Beauty Therapist is best in the world!

It’s a second consecutive win in the WorldSkills Finals for East Sussex College Beauty Therapy alumni.

Team UK, made up of the country’s top young students and apprentices, flew home on Wednesday (28th August) in a cloud of gold and glory after competing in the WorldSkills Finals in Kazan, Russia. Among them, bringing home the gold for Team UK, was East Sussex College Lewes alumni, Rebecca West.

The talented 22-year-old from Southwick was crowned the world’s best young beauty therapist in a spectacular closing ceremony which saw more than a quarter of a million people gather at the Kazan International Exhibition Centre and included an address by President Vladimir Putin. The opening and closing ceremonies were also televised in the UK for the very first time.

Celebrating her win, Rebecca told WorldSkills UK, “This will change my life. It is just amazing! I am so proud to say that I am the best in the world. This means everything. Over the past 20 weeks I’ve done nothing but train, but all the hard work has paid off and now I intend to celebrate.”

Rebecca’s win emulates the success of ESC alumni, Kaiya Swain, who was crowned the world’s best young beauty therapist after winning the gold medal in WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017.

Rebecca’s tutor, Shelli Simpkin, says, “Rebecca was always a model student: hard working, committed and an absolute pleasure to teach. She showed a natural flair for competition work, and her skills went from strength to strength throughout her time at college. The team and myself are all so proud of Rebecca’s success, and cannot wait to see what the future holds for the world’s best young beauty therapist!”

Fred Carter, Principal of East Sussex College, adds, “To have two consecutive gold medallists in Beauty Therapy from Team UK is outstanding. The fact that they both attended East Sussex College is truly phenomenal and shows the incredible talent of our students and the dedication and hard work of the teaching team, in recognising these students and encouraging them to succeed.”

Dr Neil Bentley-Gockmann OBE, CEO of WorldSkills UK says, “This is a fantastic result for the team and the UK as a whole – I couldn’t be prouder. This was the ultimate test and they stepped up to the mark.”

“The members of Team UK, all under 25 years, championed the UK focus on skills development in front of a global audience, sending a strong message that the UK is a world-class place to invest, do business and create jobs.”