Students from Portadown, Moira and Waringstown to compete at WorldSkills UK finals in Manchester

Amongst those making up the team from SRC, are five local students from Portadown and surrounding areas. These students will be demonstrating their many learned skills with hopes of bringing home bronze, silver or gold medals.

Competition areas students are competing in include automation, automotive refinishing, culinary arts, electrical installation, health & social care, restaurant services, industry 4.0, laboratory technician and mechatronics.

Local students representing Northern Ireland and SRC at WorldSkills UK are:

• Carter McKnight from Moira who is competing within the mechatronics category at this year’s finals. Carter is no stranger to WorldSkills UK competition, having won gold in last year's automation category with his teammate Ross Graham. Carter is a Level 5 Foundation Degree Mechatronic Engineering higher level apprentice and works within Randox Laboratories as a Mechatronics Engineer (Apprentice), mostly involved in collaborative robot projects, PLC programming, industrial automated project design as well as pneumatic and electrical design, setup and configuration. Carter’s manager Lakvinder Singh, Lead Biomedical Engineer at Randox Laboratories had this advice to offer in advance of the competition: “Ensure you review your plan for the competition and understand exactly how you're going to execute it. Stay calm and in control of your emotions; while you may be nervous, you have put a lot of hard work and effort into your achievements to date, trust your abilities but above all, enjoy yourself.”
• John Doherty from Portadown. John has previous experience at WorldSkills UK finals having competed within the mechatronics category at last year's competition winning a bronze medal. John is returning the finals this year with ambitions of gaining a place on the Team UK development squad. John is a Graduate Automation Engineer at Norbrook Laboratories. John’s manager Steve Ames, an Electronic Controls & Instrumentation Manager at Norbrook offered this advice going to John going into the competition: “Believe in the skills and hard work you’ve put in so far. Stay focused, trust your training and don’t be afraid to think creatively under pressure. This is a valuable learning experience, so embrace every challenge as an opportunity to grow. You’ve got this!”
• Patrick Sheerin from Portadown. Patrick recently graduated from the College with the Engineering BEng (Hons) degree awarded by The Open University. Patrick is competing alongside teammate Caolan McCartan in the Industry 4.0 category. The Fourth Industrial Revolution, also known as Industry 4.0 is the concept of revolutionising modern factories using a range of new and emerging technologies.
• Ben Robertson from Portadown. Ben recently completed his Vehicle Accident Repair Paint Principles level 3 diploma apprenticeship at the College’s Portadown campus. Ben is currently employed with G&D Auto Repairs in Dungannon.
• Jonathan Gough from Waringstown. Jonathan is a current electrical apprentice at the College’s Portadown campus. Jonathan has been working alongside Mark Dowey of MD Electrics for nearly three years now and is a valued employee of the business, undertaking electrical installations and testing within the business. Mark’s advice for Jonathan going into the national finals is: “While you will be going into a time pressurised environment, don’t forget your training. Take a minute to stand back and survey the overall task at hand, gather your thoughts and you will succeed in the task at hand.”

Southern Regional College has been hugely successful at WorldSkills UK in recent years, being named the top performing College in the UK, in both the 2023 and 2024 national finals. Hope remains high for students participating in this year’s finals.

Following the WorldSkills UK finals, students who have exceeded scoring requirements may be invited to join Squad UK and participate in the EuroSkills and WorldSkills competition series.

Lee Campbell, Principal & CEO of Southern Regional College commented: “I am incredibly proud of our exceptional students who will be representing Southern Regional College and Northern Ireland at the upcoming WorldSkills UK finals.

"These remarkable individuals have showcased their unwavering dedication, remarkable talent, and relentless pursuit of excellence. I wish them every success in this prestigious competition, and I am confident that they will not only make our College proud but also inspire others with their remarkable achievements”.

WorldSkills UK is a four-nation partnership between the education sector, industry and the UK government to build a ‘skills economy’ by embedding world-class training standards to drive investment, jobs and economic growth.