Part time courses

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

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.