A BARRY teen has brought home gold for her skills in forensic science.

Skills Competition Wales is a national programme which recognises vocational talent in a variety of sectors; the competitors have been named the best in Wales at their chosen skill.

This includes 17-year-old Ellie Davies from Barry, who competed in the Forensic Science category and won a gold award for her achievements.

She said: “I was quite nervous going into the competition and as I’ve never done anything like it before but when I got into the swing of it, it was really exciting and fun to take part in.

“As part of my competition, I was given a video and some pictures of a crime scene that I had to analyse. I collected evidence and explained how I found and analysed it. I also had to demonstrate how to reduce contaminated evidence to help me to write a successful scene report.

“To help me prepare, my teacher was giving me extra lessons each week to help me understand all the knowledge and background support I needed to be successful.

“I was delighted when I found out I’d won gold and my family celebrated with me by having a lovely dinner. I’m really excited about the future now as I’m also registered to compete in the UK level competitions at WorldSkills UK Live later this year, where I hope to win another award.”

Backed by the Welsh Government through the European Social Fund, Skills Competition Wales is a series of events held across the country, designed to celebrate vocational skills and create highly skilled, talented employees for the Welsh workforce.

The virtual awards ceremony – which followed a series of regional competitions – took place on May 13 and celebrated the talents of competitors in the IT and enterprise, media and creative, health, hospitality and lifestyle, and engineering and technology sectors.

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A second event will take place later in May to celebrate further competitor successes in additional categories, including construction and infrastructure.

Project director for inspiring skills excellence and skills ambassador for Wales, Paul Evans, said: “Skills Competition Wales offers a great opportunity for people to expand and demonstrate their skills and abilities. Winning a medal is a fantastic way to get their careers off to a flying start.

“I’d like to congratulate all those who took part this year and look forward to following their stories as they progress on to a bright future.”