East Coast College walked away with a clutch of medals at this year’s Norfolk and Waveney Building Apprentices’ Competition, held at the Norfolk Showground last week.
The annual competition is open to apprentices and students from the region with teams entering from City College Norwich, Easton and Otley College, the College of West Anglia and the Carter Training Academy. The competition aims to showcase the skills of those training for careers in the construction industry and the Lowestoft team entered the brickwork, painting and decorating and plumbing categories.
Each student is given a set amount of time to complete a task related to their trade and a panel of judges awards points to competitors. The students with the highest scores receive a bronze, silver or gold medal and the team with the highest overall score wins a trophy. In the brickwork category Joshua Bryenton, an apprentice with Bryenton and Son walked away with the gold medal, while Oliver Carberry, an apprentice with Persimmon Homes took the third spot to with the bronze medal. In the painting and decorating category Lewis Doubleday took gold and Georgia Layton-Bullock won bronze and in plumbing Jay Tipper, an apprentice with Gilbert Builders came second to take the silver medal.
Also representing Lowestoft Campus at the competition was Harry Shipley, an apprentice with Cripps Developments Ltd. The team put in a strong performance and missed out on the overall trophy by just one point.
John French, Curriculum Quality Manager for the construction department, said: “The team put in a fantastic performance and we are very proud of them all. By taking part in competitions, students and apprentices are able to test their ability to think under pressure and gain a real sense of the quality of their work.”