WEA courses

In this workshop, you will delve into the fundamentals of composition, colour theory, and design with a festive holiday twist. You’ll explore how to use balance, contrast, and harmony to create visually striking, holiday-inspired artwork, perfect for the season. By experimenting with seasonal colour palettes—think warm reds and greens or frosty blues and silvers—you will discover how to evoke a joyful, wintry feel in your designs. Throughguided exercises, you’ll bring classic holiday themes to life, incorporating elements like snowflakes, ornaments, and cozy winter scenes to craft unique and eye-catching pieces suitable for holiday cards or decor.

Designed for current and aspiring school support workers, this course focuses on practical maths skills that are directly applicable to the classroom. Over six sessions, learners will explore foundational maths concepts and apply them in real-world scenarios to enhance their ability to assist students. The curriculum covers essential topics, including basic operations, equivalencies between fractions, decimals, percentages, interpreting data, managing schedules, and using measurement skills. Activities such as creating timetables, planning classroom decorations, help participants contextualise maths in a school setting. Each session highlights practical applications, ensuring learners gain skills they can use to improve students' learning experiences in maths. Note: This introductory online course offers a foundation in practical numeracy skills for support workers in schools. It will familiarise learners with essential maths used in classroom support tasks, providing valuable preparation for those considering accredited maths qualifications. It’s also suitable for individuals currently in support roles in schools who want to refresh their foundational maths skills. This course is funded by West Midlands Combined Authority.

Do you help out at a school or youth centre? If you volunteer in a setting with children, it’s important to have an understanding of basic paediatric first aid. This paediatric first aid course gives you an introduction to the essential life-saving skills that can make all the difference in an emergency situation. This course is ideal for you if you work informally with children, toddlers, or babies. It is useful in a variety of settings, including sports halls, community hubs, and youth centres. It is also perfect for new parents who want to understand basic first aid to look after their children.

This introductory course is for anyone who wants to develop a basic knowledge of working with children up to the age of 5 in early years’ settings such as nurseries or pre-schools. You will understand the importance of communication and will gain confidence in applying skills and techniques that will engage children in their personal development. You will study activities that can stimulate children's growth and learning development in their early years. You will increase your confidence in caring for children in early years’ settings. To progress on to an accredited Early Years’ Course at the WEA, or other courses.

These creative writing workshops spotlight the much-written theme of love. From romantic love to family love, from love of a place or a home of long ago to the love of a pet or a ritual, we’ll learn from authors who have portrayed love in all its form – obsessive love, had and had to let go of love and soul-mate love. This workshop consists of a blend of activities: writing exercises to practice your craft; close reading of extracts from published inspirational writers and teaching points on creative writing techniques. There is an opportunity to share your fresh words in small groups and receive gentle, appreciative feedback.

Build on your communication skills with this ESOL speaking and listening course. This English course for adults is aimed at speakers of other languages. It will help you improve your speaking and listening skills to communicate better in English. Entry 2 ESOL courses are right for you if you have basic speaking and listening skills in English. This course will help you gain confidence to speak about everyday topics and improve your comprehension. There are also reading and writing courses at this level. If you’re helping others access ESOL classes in the UK, you’ve come to the right place.

Take your speaking and listening skills to the next level with this ESOL course. Improving your communication skills will make you feel more confident interacting with others in the UK. ESOL entry 3 courses build on skills you learnt at entry 2. Gain confidence speaking in new and familiar situations and learn tools for effective communication. This is an English course for adults. It is aimed at speakers of other languages. ESOL classes are divided into three areas: reading, writing, and speaking & listening. If you’re helping others access ESOL courses in the UK, you’ve come to the right place.

This Multiply Maths for Care Workers course introduces key numeracy skills needed in the care sector. Over six 2-hour sessions, learners will cover practical applications, including medication dosages, unit conversions, reading charts, and managing time effectively, helping participants apply maths confidently in routine care tasks. This course is funded by West Midlands Combined Authority.

We will explore the experience of mental distress from four very different viewpoints. Each has something to offer, none has the whole story. · The Biological aims to understand what is going on in the brain and the body. It underpins the medical model. · The Psychological perspectives seek to explain our mental states in terms of our thinking, feelings and habits. It’s all in the mind. · The Social perspective shifts the focus away from the individual. It is society that needs to change. · A Spiritual perspective goes beyond our limited sense of self to seek deeper meaning in our life journey.

Lots of lovely Christmas baking and pudding ideas for you to make along with me. On this course we will be making traditional Christmas pudding, a gingerbread house, Yule log and an alternative to Christmas pudding for those of you that see no attraction in a dried fruit concoction!