Skills not Sorcery for Apprentice 

Mayoral Visit Recognises Worldskills Achievement

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His Worshipful The Mayor of Neath Port Talbot Cllr C.M. Crowley accompanied by Cllr. Jeremy Hurley (NPTC Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Economic Growth) visited one of Port Talbot’s most innovative and rising business enterprises to recognise outstanding achievement this week.

The Skills Academy, established only in 2023 as the training arm of Port Talbot based mechanical engineers the J.E.S. Group Ltd, has already been recognised as a centre of excellence for the development of welding skills and can now provide the proof to confirm it.

J.E.S. apprentice Sam Gardner will be Wales’ 2024 representative in the Worldskills UK Finals held in Manchester from the 18th-22nd November this year, following his outstanding win in the Wales & West of England heats in June.

In the host year for the Olympic games, welding holds its own equivalent. The prestigious Worldskills competition is the gold standard of skills excellence and looks to champion skills and learning through local, regional, national and international competitions.

The competition aims to use international best practice to raise standards in apprenticeships and technical education to ensure that more young people and their employers succeed in their chosen sphere of work.

Cllr. Crowley congratulated Sam Gardner on his individual success but praised both The Skills Academy’s instructors Jake Neale, Chris Sargeant and Curtis Rees for their skill and dedication and Academy Head Sam Owen and JES, for their vision.

Commenting Cllr Crowley said, ‘In recognising Sam Gardner’s achievement, I also have to comment on the speed of progress made by The Skills Academy which has surprised us all. Not only did the Academy staff help to produce a Worldskills finalist but also provided the cutting edge facilities to be able to host the event. News reaches me daily of the developments taking place at the Academy on Port Talbot Docks and it is very impressive. I’m well aware of the support extended by the officers of NPT Council to JES’s ambitions for The Skills Academy and very glad to hear that JES vision for the future is a collaborative one in which NPT Council will continue to play a vital role’.

Responding J.E.S. Director Justin Johnson commented, ‘It’s an honour to welcome The Mayor of Neath Port Talbot Cllr. Crowley here today. His recognition not only of Sam Gardner’s Worldskills achievements but of the great work being undertaken by Head of Academy Sam Owen and his team of instructors, who have all worked so hard, is very gratifying. In a short space of time, this project has come a long way. We could not have done it without the support extended by NPT Council, its officers and all our elected representatives across the political divide. The Skills Academy is a flagship project that strives to upskill specifically for the purpose of gainful employment, reminding people as we go along that you cannot achieve a ‘green future’ without the ‘black trades’ of welding, fabricating and pipe fitting’.

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