'Skills for Life' celebrated at York College

Students studying Skills for Life courses at
York College were presented with certificates by College Principal, Dr Alison Birkinshaw, at a special ceremony.  Students were recognised for their outstanding achievements including four Student of the Year special award winners:

Numeracy Student of the Year  - Julie Brennan
Literacy Student of the Year – Malcolm Lawrence
Creative Literacy with Computers student of the Year – Martin Saunders
Volunteer of the Year – Christine Furze 

Among those celebrating were students
Wendy Hill and Malcolm Lawrence who turned their lives around when they returned to education to brush up on their English and maths skills.  Wendy is now in a position to fulfil her dream of studying psychology at university and Malcolm has found a new confidence  in writing, not having used the English language for fifteen years whilst living abroad.  His achievements have enabled him to develop a new career path in education.

Union Learning Representative for USDAW and Tesco employee, Tracy White, who herself is a former Skills for Life student, was the guest speaker at the event.

Skills for Life courses at York College in maths and English are free of charge for most people.  For more information contact York College 01904 770410

Malcolm

When Malcolm returned to England, after spending fifteen years abroad, he'd lost all his confidence in writing English. It was a subject he'd never enjoyed much at school and not using English for such a long period of time impacted further on his self-belief and abilities. At that time he was homeless and needed to get his life back on track after experiencing a work accident which left him with a disabled arm.

Malcolm, aged 43, took the brave step of enrolling on an eight week course to brush up on his English at York College. He was assessed by his tutor who was able to identify the gaps in his skills, but more importantly he was asked what he wanted to achieve from the course, giving him a personalised learning plan. It was important he realised that he didn’t have to start from scratch, that he had the fundamental foundations to start to build on his current skills and abilities initially gained from school and life.

Feeling supported and encouraged to progress, he went on to brush up his maths too. After a year studying he achieved a Level 2 in both English and maths and found a new confidence, and this had a positive effect on his future plans for the rest of his life. Malcolm worked on building up his concentration, his social skills and self esteem, which all improved and ultimately gave him more confidence to deal with life in general.

Says Malcolm: “I always knew that I was capable of more. At College I was given the opportunity to be myself and to learn in the way that best suited me. At school I was never taught any strategies to develop learning, whereas now I have and I've discovered that I am actually good at writing and problem solving. I’ve been reassured that I have my own learning style and that is okay.

College has been a very positive experience for me, just brilliant. It has turned my live around. The tutors have been so supportive and friendly and I have surpassed my own academic expectations in a short space of time. Now I am looking forward to volunteering at College, helping other students with their English skills. I am also hoping to volunteer with the BBC CLICK team, teaching older people how to use computers. Already doors are starting to open up for me.”

Wendy

Wendy, aged 47, is excited that her dream of studying psychology at university can now become a reality due to her returning to education to brush up on maths and English.

Wendy has been a stay at home Mum, caring for her family. Not having worked, she did not have to prove her maths and English skills to anyone. During this time she enjoyed studying a home learning course, level 4 qualification in Child Psychology and currently studying advanced psychology, but became aware that she needed to have a maths and English qualifications in order to progress further.

At school Wendy found it hard to get to grips with the core subjects, letting her maths and English skills lapse. Consequently, she left school without the basic qualifications to enable her to continue with her education to the next stage.

A year ago Wendy took the brave step to return to education to achieve her ambition of becoming a psychoanalyst. In just one year she has achieved a Level 1 qualification in Maths and a Level 1 and 2 in English and next year she will progress to a Level 2 in Maths and a GCSE in English which will enable her to apply to university in two years time.

Wendy says: “On coming to College I found it easier to engage in learning Maths and English, it really wasn’t the hard slog I remember it being at school. The tutors have been inspirational and it has been a very supportive environment in which to learn. I feel driven to achieve my lifelong dream of going to university to study psychology and I will have the necessary maths and English qualifications to enable me to do just that. I would urge anyone to bite the bullet and get these core subjects under their belt. ”