Upskill Your New Year: Free Community Courses Available Now

An exciting range of short community courses starts in North Nottinghamshire throughout January.

The five to ten-week long courses, delivered by North Notts College in collaboration with Nottinghamshire County Council Inspire, will be hosted at several learning centres across the region. They will be held over just a few hours once a week, are completely free of charge to those in receipt of a means tested benefit and span a wide variety of subjects including Shabby Chic, Read, Write and Spell, Sugarcraft and much more.

A new course – an Introduction to Teacher Training – will launch this month and will provide students with an overview of the skills and knowledge required to teach, the psychology of teaching adults, and learning methods. The ten-week course starts Tuesday 14th January 6.00pm – 8.00pm and costs £80, but is free to those in receipt of a means tested benefit.

North Notts College Development Worker Ella Wall arranges the courses.

Ella said: “For many who attend the Community Courses, it’s about more than simply learning a new skill. It’s about building confidence, helping with isolation, meeting new people and community integration and improving mental health.”

For many students, a community course is the start of something much bigger.

Ella added: “A lot of people who do the Card Making or Sugar Craft course start making cakes for friends and family, and then go on to set up their own business. We find once a student has built up some confidence, they’ll go on to another course or an intermediate course.”

North Notts College Lecturer Sue Brown has been teaching for 16 years. Throughout her career she has seen students transform.

Sue said: “A student can walk into my class really closed off, and as the courses progresses they start to open up. Suddenly, they are doing something for the first time in their life; it might be writing their name, or making a cake for a family member.

“It’s that eureka moment, and that passion that you see from the students doing something they never thought they’d achieve – it’s so rewarding, I love it.”

Sue added: “One of our students was a nervous anxious person that had no self-confidence. She joined the jewellery making course and is now selling jewellery for a church group she belongs to help raise money for families affected by the recent floods in Worksop.”

View the full list of courses available.

For further information, or to book a place on a course, call the Community Office on 01909 504515 or visit our Facebook page and send a message detailing which course you would like to attend.