Trio of Hairdressing Learners Compete in WorldSkills Regional Finals

Three adult learners from Stoke on Trent College have competed in the regional finals of Hairdressing for WorldSkills UK.

Gemma Gidman, Liga Liepina and Ashleigh Heath are all studying Level 2 Hairdressing at the college, and have competed against 16 other participants from other colleges at the regional competition, which was hosted at Stoke on Trent College’s recently refurbished industry-ready Hair & Beauty studios at the Cauldon campus, on Tuesday 17 June.

Ashleigh heard about WorldSkills from one of her friends who had previously taken part.

“I had a friend who competed in WorldSkills last year, and after our tutor told us about it; I said I wanted to take part. It’s a little nerve-wracking but quite exciting too,” she said.

Liga is looking forward to showing off her creative hairdressing skills, saying,

“I’m really looking forward to taking part in this very famous competition. I heard about it from my tutor who motivated me to take part.

“I really want to show off my hairdressing skills and creative side. Taking part will support my studies as I will gain experience in a competition setting. I’m hoping the experience will help me to get a job in a salon in the near future.”

For Gemma, the motivation of potentially representing her country in hairdressing, was a big motivation to apply for World Skills.

“Once I heard about WorldSkills I wanted to take part. It’s exciting to know if I got through, I could potentially be representing the country for hairdressing.”

Hassan Rizvi, Principal & CEO at Stoke on Trent College said:

“This is the second year we are hosting the regional hairdressing finals of WorldSkills. We were delighted to be asked to once again host the competition in our industry-standard Hair & Beauty studios.

“We’re extremely proud to have three competitors in the regional finals and wish them all the very best of luck for the day.”

The hairdressing competition assessed all the skills and abilities of competitors entering the field of hairdressing.

Finalists will be announced in July, with the national finals taking place from 19-22 November 2025 at the Greater Manchester Colleges Group. The medal ceremony for finalists will take place on 22 November at Bridgewater Hall in Manchester.

The WorldSkills UK Competition Finals will take place from 25-28 November at venues across South Wales.

Find out more about hairdressing courses at Stoke on Trent College here