CLaSS

News

Green fingered learners and artists transform Friday Hill House garden

Learners with harvest

A group of learners taking a gardening course with Community Learning and Skills Service (CLaSS) have worked over the last year to turn an unused, derelict piece of land at Friday Hill House in Chingford into a low maintenance vegetable and flower garden.

Several of these learners came along on the 18th August and shared their summer garden stories and harvested and eat some of the produce. To find out more, click here.

Good news on CLaSS accommodation

Many of you may already be aware of the excellent news that CLaSS will be relocating from the Chestnuts House site. The decision to invest in new accommodation for adult learning in Walthamstow was taken at a council cabinet meeting in May. Members paid tribute to the excellent progress and high achievement of learners on CLaSS courses and the skill and commitment of staff. The proposed new building in Queen’s Road, just around the corner from Chestnuts House, is due to be completed in time for the new academic year in 2010. It will offer new and state of the art facilities for both learners and staff. There is great excitement across the service and we can’t wait to see the first designs of the new site. We will keep you all informed as things develop.

In the meantime some refurbishment and redecoration is planned for our main sites over the summer. We hope that you will see a difference when you return to learn with us in September!

Information, Advice and Enrolment sessions

CLaSS will be running Information, Advice and Enrolment Sessions in July and September. CLaSS staff will be on hand to provide information on all courses, qualifications and progression routes, to give advice and take bookings. Click here for further details.

New CLaSS Prospectus

The new CLaSS prospectus will be available in CLaSS centres, libraries, leisure centres and supermarkets from Tuesday 1st July, or is available to download here. There are over 1000 courses included in more than 300 subject areas.

We have many brand new courses this year including an extensive range of full Level 2 qualifications in subjects as diverse as Customer Service to Nail Services and well over 100 accredited Level 1 courses to help you on to the qualification ladder.

So whether you want to take up photography, get an NVQ in Children’s care, learn one of the 18 foreign languages we offer, discover the world of social networking via your computer, become a massage therapist, improve your maths skills, learn to dance the Tango, improve your spoken English, start your own business, learn new skills with your children, become a teacher, write a novel, make your own clothes or take up yoga …… We have something for everyone.

Learner Satisfaction Survey

It is very important for CLaSS to get feedback from learners to improve the service for everyone, we want to find out what we are doing well and also what it is doing less well. The learner satisfaction survey is one of the ways we find out what you think about the service you receive.

Some of you will be asked to complete a survey by your course teacher or by a member of the centre staff. Please take the time to fill in the survey – we will print the results in the next copy of the learner newsletter and on the CLaSS website.

We welcome feedback at any time, whether positive or negative there is always something for us to learn. You can do this by talking to your tutor or centre staff and by completing end of course evaluations or by placing a comment in one of the suggestion boxes. You can also contact our information officer – jan.brain@walthamforest.gov.uk

What do you expect to find in a library?

Books of course ….. and newspapers in various languages ….. and children’s books ….. and CDs and DVDs ….. and leaflets ….. and maps …. and information about things to do ………. Click here to find out more!

Learner Success Story

Accounts Success for Kasia

Five years ago, Kasia Szal was a student in Poland, as part of her studies she had to take accountancy lessons, which she hated and always got bad marks in! After her graduation she came to the UK, where she got her first job as an office administrator. She met a company accountant and became interested in book-keeping, after a short Introduction to Book-keeping course; she decided to enrol on a Computerised Accounts Level 1 course with CLaSS. She successfully completed Level 1, progressed on to Level 2 and then finished and passed her Level 3 qualification in June 2007. She went back to Poland to visit family and friends and returned to the UK in November 2007, when she began looking for work. With her new qualifications she was accepted by Hayes Employment Agency and was offered work on her first interview as an Assistant Accountant.

Kasia is very grateful to her tutor for all the support and advice she has given her, and Kasia is now looking to expand her knowledge by enrolling on a more advanced manual Book-keeping course with CLaSS.

Events

What’s on over the summer

Free CLaSS Taster Courses

CLaSS is running a series of free taster courses during July in more than 50 subjects. Most courses are for 1 or 2 days. Subjects include Family History, preparing your child for school, Assertiveness Skills, Polish, Using the Internet and much more.

To find out more speak to the administrative staff at any CLaSS centre or see the back page of the latest version of WFM.

Other events happening in Waltham Forest

Green Fair and The Fellowship Symphony – free

Sunday 20 July 2008 - 1pm – 7pm - Aveling Park/Lloyd Park

Waltham Forest Council’s annual environmental event, providing information on Council services, environmental issues, children’s activities and entertainment including arts and crafts, produce and flower shows, and exhibitions on renewable energy. This year’s Green Fair is also host to the creative and musical works of young people inspired by the cultural legacy of William Morris.

Entrance via Winns Terrace, E17

Big Dance Day

Saturday 12 July - From 2pm - Walthamstow Town Centre

Will feature performance styles from around the world and hundreds of dancers. The McGuffins Open Air Cinema will also be showing the classic film On the Town at a specially erected outdoor screen. The event will commence with a live appearance by the John Garfield Swing Band. CLaSS runs courses in Ballroom, Flamenco, Salsa, Tango and Tap. For more information contact any of our centres.

Waltham Forest Mela

Sunday 27 July - 2-7pm - Aveling Park/Lloyd Park

The very best in Asian music and dance, children's entertainment and funfair and 100s of stalls.