"We have been talking a lot about the future. It's nice because it feels like that’s still there even though lots is going on."
At our training centre in West Sussex we teach further education courses to 16-24 year-olds. Our employability programmes focus on equipping students with the skills and knowledge they need to enter the workplace. We also offer support in job hunting, CV writing, and interview skills. Not to mention, accredited qualifications in English and maths, which enable those who have not passed their GCSE's to get the qualification needed to find work or move into another education or training course.
What's more, if a student is facing a particular barrier to their learning, we can offer other support services to help them overcome them, such as sessions with a mental health worker. To find out more about our programmes, please visit our training page.
Currently, our training centre is not the hub of student activity that it usually is. We are following government guidance closely and have put measure in place to distance students and tutors as much as possible whilst continuing to deliver our programmes and ensure education isn't disrupted. We asked a current student about their experience and how their learning is progressing at this time...
how are you learning at the moment?
I am coming into the training centre on a Thursday and Friday from 1pm-4pm. The most people we can have in a class is six so it is small and we have to use hand sanitiser and wipes and we are sitting far apart. Then I’m taking stuff home to do or am getting sent stuff online.
what’s it like?
Its strange, obviously, but it works. I’m still learning and I understand why we need to do everything we’re doing like using hand sanitiser and sitting far apart.
what are you learning?
We have been talking a lot about the future. It's nice because it feels like that’s still there even though lots is going on. I want to be an estate agent and because the classes are smaller I have been able to ask lots more questions about how to get into that job. We have been doing work on mindset skills so what you need to be like and how you need to think to get a certain job.
We’ve been doing reviews, letters, adverts and emails for English work. I write mine about being an estate agent mostly because it's what I want to do.
are you enjoying it?
I actually am. I never liked school but because we are focusing a lot on the job I want to do. One of our tasks was to write about how I’ll need maths and English so I realised I would need maths to measure things and parts of a house maybe and English to advertise the house and talk to people and convince them to buy or rent it. It was good to see why I need maths and English for what I want to do in the future.
what do you hope happens next?
I hope that it can go back to normal a bit more, like more students can come in. To be honest I quite like the small classes. I hope that I get to be assessed or take an exam and I hope to apply to be an estate agent maybe at the end of this year or next year, it depends on what happens I guess.
If you are aged 16-24, or know someone who is, and you would like to know more about our further education courses - contact us today!
