Ballycastle student ‘over the moon’ to be taking part in WorldSkills UK National Finals

  • Lydia Fletcher from Ballycastle demonstrated her IT skills to secure her place in the WorldSkills UK national finals. 

    Lydia, who is studying Information Technology and Computing at Northern Regional College will compete in the IT Solutions for Business category.

    WorldSkills UK is a competition-based development programme designed to enhance practical skills and knowledge taught on vocational courses by assessing an individual’s employability attributes in a competitive environment.

    The original entry of over 3,000 competitors in 64 different skills area was whittled down through a series of local and regional heats with the eight highest scoring competitors in each skills area qualifying for the national finals.

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    Traditionally the national finals are held in the NEC, Birmingham but this year, because of COVID restrictions, the finals will be held at 23 venues throughout the UK between 9 and 19 November. The IT Solutions for Business final will be held at New College Lanarkshire in Lanarkshire, Scotland.

    Lydia, one of 11 students to represent Northern Regional College in the WorldSkills UK national finals, is in the second year of a Level 3 Diploma in IT and Computing at the College’s Coleraine campus.

    She explained why she decided to do a vocational course at the College after her GCSEs: “I wanted to continue studying IT, but the A-Level subjects available at my school didn’t appeal to me  as the IT related subject at my school was very broad and included topics that I didn’t have a lot of interest in.”

    She researched her options and after speaking to Computing lecturer and course coordinator, Ricky Ho, realised that the Level 3 Diploma was exactly what she was looking for.

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    She explains: “It covers so many areas of computing - some topics that I actually knew very little about, but I was keen to learn more, so I was confident that it was the right choice for me. I have really enjoyed my learning experience at Northern Regional College, particularly diving deeper into an area of programming I previously thought I would be weak at.” 

    Ricky Ho said Lydia’s keen interest in IT and focus on achieving her goal had impressed him from the first time he met her. Ricky said that despite Covid 19 disruptions to teaching, Lydia had been pro-active and continued to  build her portfolio.

    When she completes the Level 3 Diploma, Lydia plans to enrol at Queen’s University Belfast to complete a degree in Software Engineering and Digital Technology in partnership with PwC. 

    Source: Written from press release.

    About the author

    Aoife is a Sync NI writer with a previous background working in print, online and broadcast media. She has a keen interest in all things tech related. To connect with Aoife feel free to send her an email or connect on LinkedIn.

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