Gower College Swansea student, Scott Tavner, has been entered straight into the WorldSkills Lyon squad after his outstanding performance in the WorldSkills UK 2021 National Finals.

WorldSkills is a global movement of over 80 countries, which supports young people across the world via competitions-based training, assessment, and benchmarking. The WorldSkills competitions are known by many as the ‘skills Olympics’, with competitors being trained to develop their personal and employability skills, as well as technical.

Two years of Covid restrictions have had a huge impact on the music industry. With performances either banned or heavily restricted, it has been a tough time for aspiring young musicians. Music performance students at Gower College Swansea adapted as best as they could, but closed-door live streams and socially distanced seated audiences haven’t been quite the same.

This all changed on Valentine’s Day as the learners took to the Bunkhouse in Swansea for a night of music.

Gower College Swansea has a brand new Student Union and - overseeing the smooth running of the organisation – a new full time (sabbatical) SU President, Laimis Lisauskas.

Laimis, who was an engineering student at the College before starting in his new role, will work across all campuses and represent all the College’s students. He will lead on events and initiatives and ensure that students’ opinions are fed back to senior management.

Gower College Swansea has welcomed over 400 learners to the Gorseinon campus for the launch of the HE+ programme and Seren Academy for 2019/20.

Gower College Swansea, at the invitation of and in collaboration with, the University of Cambridge, is the ‘hub’ institution in the Swansea HE+ Consortium, working with the seven state sixth-form schools in the City and County of Swansea.

For hundreds of students across Swansea, the time has come to make decisions about what happens next in their educational journey, whether it’s college or sixth-form, an apprenticeship or heading straight into the workplace. Each educational and training option offers young people an opportunity to gain new skills and forge an exciting and rewarding career path. Here to look at some of those career opportunities available to students across the city is Mark Jones, Principal at Gower College Swansea.

Among the 1000-plus students about to progress to higher education from Gower College Swansea is Elli Rees, who has won a place at a prestigious American university.

Elli, who attended Ysgol Gyfun y Strade before studying A Levels in Maths, English Literature, Government and Politics, and Religious Studies at the Gorseinon Campus, will now read for a Liberal Arts degree at St John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland.

Four Gower College Swansea students have made it through to the WorldSkills UK national finals for Industrial Electronics, which take place at the NEC in November

Rhys Watts, Liam Hughes, Ben Lewis and Nathan Evans are all on Electronic Engineering courses at the Tycoch Campus.

“The entire teaching team is delighted and extremely proud of these students,” says Curriculum Leader Steve Williams. “The group heading to Birmingham in November is comprised of eight learners so, for half of that team to be Gower College Swansea students, is an incredible achievement.”

Students at Gower College Swansea are celebrating an overall A Level pass rate of 99%, with 1205 separate exam entries.

Of these passes, 35% were at grades A*-A, 61% were at A*-B and 82% were at A*-C.

The overall pass rate at AS Level was 92%, with 67% of those passes being grades A - C and 44% being grades A - B. There were 2447 separate exam entries for AS.

The College’s vocational results are also strong again this year with a 100% pass rate across Level 3 Extended Diplomas. 57% of these students achieved at least one Distinction.