Wokingham Borough Council is celebrating the new year with the news that they have maintained a ‘Good’ Ofsted rating for their adult education service.
The adult education service offers courses across the borough to inspire and support residents to develop skills, knowledge and confidence for work, home and everyday life.
The inspection, carried out in November 2022, highlighted that the council targeted the courses to meet the needs of the community, with almost 400 learners taking part in courses last year.
Regain confidence
The inspectors found that learners enjoy the lessons and value the knowledge and skills they gained, as well as the opportunity to socialise. People have learnt skills that are relevant to them, with examples from Ofsted including how retired learners are learning digital skills, helping them to communicate and plan trips and regain confidence lost during Covid-19.
The report found “Learners on ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) courses research different types of jobs available to them. Tutors support learners to research and apply for jobs, including developing useful and relevant language to include in their curriculums vitae (CV)and cover letters. Through role-play activities, learners develop their confidence in speaking on the telephone and preparing for interviews.”
Book now
Learners can now find courses more easily with the service’s new online course catalogue. New courses for the Spring are available to book, including:
- Digital skills such as - digital skills for beginners, IT skills for work, Excel skills for beginners and Excel for work
- Basic maths for everyday life and supporting your child with maths
- Building confidence and skills for the workplace
- English for Speakers of Other Languages
- Family learning and being a carer
Helping in work and everyday life
“I am really proud of our Adult Education service and the skills that it is giving to residents to help them in their work and everyday life,” said councillor Prue Bray, executive member for children’s services.
“It is great that Ofsted have recognised our achievements and we look forward to welcoming new and returning learners over the coming months”.
Over the next few months, the service will focus on continuing to offer good quality courses to learners, while making the improvements Ofsted highlighted including improving self-assessment reporting, improving the quality of safeguarding information that is recorded and better using data to plan future courses.
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