Capital City College wins in Inter-College Skills Show

At the second annual Inter-College Skills Show, Capital City College students won in seven of the ten competitions, showcasing talent, professionalism and teamwork.

Marking the largest event of its kind, eight London colleges joined forces to put on the Inter-College Skills Show, a day of simultaneous competitions held across six locations, where hundreds of further education students took part in ten competitions in science, engineering, electrical, hospitality, beauty and more.  

Angela Joyce, Chief Executive Officer of Capital City College, said: “Competitions like these are a great way to challenge our students and put their skills to the test. Our students study courses that will offer them real skills and experience that are applicable to today’s industries, and it is wonderful that our judges and industry partners can see how essential skills competitions are as we educate tomorrow’s leaders, today.”

The participating colleges were Barking & Dagenham College (the show organisers), Waltham Forest College, United Colleges Group, South Essex College, Newham College, Barnet and Southgate College and Newham Sixth Form College. 

The Inter-College Skills Show aimed to help tackle London’s skills gap by demonstrating how vocational education equips learners with industry-relevant expertise in key sectors such as construction, engineering, hospitality, healthcare, science, and digital industries. This groundbreaking initiative brought together learners, educators, and industry leaders to showcase vocational excellence and highlight the crucial role of skills competitions in preparing the workforce of tomorrow. 

Capital City College students won in:

Capital City College was also the overall winner for the skills show, claiming the trophy for the most winning students from all the competing colleges.

What our students said

Culinary student Samara Jordan, reflected on the competition prior to finding to she had won first place in the hospitality competition’s ‘butchering a chicken’ round: “I competed in pursuit of expanding my skills and deepening my culinary knowledge. I think that putting yourself in uncomfortable situations will help you to succeed. I did my best in the competition, but whatever happens it’s an essential learning experience .”

Culinary student Naif Alshen, who won first place in the hospitality competition’s ‘vegetable knife skills’ round, said: “The competition made me more confident, learning how to work under pressure. I was a bit nervous, but in the end, I think I did really well.” On finding out that he had secured first place, he said: “It felt amazing! I’m really proud of myself.”

Jamey Wilkes, a level three applied science student and first place winner of the science competition said: “I’m genuinely over the moon that I won. Everyone here is so talented. I would say that if anyone else wants to try and compete at future competitions like this to try not to stress too much. It’s more about enjoying it, cause you’ll relax more and you’ll probably do better if you stress less.”

The judges’ reactions

Mark Dunne, Strategic Account Director at OneAdvanced and judge for the cybersecurity competition, said: “As a panel, we were blown away by the subject knowledge, teamwork and presentation skills on display. Cyber security is a key consideration for businesses, and students from each college were incredibly impressive in demonstrating their grasp of the business risks and how to mitigate these. A huge well done to all involved, and in particular to the medallists – Barnet and Southgate College and United Colleges Group – and the winners from Capital City College.”

Max Haslam, Junior Technician at MeiraGTx and judge of the science competition said:  “It was a good day. It’s nice to see people trying different experiments, especially the students who are doing it for the first time. There’s lots of good habits on show that students who want to be scientists can carry over after university, which you can see very clearly here, especially regarding PPE.”

Simon Cutting, Professor at the Royal Holloway University and judge of the science competition, added: “Today has been a real eye-opener. It’s really good to see students who are obviously motivated by science, and I hope they go on and pursue a career.”

Congratulations to all the winners!

Want to follow in our winning students’ footsteps? You can learn about our courses in hospitality, hair and beauty, science, engineering, and more online.

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