Learning Success Changes the Lives of 3 Salisbury Women
13th Oct 2008
Three Wiltshire College Salisbury students studying at Bemerton Heath Neighbourhood Centre were awarded their certificates on Tuesday 30th September by Bev Flannagan, Vice Principal Business Enterprise.
Betty Allen (71) of Tisbury has passed her OCR entry Level Certificate in Adult Numeracy to the delight of her friends and family. Despite having to catch the train and a bus to get to the centre Betty has now enrolled on Maths Level 1 and hopes to go on to Level 2. Betty says, ‘this is a great place to come and learn, nothing compares to the no pressure learning we receive here.’
Bemerton Heath resident Mandy Rushton was looking for something to get her out of the house and back into the work place. Mandy suffers from bipolar and had lost her confidence, the thought of going to college to study made her very anxious, so being able to study at the neighbourhood centre is ideal for her. She is able to study at her own pace and has just passed OCR level 2 in Adult Literacy. Mandy has now enrolled on Maths Level 1 so she can continue to be a good role model for her son and have better choices in the job market.
Kim Spreadbury joined the classes so that she would be better equipped to help her children with their homework. Whilst studying English her tutor discovered that Kim was dyslexic, which this has helped her understand why she had struggled so much in the past. Kim went on to complete the OCR Level 1 in Adult Literacy and is now moving on to Maths Level 1. Kim works as a cleaner on Bemerton Heath and was delighted to hear that there was a possibility of doing an NVQ in line with her current job.
All three are keen to learn and improve themselves, so much so that they turned a coffee morning on a Friday in to a craft morning. The session, which is not lead by a tutor, sees them making greetings cards. Their plan is to sell them on so that they can purchase more materials to keep the sessions going.
Edward Callahgan, Centre Manager said ‘It is great to see this kind of learning going on, we would like to find a sponsor or even a tutor who could donate a few hours, as unfortunately we just don’t have the funding to run this kind of craft session, which is why the students have taken it on themselves.’
