Emtec, part of Nottingham College’s Ruddington campus, recently hosted the heats of the Steer Apprentice Skills Competition, an event designed to celebrate up and coming talent in the sector.
The heats, run over the course of 3 days, saw 35 Steer apprentices compete across five body repair skill areas. From these 35 individuals, five will be selected for the final in a few weeks, where they will be showing off their abilities for the 1st place prize – entry to the prestigious national WorldSkills competition.
"We use the competition to find high achievers, but also to learn about what shortfalls they might have. If they are struggling in one area we can look to develop that skill in the future. Each task they go through, is about the health and safety, wearing the correct PPE, and following the correct process. I think what is massively valuable is the feedback from the judges at the end of each task.”
Steve Hoe – Head of Academy and Organisation Development at Steer Automotive Group
Steer apprentices from all over the country arrived at Nottingham College to gain valuable experience and a chance to practice for their end point assessments. Last year, all finalists boasted a 93% first time pass rate.
“It’s all linked to our greater plan. The competition itself is all based around the development of young people. It’s a massive benefit to them socially; the interaction and the skills they are going to learn, coming away from home and travelling here. They are also working under time pressure whilst being judged under a criteria.”
Steve Hoe
Each station requires a different set of skills that are key to working within body repair:
- Metal finish
- Welding
- Jig alignment
- Plastic welding
- Body repair with filler
At the finals on 12-13th March, new versions of these tasks will be presented to the five finalists, to really challenge the shortlisted apprentices and crown one winner of the 2025 competition.
“We would not be able to provide this competition to our apprentices without the support of our partners and of course the college for providing us with the facilities.”
Steve Hoe
All car body parts were provided by The Green Parts Specialists, making the competition sustainable and in line with Nottingham College’s ZERO agenda [can we link to this] and giving apprentices a real-world experience repairing old parts instead of replacing with new. Additional experience showcased during the heats included VR Welding, which was generously provided by Soldamatic, for everyone to try their hand at body repair.
To find out more about automotive apprenticeships at Nottingham College here:
Photos of the day
