WEA courses

Enjoy adding employability skills to your ESOL learning with this 'ESOL with Employability'. This is a course that will help develop your skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing skills in English with employability as its main focus and the idea to help you in your journey towards gaining employment here in the UK. Whether you have studied English before or you are completely new to it, you will find value in this ESOL with employability course. Continue to develop your language skills to enable you to work here in the UK and build your confidence in your lives in the UK. You do not need any special tools to attend, just yourself and some enthusiasm. Continue your language journey with us today by registering for this course.

This course is an exciting new opportunity to develop your confidence and skills in basic English literacy skills. This course will concentre on reading and writing skills and building how to use the English alphabet. You will also build more confidence in your speaking and listening in English. You will learn basic skills such as reading and writing the alphabet, numbers and basic vocabulary. This course is designed to provide a basic foundation of skills to allow learners to access their next steps in a more formal learning setting.

In this course, we will explore the visual culture in Europe during World War One. From official war art, to soldiers’ sketchbooks, from world-famous artists to anonymous draughtsmen, we will study and discuss a broad range of attitudes to war. We will study many British artists, but also German, French, Italian, and American ones. We will study great works of art, learn a lot about the history of the war from a British and Western perspective, and discuss the role of art and artists during wartime, as well as in the aftermath of war.

Develop skills to help you read, write, and communicate in English with confidence. Improved language skills open doors to work and study opportunities and help you learn key skills for employment. Level 1 functional skills courses are not like learning English at school. They’re created by adults for adults, and aim to teach you practical English skills through real-life situations. Strengthen your writing skills and learn reading techniques to help you tackle everyday situations at work or while studying. This adult English course helps you develop your language skills through real-life situations. Functional Skills level 1 is a government-funded accredited English course for adults. Functional Skills qualifications are free if you don't already have a GCSE in English or Maths at grades A*-C, or 4-9. We'll check your level and any previous qualifications before you start. This ensures you are on the correct course.

Collage is all about creating something awesome from scraps and there are no rules. Discover the creative, calming and relaxing craft of collage. Craft in general is known to have a positive effect on mental health for those who do it, and collage is a no stress, no rules fun activity and is an excellent way to instil calm. Anything goes with collage: you could create a landscape or a sunset or an abstract placement of random shapes and colours – it is completely up to you. This course is aimed at beginners, those new to or nervous of the randomness of collage but would benefit from the calming effects of this simple, fulfilling craft.

During this friendly course, you will collect your artistic ideas in sketchbook form. You will use drawing, painting, collage, note taking and sticking in reference and inspirational material. You will begin to generate your own personal visual language as a starting point for larger work. This course will encourage you to consider the many themes, concepts and artists that resonate with you. The Sketchbook is a useful tool for the artist to offload their many artistic ideas and influences and try out new techniques and materials. This can be used in the safe space created in the classroom, or wherever you go.

During this friendly course, you will be using your sketchbook and art practice as a starting point. You will have the opportunity to gain more confidence in your unique artwork by trying out different materials and techniques to create bigger scale work. You will be able to use the creative experiments carried out in your sketchbooks and on paper to progress your art practice using your preferred techniques and materials. By the end of this course, the many techniques, materials, themes, concepts and artists that influence your artwork will be crystallised in your more finished pieces.

The purpose of this course is to support your individual health and wellbeing and to help you gain confidence. You will be given an opportunity to learn new skills and techniques from a range of different types of art and craft. For example, painting stones, glass, wood, and dream catchers. You will use a variety of different resources and medias such as wool, fabrics, and jars. You will learn about the development of the different arts and crafts that we enjoy today. You will also learn about and gain insight into how different techniques and skills have evolved in certain crafts.

This course is designed for you to develop your creative side and use your previous clay hand-building techniques to progress to an intermediate level, plus a chance explore the different decorative styles working with Clay. By the end of the course you should have lots of different pottery pieces and different pottery skills. You will be in a group with others and led by a talented Arts and Crafts tutor. Your work will be taken away and fired in a kiln by the tutor and it will be yours to keep!

On this lecture style course, we will learn about The Ottoman Empire from its formation at the end of the 13th century right through to the 20th century; the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, and the countries and areas involved - Southeast Europe, parts of Central Europe, Western Asia, North Africa and the Horn of Africa, parts of Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. In the early 20th century, the empire allied with Germany on the side of the Central Powers in WWI. The Empire's defeat and the occupation of part of its territory by the Allied Powers resulted in its partitioning and the loss of its Middle Eastern territories, but the successful Turkish War of Independence against the occupying Allies led to the emergence of the Republic of Turkey in the Anatolian heartland and the abolition of the Ottoman monarchy.