Leeds College of Building Level 1 Plastering student Reece Williams has been named ‘Student of the Year’ by partners at British Gypsum. 

His tutor Liam Addinall said he was “so pleased” for Reece, whose hard work over the year was rewarded with a trophy, a trowel set, and a gift voucher. 

Liam described Reece as “an outstanding student,” adding: “When he first joined my class as a full-time learner, he had very little prior experience in plastering. Since then, his progress has been exceptional. 

“Reece approaches every lesson with enthusiasm, arrives on time, and is always keen to improve. He’s been an absolute pleasure to teach. This award is well deserved, and I have no doubt there are big things ahead – possibly even SkillBuild!”

When asked how he felt about winning the award, Reece said, “I feel good. I didn’t expect to be nominated by so many teachers, but I’m happy my work has paid off.”

For any students wishing to follow in his footsteps, Reece said his main piece of advice was to just focus.

“Ignore any outside distractions like going out partying. Just focus on your work because obviously this is your future. You want to earn money. You want to work your way up.”

After presenting Reece with his award Ryan Seeley and Pete Baum, both Skills Partnership Managers for British Gypsum, took the opportunity to track the progress of students enrolled on another partnership initiative. 

The ‘Site Ready Skimming Course’, also known as ‘Skim School’, is an in-house training programme provided by British Gypsum in collaboration with Leeds College of Building. 

The course, now in its fourth year, was set up to help Level 1 and Level 2 students enhance their plastering skills and bolster their employability prospects. 

Reflecting on the programme, Pete said: “It’s one of our most well developed and high achieving courses. We run it all over the country and do lead by example with the quality that’s coming out of it.

“We had great success last year with every student achieving a distinction mark on the end-course assessment, and all our learners going out into industry working as plasterers. 

“For us at British Gypsum, the positives are that we get to meet with the students, watch their progress throughout the course, and then follow them into the industry.”

Leeds College of Building and British Gypsum have been partners for more than 15 years, with Ryan describing ‘Skim School’ as British Gypsum’s way of supporting colleges with plastering provisions that provide the opportunity to use authentic materials while training.

“Rather than just using things like sand and lime, which replicate the real world, they use materials that they’ll actually be using day-to-day.

“We also provide the ‘Student of the Year’ trophy, which enables us to start a relationship with new plasterers coming into the industry and then be able to encourage them and follow them all the way through.”

Skim School student Lisa Averay-Jones, who initially came to Leeds College of Building to study joinery before ending up on plastering, says the course has taught her “everything.”

Prior to joining Leeds College of Building Lisa had never even put plaster on a wall but has since gone from a complete beginner to someone who knows how to mix properly, work out timings, pressure, health and safety regulations, and more. 

Find out more about plastering on the new Leeds College of Building website.

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