On Thursday 16th February, SMB College Group are excited to be hosting the Midlands heats of the HIP and Sparks Learner of the Year competitions at their Stephenson Campus in Coalville!

The event will see Plumbing and Electrical students from across the region descend upon the campus to battle it out for a place in the grand finals, which are to take place later this year.  

Two SMB College Group Apprentices have been selected to compete in the heat: Electrical Installation Apprentice, Ben Noon, and Adam Symes Goodman, Plumbing & Heating Apprentice with UK Gas.

During the event, the participants will complete series of tasks to demonstrate the knowledge and skills that they’ve acquired in their respective trades, all of which will take place in the college’s industry standard Plumbing and Electrical workshops. Excitingly, this year will also see the event’s first ever female-only ‘Sparks’ competition for Electrical students.

Mark Bradbury, Section Manager for Pluming and Gas at SMB College Group, commented ’We are delighted to continue to support Hips and Sparks competition here at our Stephenson Campus. The competition will take place in our new Plumbing workshop which will provide the perfect platform for all entrants to showcase their skills in the regional heat of the competition. Our entrant for the ‘Hip’ Learner of the Year competition, Adam Symes Goodman, currently works for UK Gas and is studying an apprenticeship in Plumbing and Heating. We look forward to Adam showcasing his skills and are thankful for the support shown from UK Gas.’

As the longest running college host of the Hip & Sparks Learner of the Year Competitions, SMB College Group are proud to again play a vital role in this year’s events by offering the facilities at their specialist technical and trade campus in Coalville.

SMB College Group’s Stephenson Campus is a well-known training centre for a wide variety of Construction and Engineering trades. Students are able to enrol onto full-time programmes, apprenticeships, T Levels, short courses and more, with a range of opportunities available from Entry Level up to Undergraduate study. 

HIP and Sparks are student magazines which focus on Plumbing/Heating and Electrical education, respectively. Their Learner of the Year competitions are annual events aiming to find the very best student talent within their respective industries, with a range of fantastic prizes up for grabs for students and their colleges.

To find out more and see what it's like to study with SMB College Group, sign up now for our Stephenson Campus open evening: College Open Evening (March) - Stephenson Campus | SMB College Group