Directory spells out learning options

The Wrexham Directory will help people keen to study

A new scheme has been launched to encourage would-be students in north east Wales back into the classroom.

Wrexham is set to become the first county in north Wales to have its own Directory of Learning Opportunities.

Adult learners are being encouraged back to school

The booklet will be a one-stop-guide and will list all educational opportunities available in the area and will include the venues where each is held.

The directory has been produced by Wrexham Community Consortium for Education and Training (CCET).

Set up just over a year ago, the CCET is a consortium of public, private and voluntary bodies charged with developing opportunities for post-16 education in the district.

The directory, which is currently being printed, contains details of almost 500 different topics provided by 34 learning organisations.

The book was tested by Wrexham students Bethan Jones and 31-year-old Barrie Philpott.

Seventeen-year-old Bethan, from Southsea, is hoping to train to become a social worker.

She has just completed the Youth Gateway scheme and is planning the next stage of her studies.

I have finished my courses and now I am starting to think about what to do in September.

Barrie Philpott, Student

Barrie, from Rhosymedre, has recently returned to studying after holding a variety of temporary jobs.

He is studying maths and art at Yale College, and at the Association of Voluntary Organisations in Wrexham (AVOW) under the DROME adult education and training scheme.

He said he will use the directory to choose his next courses.

"I have finished my courses and now I am starting to think about what to do in September.

"The directory will tell me what is running and where."

A total of 30,000 directories will be produced and around 5,000 will be mailed directly to 16-year-olds.

Opportunities

A further 5,000 will be sent to companies, 500 to voluntary and community groups and the remainder distributed via libraries, doctors, surgeries and careers centres.

Distribution will take place at the end of July which is when the majority of people are considering courses for the autumn.

Sarah Wilson, who is co-coordinating the project for CCET, said: "There is so much information about both informal and formal learning opportunities, that in order to access it you really need to know your way around the system in Wrexham.

"For the majority of us that don't, we have collected all the information and presented it in a single document.

"You pick the subject and at a glance can see where it is available. We hope it will be a useful single source of information for people of all ages."