NVQ students show off their skills

NVQ students from the College were among those taking part in the regional finals of the UK Skills Beauty Therapy and Hairdressing regional finals, which took place in our salons recently.

Both were live competitions, where students performed a selection of tasks at either an intermediate or advanced level, and were judged by a panel of professionals in the field.

The hairdressing students - Nikta Quemarcy, Jodie Varley, Kelly Mason and Mun Yu Yueng - were cutting, colouring and dressing long hair, while the beauty therapists - Natalie Ward, Victoria Cartwright and Hannah Griffin - carried out facials, body massage, make up and manicures.

The College was successful in two of the categories, with Natalie gaining gold for intermediate beauty therapy and Victoria taking gold in the advanced category.

Our competitors were chosen after entering an in house competition at the beginning of the year, from which a number of students were selected for further training. All the students were then judged again and the finalists decided.

Hairdressing and Beauty co-ordinator Kim Everton said: "The students who took part will benefit from an increase in their confidence and skills, which will help them when they go into the industry.

"Putting the competitors through the intensive training programme will have made them much more employable."

The College has also decided to operate a Finishing School for students who have completed their main qualification at this moment but are not due to leave until June, to further enhance their skills.

The competition winners will go forward to the UK final in London, which takes place in September.