STUDENTS from Kendal College took part in the WorldSkills Regional Heats at Northumberland College and secured the top two places in the ‘IT Software Solution for Business’ category.

Kaneen Wear, 28, and Zach Wharton, 18 – both from Kendal – took first and second places respectively in the competition. Both students may now have the chance to go through to the WorldSkills National Finals at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in November and if successful will be invited to compete in the International WorldSkills Finals to be held in Abu Dhabi in 2017.

The regional heats tested the competitors in-depth knowledge of Microsoft Office software and included inputting, manipulating, outputting and presenting information to demonstrate accuracy, knowledge and time management skills under a pressured competition environment.

A third Kendal College student, Sam Kilpatrick, 18 from Kendal also took part in the competition but was not placed on the day.