27TH JAN 2026
Discover What Our Students Achieved During Skills Week 2026
We had another brilliant Skills Week, full of creativity and excitement, as our students from Beauty, Make-Up, Hairdressing, Catering and Hospitality took part in our annual Skills Week.
Skills Week is a dedicated week where our students take part in a range of engaging workshops, competitive challenges, and skill-building masterclasses, instead of their usual classes.
It’s a great opportunity for students to get creative, work as teams and learn new practical skills that can give them an edge in their chosen industries. Lots of our activities were supported by local businesses and past students, who showcased skills and stepped in as judges for our in-house competitions.
Catering and Hospitality
Our Level 2 Catering and Hospitality students also explored a range of cuisines and plant based cooking. They prepared a tofu nori wrap inspired by a Great British Chefs recipe, featuring Asian inspired flavours and using nori seaweed to create a fresh and savoury dish suitable for vegan and gluten free diets.
Our students further developed their expertise through a focus on viennoiserie, with students producing excellent pain au chocolat. They also experimented with vegan and gluten free desserts, creating impressive lemon tarts. Our students also produced three cheese tortellini, showcasing strong pasta making skills.
The day concluded with a cook and serve competition, where industry expert Kevin Harris praised students for their resilience, creativity and hard work under pressure.
Our Level 2 Catering and Hospitality students took on the challenge of learning how to skin, butcher and prepare game from start to finish. Once prepared, our students served venison with triple cooked chips and béarnaise sauce. The dishes were very well received and reflected a high standard of skill and professionalism.
The experience helped our students build confidence while developing essential butchery techniques.
Hairdressing and Barbering
Our Hairdressing and barbering students enjoyed a busy and inspiring week packed with demonstrations, masterclasses and creative challenges.
We were delighted to welcome former student Shane Davis from Doghouse Barbers, who delivered an expert barbering demonstration for our students. Shane showcased a high and tight skin fade, a popular technique within the industry, while sharing valuable insight into his career and business journey.
Having trained at Gloucestershire College thirteen years ago, Shane now runs a successful barbering business and regularly returns to support and inspire our learners.
Our barbering students were also visited by Jess, who delivered a creative mullet cutting demonstration. Jess shared techniques developed over twelve years in the hair industry and spoke about her recent move to Mendoza & Co. Students found it particularly inspiring to hear from a female barber offering a fresh and modern perspective on the profession.
Our Adult Hairdressing students welcomed Sam Cairney from Vanilla in Cheltenham, who delivered a graduated bob cutting demonstration. Students learned a range of cutting techniques and professional blow drying tips to help refine their skills and prepare for industry work.
Our Level 2 Hairdressing students enjoyed a fun and creative tinsel session. They first practised applying tinsel to training heads before confidently trying their designs on each other, producing eye catching and professional results.
Industry specialist and former student Roxy Curthoys visited our Cheltenham campus to deliver an inspiring colouring masterclass for our Level 3 Hairdressing students. After completing her training at Gloucestershire College, Roxy went on to work as a self employed stylist before opening her own business, RXY Hair Salon.
Students were inspired by her journey and the high quality work she showcased during the session.
Our Evening Barbering students also benefited from a visit from Richard Hooke from Mode Men’s Barber Shop. A former Gloucestershire College student with seven years of industry experience, Richard delivered a practical demonstration and shared insight into his career path and day to day work in barbering.
The week concluded with our in house hair competitions, bringing together students from Cheltenham, Forest of Dean and Gloucester across Levels 1, 2 and 3, including barbering. The competitions showcased creativity, technical skill and confidence across all levels.
Beauty
Our Level 2 Beauty students at our Forest of Dean campus took part in an ear candling workshop, where they learned about the history and benefits of the treatment. Our students explored how ear candling can support clients experiencing tinnitus, sinus issues and anxiety, as well as how it can complement treatments such as Indian head massage and facials.
Each student both carried out and experienced the treatment, leaving the session feeling relaxed and confident.
Our Level 2 Beauty students also completed their first hot stone back massage treatments. They demonstrated professionalism and attention to detail while preparing equipment and delivering a deeply relaxing experience.
Across our campuses, our Level 2 Beauty students developed further practical skills. Our Gloucester based students learned how to carry out eyebrow lamination, a treatment that perms the brows to create a fuller appearance or set them into the client’s desired shape.
Students from our Gloucester, Cheltenham and Forest of Dean campuses also took part in a timed competition, going head to head in a sixty minute challenge to complete a French polish with a nail design. The standard of work was excellent, with our students demonstrating strong technical ability and creativity.
Make Up Artistry
Our Level 2 Make up students were given a challenging creative brief to design a full hair and makeup look alongside a costume made entirely from bin bags and recycled materials, all within six hours.
The finished looks demonstrated exceptional creativity, teamwork and problem solving skills, and the results were truly impressive.
