Nescot Hairdressing student through to national finals

A Hairdressing student from Nescot has made it to the finals of a national technical competition.

Maria Khan, a Level 2 student, scored highly in the semi-finals in Highbury this week, and will now go through to the WorldSkills UK finals in Belfast in November.

“Maria is a talented hairdresser, and she has also worked extremely hard,” said her tutor Lisa. “We’re looking forward to seeing her continue to progress as she works towards the finals in autumn.”

Maria, who is 39 and only moved to the UK from Germany two years ago, speaks three languages and regularly records her teachers’ lessons to help her to improve her spoken English.

She has already founded a hair and beauty salon in Islamabad, in Pakistan, which is proving so popular she has expanded from one floor to three to cater for the growing demand.

Maria is planning to start her Level 3 qualification in September, and hopes to train as a teacher in the future, so that she can provide specialist coaching to the staff at her salon in Pakistan.

“I’m really hungry to learn and keep getting better and better,” Maria said. “I learnt a lot from taking part in the competition, and the judges gave me lots of helpful feedback and advice.”

Maria will join a team of four Creative Media students in the national finals in November. Kaiya, Ruben, Elodie and Adam will compete in the Digital Video Production category in Cardiff. 

Nescot offers Hairdressing qualifications for school leavers at Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3, as well as part-time courses for adults. You can read more here.