Everyone at Adult Skills and Community Learning is here to help. We'll listen and respond to any challenges you're having whilst you're here as a learner, from the time you call to enquire about a course to your last day. It's crucial to us all that you feel safe and supported as you learn and achieve.

Learner support

If you need extra support with your learning please tell us.  We'll complete an assessment to see what help we can offer you. We may be able to give you access to an education support worker, equipment or assistive technology to make learning easier for you.

We can also support you with extra help in exams, such as extra time, a reader or scribe, or specialist equipment.

We understand that doing something new is exciting but sometimes it can be stressful.

You may be thinking:

• How do I organise my time?
• Will I fit in?
• Can I find the courage to start a course?

If this is you we can put you in touch with our pastoral mentor who can support you with:

• Any worries you have about how you are going to learn with us.
• Overcoming anxiety and low confidence and deal with the fear of starting a new activity.
• Organising your time and staying on track to achieve.

Safeguarding 

You can talk to any member of staff about safeguarding issues that are worrying you and affecting your learning. The Safeguarding Lead will ensure you are given the appropriate information to support you and help you contact other services. Safeguarding issues could include:

• Domestic abuse
• Hate Crime
• Sexual and physical abuse
• Emotional and financial abuse
• Modern slavery

Online safety advice

We're committed to supporting all learners to stay safe online. These internet safety rules can help to keep you safe online:

• Choose smart passwords.
• Check your privacy settings to protect your personal information.
• Watch out for phishing scams, especially when online shopping or managing your bank accounts online.
• Guard your personal details.
• Whilst using Teams for Education for any of our online learning sessions, be aware of your surroundings.
• Remove personal items such as photos and anything that indicates where you live.
• Dress appropriately for learning and remember that information shared is confidential to the group.

For learners with learning difficulties and disabilities 

CHANGE are a human rights organisation led by disabled people, and have produced a guide for people with learning disabilities to help stay safe online.
Read CHANGE's guide to keeping safe online.

Online safety and Prevent 

When working online there can be many risks to you and your family in terms of radicalisation.

Find out about safeguarding from harmful influences online.

More information

You can find more online safety information on the Internet Matters website, including advice about:

• cyber-bullying
• inappropriate content
• sexting
• self-harm
• screen time
• radicalisation
• online grooming
• online pornography
• online reputation, privacy and identity theft

Help with childcare, travel and exam costs

If you want to join a course, but you're worried that you can't afford to pay for books, travel or childcare, you may be able to apply for help towards these costs.
If you're granted financial assistance, but then decide to leave before the course ends, we'll expect you to repay any money you received.

Advanced learner loans

If you're aged 19 or over and you're thinking about studying at Level 3, you might qualify for a loan to help you pay the course fee, which you'll have to repay once you're earning £27,295 a year, £2274 a month or £524 a week.