York Learning Summer Festival

York Learning (part of City of York Council) is hosting their first ever Summer Festival, offering residents a variety of fun and uplifting activities for the whole family.

Taking place throughout August, residents will have the opportunity to perfect their skills or learn new skills with a series of classes ranging from foreign language to mask-making; painting to dancing; or BBQ cooking to photography.

This year, the festival will have a special focus on supporting local resident’s wellbeing. York Learning will be offering Pilates, Yoga, Tai Chi, Dancefit workshops and mindfulness classes designed to help people come to terms with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

There will also be the chance to prepare fun ways to get your kids ready for school, perfect your writing skills and enjoy fun-filled family activities. All Summer Festival courses and workshops are available to pre-book online at www.yorklearning.org.uk.

York Learning has been offering an extended range of online classes for all to enjoy during the coronavirus outbreak, and will continue during the summer holiday period.

To see all the Summer Festival workshops and courses, visit www.yorklearning.org.uk and keep an eye on the York Learning and Family Learning Facebook pages, Instagram, and Twitter.

Call for nominations for the best adult learners

City of York Council is calling for nominations for this year’s York Adult Learner Awards, to celebrate the achievements of lifelong learning in the city.

Anyone can nominate an adult learner aged 18 or over: a relative, colleague or teacher, and this year there are seven categories to choose from so individuals and groups of learners can be recognised.

Learners who are nominated and shortlisted will be invited to a celebration evening on 22 June at Explore York. Besides recognising their achievement, nominees will also find out if they have won the overall title of York Adult Learner of the Year 2017.

Working alongside the council’s York Learning team to help make these awards happen, are York College, York Explore, the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA), Learning City York and York Local Link Ltd.
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What’s on: new “Learning 4 Everyone” courses announced

Alongside 3D printing, artisan bread-making, holiday Spanish and seated pilates courses, a range of Saturday night takeaway workshops will be served on how to rustle up tasty Chinese, Indian and Turkish meals.

Participants will be able to take these home and will have the confidence to cook for family meals or for entertaining friends.

For the first time a series of specialist interest talks has been introduced, delivered by gurus from the world of gardening and archaeology. Topics explored will include big planting for small spaces, giving nature a helping hand and discovering what bones, glass, soil and bricks can tell us about the past.

Also new this year is a collection of 12 different fun and creative workshops or courses to make wedding days more personal. Crafts include preparing wedding flowers, designing contemporary wedding stationary and hairdressing for bride and bridesmaids which can be recreated for a bespoke wedding day by brides-to-be and their friends.

Cllr Nigel Ayre, Executive Member for Culture, Leisure and Tourism said: “Learning as an adult can help increase your confidence, health and happiness as well as furthering your career and professional development.

“The success of this growing programme is built on feedback from both our new and loyal learners. Learning 4 Everyone caters for all levels of ability at over 40 different locations, offering a truly city wide approach to adult education.”

As well as popular leisure subjects such as languages, crafts, arts, music, photography, fitness and cookery the programme offers family and workplace learning, apprenticeships and qualifications.

The Learning 4 Everyone programme covers winter, spring and summer 2016. A detailed brochure will be landing on doorsteps of York residents throughout December and early January, which also includes details of adult learning opportunities with other city providers such as York College, Explore York, University of York and the Workers’ Educational Association.

For more information or to book online visit http://www.yortime.org.uk/. Residents can also book by calling York Learning on 01904 552806 or in person at West Offices between 10am and 4pm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please note that only online bookings are available over the Christmas period, from 25 December to 3 January 2016.

New adult learning classes announced in York

Chop Chop! It’s time to sign up

Chop chop! Fast and Easy Oriental Cookery is just one of the many new and exciting courses and workshops residents can enjoy as part of the spring programme of Adult Learning opportunities from City of York Council.

This year busy residents can take time out on the largest selection yet of one-off creative workshops which offer a convenient alternative to full courses. These teach skills in a single intensive session and allow the participant to take their project home at the end. Easter workshops in fused glass decorations and felt chicks are both new to the programme and are covered in just a few hours. Residents can also enjoy learning at their own pace, with flexible learning offered in beginners’ and advanced computer courses.

The council’s York Learning team has introduced some fantastic new courses to its new programme which pick up on latest trends, from designing and knitting Fair Isle patterns, introducing i-pad and Android technology, beginners’ Ballet Fit and planting creative herb pots. The programme, Learning 4 Everyone, has also catered for the high demand of traditionally popular interests too, boasting over 29 Pilates courses and 12 different painting and drawing courses.

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Learn something new in a day!

Among this autumn’s 250 plus, newly published courses, City of York Council is offering a wide range of one-day learning sessions for the many residents who want to learn something new in a day.

These new all-day courses include crafts such as Needle Felting Christmas Robins, and Bookbinding at the Yorkshire Museum, while at Huntington School others can try Mount Cutting or making Stained Glass Christmas Angels. The courses run from mid-morning to mid-afternoon and teach the main skills needed to take these arts forward.

Also new are several IT classes including a couple focussing on the new operating system Windows 8.1 and using a Computer Cloud. In addition, courses to master I-pads, using the internet and social media are on offer alongside the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) qualification.

For those wanting to boost or maintain their physical fitness, the new programmes include Easy Fit for the Young at Heart at St Olave’s Church Hall, and Fitsteps and a free Cheerfit taster session which uses cheerleading routines will run at Huntington School.

The popular full bike maintenance programme is expected to be even more so in the slipstream of the Tour de France in York.

Cookery skills can be learned or honed at courses aimed at those wanting to turn out complete meals, including Scrumptious Starters, Mouthwatering Main Courses and Delicious Desserts.

While some old favourites of York Learning including an Introduction to Astrology, Lip Reading, Book-keeping or Languages.
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Nominations invited for Adult Learners Awards

Nominations are being called for by City of York Council for the city’s annual Adult Learners Awards which, in the year of the Tour de France coming to York, has an extra award to help celebrate learners’ achievements.

The special cycling-inspired award aims to recognise a learning achievement connected with bikes: maybe someone who’s overcome illness or disability and learned to ride, or perhaps a participant who’s gone the extra mile in the Painting Through York project.

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