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College and Student Awards
COLLEGE & STUDENT AWARDS
Dylan Wins Trainee Tile Fixer Of The Year
Level 3 apprentice, Dylan Calvert, from Tandragee, won Trainee Tile Fixer of the Year at The Tile Association awards. Dylan works for Orchard Tiles in Portadown and completed the Level 3 Wall and Floor Tiling apprenticeship programme at the College’s Greenbank Campus. The Tile Association (TTA) is the trade association for wall and floor tiling in the UK and to win one of these awards is a mark of excellence and skill within the industry. Upon receiving his award, Dylan said: “I started my trade in Year 11 in the School Partnership Programme and this experience really helped me confirm that this was my career pathway. It is unbelievable how far I have come and what I have achieved with the training and support I received at Southern Regional College. I now have the opportunity to go to the Skills Olympics as part of WorldSkills UK and compete in my skill area.” Dylan added this award to his already bulging trophy cabinet as he had also won Gold at the national finals of the SkillBuild competition in 2020.
Success For Southern Regional College As Students Return Home Victorious From Worldskills UK Finals
Southern Regional College (SRC) students have once again returned triumphant from the recent WorldSkills UK finals held across the UK scooping 3 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze and 2 highly commended medals.
These outstanding results saw SRC yet again top the NI College’s leader board and achieve 3rd overall in the UK.
Gold Medal Winners
Shannon Fearon for Beauty Therapy Fiona Hagan for Creative Media Make-Up Aaron Gillespie for Wall & Floor Tiling
Silver Medal Winner
Patrick Sheerin for Automation
Bronze Medal Winner
Jacqui Hawthorne for Painting & Decorating
Highly Commended Medal Winners
Codie Jo Carr for Butchery (from Portadown) Tony Kane for Wall & Floor Tiling (from Newry) The annual WorldSkills UK competition provides opportunities for individual students to test their knowledge and skills against the very best across the UK.
Brian Doran, Principal & CEO of Southern
Regional College said: “We are incredibly proud of all our students who travelled and competed in the WorldSkills UK Competitions. Their dedication and talent for their chosen course is a real reflection of the incredible skills students in further education across Northern Ireland have and we were thrilled to be able to display that on a national level. The Southern Regional College students, under the close guidance of their mentors, have once again propelled SRC to the top spot within NI and third place overall in the UK – no small achievement.”
Christian Celebrates Success At The Highly Prestigious Annual Northern Ireland Colleges Media Awards (NICMAS)
Christian Sloan, from Banbridge, a Level 3 Art and Design student studying at Newry campus, won the top prize in the ‘Animation Category’ at the prestigious annual Northern Ireland Colleges Media Awards. Supported by the Department for the Economy, these awards are now a focal point for celebrating excellence in creative media production across the Further and Higher Education sector in Northern Ireland.
Industry judges reviewed over 200 entries from all six colleges before choosing winners in Moving Image Fiction, Moving Image Factual, Animation, Photography and Music Video Production.
Judge Fionnuala Deane, Dog Ears Animation Company said: “We saw some really excellent entries across all categories. Having been involved with the competition from the start I can say that every year the work is getting stronger and more diverse. This is a brilliant showcase of the talent which exists in media in Northern Ireland across many platforms from Animation to Factual. Congratulations to all who took part. For those who didn’t win this time, keep trying and for those who did, I know we will be hearing much more of you in the future.”
SRC in partnership with McGuinness Plumbing crowned winners at the NI Apprenticeship Awards 2022
SRC in partnership with McGuinness Plumbing (MGP), was delighted to win the ‘Small Medium Enterprise’ Employer Award at the NI Apprenticeship Awards earlier this year. This award was designed to acknowledge the excellence and originality by Employers, working with Training Providers, in the delivery of Apprenticeship training. It was a great honour for SRC to be crowned winners alongside MGP, who are sincere advocates of the apprenticeship route, working in collaboration with SRC to offer their apprentices the best possible training. Over the past 16 years, MGP have recruited 63 apprenticeships covering Levels 2, Level 3 and most recently Higher-Level Apprenticeships, all of whom have been vital to advancing the success and growth of MGP. Apprenticeships are taking the company to the next level, introducing new aspects to the business, and winning unique projects. As the economy continues to grow, SRC look forward to continuing their work with MGP and providing individuals with opportunities locally to further develop their career.
In April 2022, Armagh Campus hosted the Association of Hairdressers and Therapists Regional Heat. The association, founded in 1963 involves numerous members ranging from teachers, trainers and assessors of hairdressing or therapy subjects, who hold or are working towards teaching and assessing qualifications. The regional competition allowed learners the opportunity to enhance their technical and employability skills, as well as test their skills under pressure in preparation to succeed within their chosen trade. There were over 13 categories involving 128 participants on the day and impressively, there were 30 out of 42 winners from SRC.
Sean Mcgrath Receives Award At The Institute Of Meat And The Worshipful Company Of Butchers Annual Awards
Sean began his butchery career at the age of seventeen, and since then has held various positions within ABP Food Group. From early on, Sean’s managers were impressed by his skills and talent and wanted Sean to progress into a supervisory and management role. Sean commenced his educational journey with Southern Regional College in 2019 when he enrolled in the FDQ Level 2 certificate for Proficiency in Meat and Poultry Skills. SRC lecturers were impressed by the knowledge, dedication, and motivation. Whilst studying in SRC, Sean was offered a full-time Supervisory role within ABP Food group and juggled both extremely well. Sean has since then continued his education journey with SRC, currently completing the Level 3 qualification and hopes to enrol in Level 4 and Level 5 ILM Leadership and Management course in September 2022. Sean McGrath received the award ‘Best Apprentice showing Management Potential in a Manufacturing Environment’ at the Institute of Meat and The Worshipful Company of Butchers Annual awards. The ceremony took place at the Butchers Hall, London and Sean was presented with his award by Her Royal Highness Princess Anne and Keith Fisher (F.Inst.M), Chief Executive of the Institute of Meat.
