing so far. It’s a nice feeling knowing that someone else has seen your work and recognises the quality, and appreciates the hard work that went into it.

SPARKS: How did you hear about the competition? Tom: It was at college. They had the SPARKS magazines and said, ‘look, we’re after people to put forward.’ My tutor said to me, ‘I reckon you’d do well at this. Do you want to go for it?’ I agreed and that’s how it started. SPARKS: What was the competition experience like? Tom: It wasn’t what I was expecting looking at previous years because obviously we’re having to do it all differently but the way it was done didn’t feel like things were rushed or someone had to make last minute changes - it felt like it was done well.

MEET THE WINNER

TOM TYLER

“It’s a nice feeling knowing that someone else has seen your work and recognises the quality, and appreciates the hard work that went into it”

SPARKS: What made you choose electrical as a career?

Tom: I chose electrical from a young age because I’ve always been wiring bits up and playing with batteries and little lightbulbs so it was a natural progression. Whilst electronics are fun to play with and I’ve still got that as something I do, I realised that with the electricals I could make a career out of doing something that I enjoyed. It felt like the obvious thing for me to do. SPARKS: Why should people enter the 2022 competition? Tom: It gives you an opportunity to show off what you do day-to-day on a national scale, challenge yourself, and push yourself out of your comfort zone. It’s reassuring that you’ve had other people look at your work, judge it, and they think it’s good. It’s beyond what they would necessarily expect from people. SPARKS: What are you going to do with the prizes?! Tom: Use them to further my career and push myself further. I’ll be able to install stuff and do it better and quicker. I’ll enjoy using my new toys!

Andy Spencer, City of Wolverhampton College said: “We enter the students into the SPARKS competition because it's a national competition with national coverage, with magazines that every student in a college, somewhere in the country, will be able to see.”