WorldSkills comes to Didac!

Last week Didac opened its doors to WorldSkills! We welcomed Christian Notley MBE and Isaac Bingham into to our academy where they spent the week in our workshop going through one of Isaac’s practice runs in preparation for the next step of the WorldSkills competition due to take place in November for the UK finals in Milton Keynes.

So, what is WorldSkills? Well, it’s a charity formed in 1946 who organises world and national
championships for vocational skills, or as Christian described it, it’s like ‘the vocational skills Olympics
for young people!’ It runs every 2 years in different parts of the world and with around 50/60
different skills categories from aircraft to cooking to brickwork, there really is something for
everyone! Issac is taking part in the Furniture / Cabinet Making category.

During their time here we can quite clearly say all the staff at the academy were mesmerised and
engrossed in watching Isaac at work, as well as learning from them both about how this competition
unfolds and how much goes into it. Not forgetting being able to see first hand just how incredible
the skills of these young people truly are!

This week Isaac practiced on creating a cabinet. We learnt in Isaac’s category, he will be marked on
his compliance to health and safety, conformity to drawing, dimensions, quality of joints, fittings,
veneering and more. And may we add, all whilst on a 22 hour timer! When speaking with Isaac, we got to ask him a couple of questions as to why he wanted to enter, what his passions are and how
he’s feeling about the competition in general.

He studied Level 2 in Furniture Making and progressed on to Level 3, whilst undergoing an
apprenticeship programme in his teens. During his time at college in Northern Ireland, his tech tutor
put him forwards for WorldSkills. This is Isaac’s second time in the competition, the first time
reaching Nationals. But, this time he has his mind set on one thing and one thing only – to head to
Lyon and get that gold medal! Isaac is currently in phase 4 of the competition, having been selected
for the squads, with his next round determining whether he can make it to the Finals in Lyon next
year. His commitment is admirable, sharing that when he’s not on training sessions like these, he is
training and practising every night of the week at home, as well as making a living being self-employed.

During their time here we also managed to do a short interview with Christian. After speaking to
him, we were quick to see just how passionate he is. The amount of knowledge he has in this
championship and in education was fascinating to listen to, hearing about his time as one of the
experts in WorldSkills, and gaining 3 gold medals and 1 bronze with his trainees. He was awarded an
MBE for his work and dedication to education and WorldSkills, and it’s fair to say from talking to him
this week, his dedication really does shine through.

They mentioned their time at Didac has been positive, saying the facilities and location was great for
them, which was amazing to hear. We were privileged to host these gentleman last week, and will
be routing for Isaac and Christian in the following stages of the journey!