IT courses available in Warwick
IT courses available in Warwick
A partnership between Warwickshire County Council and Warwick Town Council will provide free IT training for people in Warwick looking to gain the necessary skills to gain employment.
A grant of around £12,000 has been allocated by the town council to fund First steps in computing, an initial qualification for first time learners along with the CLAIT (Computer Literacy and Information Technology) qualification which is based on office skills such as word processing, desk top publishing and excel spreadsheets.
Warwickshire County Council’s Adult and Community Learning division has targeted unemployed and low income residents for the programmes which it is looking to offer at three venues in the town; Racing Club Warwick, The Gap and Warwick Nursery.
Literacy and numeracy programmes will also be on offer free of charge to all learners from entry level to level 2 along with CV writing programmes and interview skills.
Warwick Town Council provided the funding through section 137 of the Local Government Act which allows town councils to spend money for the benefit of the community. The council is looking to continue the partnership with the county in future years.
John Holland, leader of Warwick Town Council, said: “We felt there was a need to support people to obtain qualifications that will help them to progress in employment. We are looking to work alongside the County Council to enhance learning opportunities for the people of Warwick.”
The CLAIT course has already achieved a great success in Lillington. A group of local women underwent the qualification whilst their children were looked after by Surestart staff at a crèche in Lillington Youth Centre. All qualified and are now in a variety of jobs including a teaching assistant, youth worker and work in the local primary school.
Yvonne Walkey, adult and community learning manager for Warwick said: “We were so proud of the ladies from Lillington who studied for the CLAIT qualification and have all progressed into jobs since they completed it. But we will not rest as there are many more people in the district who will benefit from these courses. We hope to help many more people change their lives in the way that these women did.”
Anybody interested in taking a place on one of these courses should contact Yvonne on 01926 731227.
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Media contact: Richard Harkin
Picture shows Rozmina Mejhi (left) and Lucy Sweet (right) showing their CLAIT qualifications at Lillington Youth centre with staff from the crèche and some of the children cared for.