Part time courses

With courses across numerous subject areas, get the skills you need to advance your career, retrain, find employment or try something new.

Welcome to your fresh guide to learning across Northumberland.


 

We’ve got a wide variety of part time course choices to help you advance your career, re-train, find employment or let you explore new skills. If you are looking for our full time courses, click here.

With course start dates in January and September there's always an opportunity to continue learning with Northumberland Skills.
 
We offer 11 curriculum areas with a range of courses available ranging from entry level through to accredited and higher level courses.

The courses blend face-to-face class work with digital mentoring to ensure your safety is paramount and underpinned by ongoing support to keep you connected and inspired.

  • Arts and Creative
  • Business, Digital and Leadership & Management
  • Construction
  • Catering
  • Education, Health & Social Care
  • Employability
  • Engineering
  • English, maths, English to Speakers Of Other Languages & British Sign Language
  • Hairdressing
  • Horticulture & Gardening
  • Languages

Browse our course guide:

Flick through our course information in our magazine reader below.


Download our course guide: 

Grab a copy of our course guide below.  
Part time courses guide - click to download PDF

Click here to view a PDF version of our course guide

We offer courses at a range of entry points to ensure that your level of study is best suited to your abilities.



Image showing the various levels that relate to the text below
  • ENTRY LEVEL - for learners who need to support to progress to Level 1 
  • LEVEL 1 - GCSEs Grade 1-3 or vocational competency qualifications at Level 1 
  • LEVEL 2 - GCSEs Grade 4-9 or vocational competency qualifications at Level 2 and Apprenticeships at Level 2 
  • LEVEL 3 - A Levels or vocational competency qualifications at Level 3, as well as Apprenticeships at Level 3
  • LEVEL 4 Higher - Certificate of Higher Education (CertHE) higher apprenticeships. Higher National Certificate (HNC)

Need some extra help to decide which is the best level for you?

Our dedicated team of lecturers are ready to help. They can advise which level to start at, as well as helping you choose the route that will best suit your interests and aspirations. Call your local team or email learn@northumberland.gov.uk
Studying with us means you’ll gain more than just a qualification, you’ll meet like minded people, explore new skills and deepen existing learning giving you the confidence to succeed.

Whether you want to try something new on one of our ‘taster’ courses or add to your professional development with an accredited qualification, our aim is to support you to reach your goals. 


Confident and ready

Boosting your skills and confidence is our priority – by the time you complete your qualification with us, we want you to feel confident to take the next step. No matter which subject you choose, we’ll ensure that you feel inspired.


Skills for work

We will support you to achieve nationally recognised qualifications and ensure that you build essential skills to improve your current career, take a step into a new sector or set up your own business. 


Employer connections

Our business networks and strong employer partnerships offer you a competitive edge. We have a range of employers endorsing our courses, so that you can feel assured that your qualifications are industry relevant.


Your Safety

We have put measures in place to ensure that you feel safe and secure wherever you chose to learn. From  social distancing to clear directional signage, sanitising stations, managed class sizes and rapid testing, we’re doing everything we can to ensure that you feel safe on campus.
We constantly assess our courses to give you the best possible learner experience. There are a range of options available to support your study:

19+ Learner Loans

Advanced learner loans are Government Funded and provided to help learners with their fees. It’s easy to apply, doesn’t take your household income into account and doesn’t involve a credit check. Repayments won’t start until you are earning over £25,000 a year.


Bursary Funds

The fund is used to support learners with travel expenses, childcare, additional learning
support.


Armed Forces 

If you have left the British Armed Forces within the last ten years after completing four or more years of service, or have been medically discharged after completing basic training, you are entitled to full funding if you’re studying your first full Level 2 or 3 qualification.


Flexible Payments

Lots of our courses are FREE and we have flexible payment plans in place if you can’t pay
all your fees upfront. These apply to all courses valued at £150 or more.

Apply for an advance learner loan

Some students can have a free place.

THE FOLLOWING LEARNERS ARE ENTITLED TO FREE STUDY:

19+ YEARS

  • Studying English or Maths up to level 2, including studying GCSE, where you do not currently have grades A* to C or grades 4-9 passes
19-23 YEARS
  • Undertaking a Traineeship
Unemployed and studying up to and including Level 2 and one of the following applies:
  • Studying up to and including Level 1 and have not yet achieved above Level 1; you receive Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), including those receiving National Insurance credits only
  • Studying first full level 2 qualification (and the qualification must be part of the legal entitlement); You receive Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) in the Work Related Activity Group (WRAG)
  • Studying first full level 3 qualification (and the qualification must be part of the legal entitlement); You receive Universal Credit, and earned income from employment is less than £338 a month (sole adult in your claim) or £541 a month (joint claim with partner)
Low Wage Flexibility:

You may qualify for full fee remission if you are employed but earning an annual gross salary of less than £16,009.50. You will need to provide a recent wage slip, Universal Credit statement, or current employment contract that states your gross monthly / annual wages. You can be learning up to and including level 2 qualifications that demonstrate progression to improved employment outcomes.

If you are enrolling by telephone, we’ll need to see evidence of your benefit before the course starts. If you are enrolling in person, we’ll need to see your evidence when you enrol.

If you have any questions about funding finance or fees please contact Gemma Lee, Finance and Learning Loans Officer on 01670 622105

Advanced Learning Loans

If you are aged 19 or above and want to study for level three or four courses, you will need to pay for the learning or apply for an advanced learning loan from the Student Loans Company.
  • Student loans are available for; level three or four certificates or diplomas, A Levels, access to higher education courses, advanced and higher apprenticeships.
  • Household income isn’t taken into account and there’s no credit check.
  • Loans are for a minimum of £300, and you will need to borrow enough to cover the cost of the course.
  • You won’t have to pay anything back until you’ve completed your course and your income is more than £21,000 a year.
  • If your advanced learning loan is for an access to higher education programme and you go on to graduate from university, you won’t have to pay it back.
We know learning can be expensive, so this is a great way to make learning affordable and spread the cost of your payments after you qualify. The sooner you apply, the sooner you’ll know if you’ve been successful and we can confirm your place on the course. 

If you have any questions about funding, finance or fees please contact Gemma Lee, Finance and Learning Loans Officer by calling 01670 622 105 or by email at Gemma.Lee01@northumberland.gov.uk.
We offer courses for adults (19+) at nine campuses across the county.

Map of the campuses around Northumberland

If you’re looking to approach learning in a new way, you’ve come to the right place. 

Find out why OFSTED rated us Good with Outstanding features and 98% of our learners recommend us.
It's easy to enrol in one of our part time courses.

STEP 1: Choose a course


Click here to find your perfect part time course
 
If you need guidance call your local campus or email: learn@northumberland.gov.uk​

 


STEP 2: Fees


Remember to check the fees for your course here. If you need support please contact Gemma Lee, Finance and Learning Loans Officer by calling 01670 622 105 or by email at Gemma.Lee01@northumberland.gov.uk.


STEP 3: Enrol with us

Please note that if you call us you may experience a delay at busy times. Please leave us a message with your contact details and we'll call you back as quickly as we can. Our telephone lines are open: Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm. Out of hours, leave a message and we'll call you back


STEP 4: We'll confirm your place

Your place will be confirmed by the campus enrolment team. You will be sent an email and contacted before your start date. 
 
You will only hear from us again prior to your class if we have not gained sufficient numbers for the class to run. If this is the case, you will be given an alternative course or fully refunded. 

We have a range of specialist teams to help you find, enrol on and enjoy your course.

ALNWICK,  Lindisfarne Road,  Alnwick, NE66 1AX, Tel: 01670 623 691

BERWICK, Walkergate Building, Walkergate, Berwick upon Tweed, TD15 1DB, Tel: 01670 626 107

BLYTH, Sports Centre, Blyth, NE24 5BT Tel: 01670 622099

HAYDON BRIDGE, Haydon Bridge High School, NE47 6LR, Tel: 01670 622258

HEXHAM, Wentworth Leisure Centre, Wentworth Place, Hexham, NE46 3PD, Tel: 01670 623 701

MORPETH, Cottingwood Lane, Morpeth, NE61 1DN, Tel: 01670 622 257

PRUDHOE, Fuse Media Centre, Moor Road, Prudhoe, NE42 5LJ, Tel: 01670 623 689 or 01670 623 688

PORT OF BLYTH, Port Training Services, Quay Road, Blyth, Northumberland, NE24 3PA, Tel: 01670 622 099

WANSBECK WORKSPACE, Rotary Parkway, Ashington, NE63 8QZ, Tel: 01670 623 894

Our teams are here to support you.

Find information about support in the drop-down boxes below.

Our great team of staff can give you advice on courses, entry requirements, progression routes into further learning and work. You may be unsure the course you are thinking of enrolling on next, is the right one for you.You might also be seeking a careers guidance session to help you choose a direction in life.  We’re very pleased to provide you with advice over the phone, or you may wish to have a private appointment at one of our centres.

If you are young person seeking advice and guidance about learning and work, you may wish to contact our Careers Guidance specialists. 
There are around 30,910 reports of domestic abuse in Northumbria each year, this equates to an average of 2,576 incidents per month and 2,216 victims every month. Levels of rape and other serious sexual assaults, often committed by partners or people known to their victims, are also high and unacceptable.

With this is mind the service are actively promoting the importance of employers to have Domestic Abuse Champions within the workplace to raise awareness around the issues of DVSA and guiding people towards specialist services.

Champions have already accessed the training and resources via the champions’ network to help and support colleagues. The training which was held at the Police Commissioner office welcomed our commitment from staff to become the service’s Domestic Abuse Champions. The role of the champions are to:
  •  Act as a conduit for information between their organisation and the Champions Network, as necessary.
  • Be a point of contact for their organisation for information relating to Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse (DVSA)
  • Raise awareness and enhance the overall level of knowledge of DVSA within their organisation.
  •  Ensure up to date and accessible information is available in relation to support services for victims.
All centres have a poster with our champions names on and can be found on our noticeboards in the safeguarding and well-being section. The service now has seven champions in all parts of our service. Our service champions are:
Brian Harrison
Lindsey Taggart
Michael Holiday
Joanne Hewison
Vanessa Laing
Jane Dunne 

Other Useful contacts:
The 24-hour free phone national domestic adbuse helpline runs in partnership between Women’s Aid and Refuge and is a national service for women experiencing domestic abuse. Family, friends, colleagues and others may call on their behalf. Telephone: 0808 200 0257
Website: https://www.nationaldahelpline.org.uk/

The National Stalking Network has been established by Network for Surviving Stalking, Protection against Stalking and the Suzy Lamplugh Trust. It is the first national helpline to specialise in providing information and advice to victims of harassment and stalking as well as their friends and family. Telephone: 0300 6360 300
Website: http://www.stalkinghelpline.org

Women’s Aid is the key national charity working to end domestic abuse against women and children.
Telephone: 0808 2000 247
Website: http://www.womensaid.org.uk

Women’s Aid have created this space to help children and young people to understand domestic abuse and how to take positive action.
Website: http://www.thehideout.org.uk

Mankind is the UK’s leading charity for supporting male victims of abuse.Telephone: 01823 334 244
Website: http://www.mankind.org.uk

Broken Rainbow provides the national helpline for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people experiencing domestic violence.Telephone: helpline - Monday, 2pm to 8pm, Wednesday, 10am to 1pm, Thursday, 2pm to 8pm on 08452 60 55 60
Website: http://www.broken-rainbow.org.uk

This free phone helpline is for both female and male survivors, partners, friends and family. It is open from noon to 2pm and 7pm to 9.30pm every day of the year. Telephone: 0808 802 9999

If you are a man who is worried about your behaviour towards your partner, or if you have been abusive or violent, you can get information from the respect phone line. It is open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm.
Telephone: 00845 122 8609
Text: 07624 818 236
Email: phoneline@respect.uk.net
Website: http://www.respect.uk.net

NDAS can also be contacted on 01434 60 80 30 or 01434 41 60 46

In an emergency dial 999. Northumbria Police Officers are trained to deal with domestic violence and abuse.

The Learning and Skills Service is totally committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all of our learners and staff and we expect all learners and staff to share this commitment. We are fully committed to ensuring that consistent effective safeguarding procedures are in place to support all who use our service.
All concerns are passed through the members of staff who are trained as "Designated Safeguarding and Prevent Officers" in our service.

There are a number of ways you can report concerns about yourself or someone else.

1) You can report to your class lecturer or any member of staff at our centres

2) You can also contact our Education Leads for Learner Support, who are our Designated Safeguarding Officers:

Brian Harrison    Brian.Harrison@northumberland.gov.uk         

01670 622100      Emergency out of hours contact: 07800885174

Gillian Fox    Gillian.Fox@northumberland.gov.uk         

01670 622107    Emergency out of hours contact: 07951938385

3) You can report via our online Safeguarding portal “Tootoot”

Sometimes people simply aren't confident enough to speak to someone face-to-face about their concerns, for fear of being identified or worrying about perhaps making matters worse. To reduce the stigma attached to having a voice, learners can now use our online safeguarding platform and mobile device app to report confidentially to us.

Learners can access TootToot at any time of day and can report their concerns, or on behalf of their peers using any web-enabled device. Learners with iPhones and iPads can even download the TootToot app to use on the move. 

We have also placed the TootToot icon on all of our network computers. Just click on the TootToot icon and you are on the website. Posters are in every centre on display. All learners on induction will be introduced to the system.

E-Safety

All computers within our Service have forensic software installed which is a sophisticated system that monitors, records and prevents computer misuse in our centres. This allows a comprehensive and automatic protection for everyone who uses our computer equipment.  We take our duty of care seriously and take active steps to protect our learning community.

You must not use or download material which may be offensive to others, download or forward any abusive material. You must not access, create or transmit material that is contrary to the law.  Screen captures are taken all day, every day, of anything that could potentially be breaching our rules. We investigate all causes for concern.  An acceptable use policy is available from your centre. Any breaches in the policy are taken very seriously, and may result in your access to the network or course being removed.

As part of our monthly ‘Hot Topics’ we will draw your attention to themes in E-Safety that we believe are important in protecting you as a technology user. You can ask us for advice on E Safety at any time.

Prevent and radicalisation

The Learning and Skills Service responds quickly to safeguarding concerns for children, young people and adults who may be vulnerable to the messages of extremism and the risks of radicalisation. .

As part of our Prevent strategy for all learners we are:  

Promoting Equality and Diversity and ensuring sites are safe for all learners
Referring any Safeguarding and Prevent concerns to the appropriate authorities
Encouraging positive relationships between learners and staff
Vetting and removal of any materials of an extremist nature including banning access to extremist materials 
Educating learners via induction, tutorials and hot topics
News monitoring of any concerns whether nationally, regionally, locally or for individuals and following these up
Training of our staff to raise awareness of the signs and risks

The Learning and Skills Service is a safe place to learn and we intend to keep it this way. Reporting concerns is everybody’s business. If you have any PREVENT concerns, you can raise these concerns in exactly the same way as any Safeguarding concern.

 
If you need our guide or other information in any other format including large print, braille, audio, or another language, please contact us:

  • Telephone: 01670 622 099                  
  • Type talk: 01800 10845 600 6400 
  • Relay number: 018001 01670 623515                            
  • Email: learn@northumberland.gov.uk 
If you are Deaf or can’t speak on the phone, contact us using Relay UK. Download the Relay UK app or using your existing text phone prefix our dedicated text Relay number: 018001 01670 623515. 

British Sign Language users can contact us using an online sign language interpreting service. You can find out more about Signvideo here.