Studying is one of the best invest-ments you make in your future. By continuing to learn, you open up a wealth of opportunities for your ca-reer or simply, for pleasure.

The North Highland College offers a range of courses designed to suit your life, interests and career ambitions no matter what your age, background or experience.

Our main campus is in Thurso and other centres are in Alness and Dornoch. With such a breadth and depth there really is nothing to stop you realising your potential.

Find out how some of our adult learners opened up a wealth of opportunities through learning

Adult Learners Supplement M A Y 2 0 1 1

D O Y O U

A N S W E R Y E S

T O A N Y O F

T H E S E

Q U E S T I O N S

Is the risk of redun-

dancy looming?

Do you want to gain

essential skills to

return to work?

Do you need a

change of direction?

The North Highland

College can offer

plenty of opportuni-

ties to help you take

that next step to the

lifestyle you want.

Let learning unlock your true potential

PA G E 2

Debbie Bain HND Administration & Information Management

Debbie started her working life as a recep-tionist in hotels and worked her way up quickly to Front of House Manager and Duty Manager in a hotel in Aberdeen. However, family issues brought Debbie back home when she de-cided to embark on something different. Debbie went to college for two years to do hair-dressing but felt there was not enough money in that profession to support herself and two children. She got a job in BT as a call analyst, where she progressed onto Team Leader and Multimedia Trainer but she had always wanted to do office work. She managed to secure a job as a Secretary and Administrator at Doun-reay for two project managers. The experience Debbie gained in the six years she was at Dounreay was excellent but her dad became ill with can-cer so she decided to leave and get a job in Wick where she was closer at hand to help. She secured a position in Seaview Care Home as the Home Adminis-trator. Again she learned a lot of skills in management of staff and human resource issues as well as ac-counts. Then Debbie

moved away to Inver-ness with her partner and got a job as an ad-ministrator in a business centre and enjoyed the variety of work but her relationship did not work and again she was on her own as a single par-ent. When looking at higher paid jobs in the papers Debbie realised they all wanted people who were HND qualified. She made a decision to come home to Caith-ness and do an HND in Administration with Business modules. She has been doing this now for two years but has also got two part time jobs to see her through college - one as a finan-cial administrator and the other as a club sec-retary. It has been quite hard juggling a full time col-lege course along with two jobs and looking after her son. Debbie has been fortunate how-ever in that her mum is a great support and helps a lot with child-care. Debbie spends most evenings and weekends studying and at present has no social life but she was aware of this when she made the commitment to study. Debbie has very much enjoyed the two years although it has been a lot of hard work and

commitment in time man-aging herself to get all the assignments finished by the target dates. Notwithstanding the hard work, Debbie recom-mends studying to anyone at any age as it has made her realise what she can do and what potential she has. Debbie says “Age is no barrier to studying and improving yourself and I certainly intend to carry on doing some form of study over the next few years, although it will not be on such an intense scale. “ “From doing this HND I hope to secure a well paid job back down south in the summer and will at-tend night classes in Eco-nomics, Accounts and Spanish to enhance my career prospects further and one day move to Spain. It is never too late to change your life and studying definitely makes you feel more confident about yourself and your capabilities.”

“Age is no barrier to

studying and

improving yourself.”

“It is never too late to

change your life and

studying definitely makes

you feel more confident

about yourself and your

capabilities.”

Debbie Bain

A D U L T L E A R N E R S S U P P L E M E N T

Debbie Bain HND Administration & Information Management

A D U L T L E A R N E R S S U P P L E M E N T

ECDL

Advanced ECDL

IC3

Microsoft Office Specialist Certification

CISCO IT Essentials

CISCO Certified Networking Associate

PDA Digital Imaging

HNC Computing

Business and Rural Studies Courses Available at NHC

PA G E 3

Margaret Cormack NC Business, Administration & Computing Studies

time in Frasers, Thurso and also does a cleaning job and is a special con-stable with the police…...a very busy lady! Margaret admits that it is very difficult to juggle eve-rything but she tries to do as much as possible dur-ing her free time at Col-lege. Margaret would recom-

mend returning to college

for anyone in a similar

situation. She says “it is

never too late to learn.”

Margaret has applied to

come back to college next

session to do an HNC in

Administration & Informa-

tion Management.

move into an admin role which meant going back to study. Initially, Margaret found it difficult to get back into a learning environment. She believes that it is more difficult to retain in-formation as you get older. However, she soon established learning techniques which helps her study skills. There are a lot of younger learners in the class who Margaret says are more knowledgeable than her on computers. However, she has been able to transfer some of her strengths and life experi-ences to them so it has been a good knowledge exchange. This has helped her create short-cuts by using the com-puter. As well as studying full time, Margaret has taken on part time jobs to help supplement her bursary. As a mature student, she has commitments that younger students do not have to contend with such as a mortgage and bills. Margaret works part

NC Business, Administration and Computing

Studies

HNC Accounting

HNC/D Administration and Information

Technology

HNC/D Business

BA Honours Business and Management

ILM First Line Management Award and Certifi-

cate

MSc Leadership & Management

Margaret admits that she did not really enjoy school and as a result did not get the results she would have liked. After leaving school, Mar-garet enrolled at Duncraig Catering College in Plockton for 2 years. Thereafter, she worked in various hotels for a num-ber of years. She went back to study at Glasgow College of Food Technol-ogy and gained a lecturer diploma in catering. She came home to Lybster where she worked in the family busi-ness for 10 years. She married and moved to Thurso. Since then, she has worked in a local iron-mongers and more re-cently in a local jewellers where she did a profes-sional jewellers‟ diploma through home study. Unfortunately, Margaret was made redundant. She came to a cross-roads in her life. After some consideration, she decided she wanted to

Margaret says

“it is never too late to learn.”

Deer Stalking Certificate

SVQ Level 2 Gamekeeping

NC Highland Gamekeeping

NC Equestrian Skills and Business Studies

HNC/D Equine Studies

NC and HNC Equestrian by flexible study

Silvia is grateful for

the support of course

tutors.

Being a small college,

NHC affords its

students more time

for one-to-one support

Silvia was a Law student in her

home country of Ecuador for 2

years until the high costs of educa-

tion forced her to discontinue her

studies. She then moved to

Europe.

She married a local Thurso man in

1999 and moved to Thurso with no

knowledge of the English lan-

guage.

A local high school teacher taught

her English. This tuition together

with practice allowed her to im-

prove her English language skills.

In 2004, Silvia returned to College

after the breakdown of her mar-

riage. She enrolled on a cookery

course and also worked in the

Bowling Alley as it was then.

She decided that a career in the

hospitality industry was not really

for her. From 1997 to 1999 Silvia

had spent some time in Rome

working in the care sector. She

realised that this was a career that

she wanted to be involved in. So

in 2010 she took the plunge and

joined the NC Childcare course.

Silvia is thoroughly enjoying the

experience. She likes meeting

people and learning about differ-

ent cultures. During the course

she spent 6 weeks work experi-

ence at Pentland View Nursing

Home. Silvia does not mind

whether she works with old or

young people in future.

She still finds the main barrier to

learning is the language. In par-

ticular, understanding written

work and she has to re-read text

books a number of times to fully

comprehend. However, she is

extremely grateful to course tu-

tors who she has found to be

fully supportive As NHC is a

small, personalised college, Sil-

via has been fortunate enough to

receive one-to-one support when

needed.

A D U L T L E A R N E R S S U P P L E M E N T

PA G E 4

Silvia Jardine NC Childcare

Care & Creative Arts

NC Music Performance

HNC Music

HNC/D Professional Stage Dance

BA Classical Ballet and Professional Performance

HNC Sound Production

NC Child, Health and Social Care

NC Early Education & Childcare

NC Health & Social Care

SVQ Levels 2&3 Children’s Care

SVQ Levels 2&3 Health & Social Care

SVQ Levels 2&3 Youth Work

PDA Care Services Management

PDA Childhood Practice

PDA Health & Social Care Supervision

HNC Early Education & Childcare

HNC Social Care

BA Honours Child & Youth Studies

BA Health Studies

BSc Honours Psychology

While at school, David‟s Guid-ance Teacher advised him on a career in Hospitality. David went down another path when he got a job as an ap-prentice plumber. However, he was unable to complete the apprenticeship due to family commitments and a relocation from Aberdeen to Caithness. David then worked at Icetech (then Norfrost) for 4 years on the production line. He moved to the BT Call Centre and worked in an IT Support role for 10 years. Due to cutbacks at the Call Centre David de-cided to review his future ca-reer path. He came back to his first choice whilst at school—cookery. So, in September 2010 David enrolled onto the SVQ Level 2 Professional Cookery course at NHC—Thurso on a full time basis. David is also actively involved in the TA‟s as a Physical

Training Instructor and Lance Corporal. Earlier this year he received the news that he will be mobilised to go to Afgha-nastan. He will start training at the end of the May. David has therefore decided to take a year out and continue with the SVQ Level 3 in 2012-13. In November David took up a part time evening job working in the produce department at Tescos, Wick. The Hospitality course includes becoming involved in a number of func-tions throughout the year, so whilst supplementing his in-come, this part time job has meant that David has been unable to help out as much as he otherwise would have. In future, David would like to combine both interests and become a Regimental Chef with the TAs. He has already put in some practice by order-ing supplies, preparing and cooking the 2010 Christmas dinner for the company and catering for 60 people on

Armistice Day. David particularly enjoys the „hands on‟ aspect of the course. He undertook a work placement at Dounreay. He enjoyed this as it is industrial ca-tering which compares with cooking in the forces—ie cook-ing in bulk not small portions. He is grateful of the support from Anna Swanson and the Student Support team who have helped with advice and financial sup-port. This is par-ticularly helpful, says David when you are a single parent supporting a family and house.

Hairdressing Courses SVQ Level 2 Hairdressing

SVQ Level 3 Hairdressing

Beauty Courses SVQ Level 2 Beauty Therapy

SVQ Level 3 Beauty Therapy

Hospitality Courses SVQ Level 1 Food and Beverage Service SVQ Level 1 Food Preparation & Cookery

SVQ Level 2 Hospitality Services

SVQ Level 2 Professional Cookery SVQ Level 3 Professional Cookery

SVQ Level 3 Supervision and Leadership Chef’s Skillseeker Training

Chef’s Modern Apprenticeship

Professional Chef and Keen Amateur classes HNC Hospitality

HNC Professional Cookery BA Tourism & Hospitality

Short courses available include:- REHIS Elementary Food Hygiene

REHIS Intermediate Food Hygience

Meal Experience Menu Planning Stock Management and Portion Control

David

particularly

enjoys the

„hands on‟

aspect of the

cookery course.

PA G E 5 A D U L T L E A R N E R S S U P P L E M E N T

David Longmuir SVQ Level 2 Professional Cookery

Hospitality

Beauty & Hair

Students learn

their skills in a

real life

environment

Claire Mackay Nicola Gomersall

Amanda Sutherland Patricia Newlands

SVQ Level 2 Hairdressing

The four girls admitted that

they were not really inter-

ested at school. All had

their first child at the age of

16 or 17 and concentrated

on motherhood.

Twenty six year old Claire

worked in hotels, the local

shop and did some bar

work to earn extra income.

In 2010, when her young-

est started school she de-

cided to return to college

because she had always

been interested in hair-

dressing.

Claire now also has part

time work in the local hair-

dressers in Castletown.

When asked how she

copes with study, work and

looking after a young fam-

ily, Claire says “I some-

times feel like pulling my

hair out!” But, she is quick

to point out, it was the right

decision and she is de-

lighted that she decided to

take the step back into

learning.

Claire appreciates child-

care help from family and

her 2 sons attend the Cas-

per After School Club.

Claire fits in study at night,

often falling asleep with a

text book over her face!

She prefers to revise when

the kids are in bed and ad-

mits “it‟s the only time I can

get 5 minutes peace.”

Nicola started college to

coincide with her youngest

starting nursery.

She relies on TREATS af-

terschool club in Thurso

and special needs childcare

for her oldest son.

Twenty nine year old Nicola

found it difficult coming

back into education trying

to juggle all her commit-

ments and establishing a

structure without disrupting

her home life. Nicola points

out “the hardest part is find-

ing the time and energy to

juggle everything with 3

kids.”

At this stage of the course,

Nicola is realising the bene-

fits and an outcome to all

the hard work on the

course as the class are

now preparing CVs.

Nicola is also grateful for

the additional learning sup-

port she received with nu-

meracy.

By joining the course, Ni-

cola has sacrificed a large

part of her spare time.

There is more paperwork

involved than she had

originally envisaged.

However, she realised the

commitment that would

have to made before join-

ing the course, in her own

words Nicola said “you‟ve

got to put in commitment

to the course or you are

going to end up getting

nowhere.”

Twenty eight year old

Amanda Sutherland has

had part time jobs since

she was a young teenager

in her hometown of

Helmsdale.

Amazingly, Amanda trav-

els back and forth every

day from Helmsdale. Over

and above her course, she

works two nights a week

and weekends in the local

shop and does a commer-

cial salon at the college

one night per week. She

is currently on work place-

ment every Friday with a

Dornoch Hairdresser.

Amanda tries to do her

project work during free

periods in college

“this will be the first

thing that I have ac-

tually achieved and

finished and it feels

really good.”

Patricia Newlands

SVQ 2 Hairdressing

Amanda travels

from Helmsdale

and back every

day to attend her

class.

A D U L T L E A R N E R S S U P P L E M E N T

Apart from being exhausted all the time!, Amanda is keen to point out that she really enjoys coming to college. She was initially apprehensive that about being the oldest in the class of 12 but says that there is a good age mix and everyone gets on really well. The bond extends beyond the classroom with the girls catching up on Facebook and via email. Amanda finds the course particularly reward-ing when she sees how pleased clients are and how good they feel after she has done their hair. Amanda says “it makes you feel like you have achieved something and over time you can see yourself growing.” Patricia had originally applied to study Hair-dressing at the age of 16. Instead, she worked part time in hotels and started working in the kitchens. She came back to college to take short cookery courses. It was after period of illness whilst working as a cook in Pentland View that Patricia took the plunge and decided to apply for her original passion—Hairdressing.

Patricia says “I did cooking because it was what I could do to make money but it was never really a challenge for me. I had wanted to do hairdressing for such a long time.” Patricia who started the SVQ Level 2 in 2010 is really enjoying the course and particularly likes working with clients. She praises the work of the learning support unit who helped her a lot especially with maths. All four of the girls are coming back next ses-sion to do their Level 3. They think that com-ing back to education at their age has been more advantageous because they are more determined to make a success of their life. They did not want to come to college to waste their time and as a result are much more committed whereas they all felt they were too immature when they left school to appreciate learning. They are much more aware of how difficult it is to get employment in a salon. Patricia says “this will be the first thing that I have actually achieved and fin-ished and it feels really good.”

“the hardest part is finding the time and energy to jug-

gle everything with 3 kids.”

Nicola Gomersall

Claire Mackay returned to college when her kids started

school.

She is returning to do an SVQ Level 3 next session and

will also continue to work part time in the local hair-

dressers in Castletown.

“It is not your lack of

intelligence that holds

you back it is your lack

of persistence”

Jo Elver Evans

Phd student at the

Centre for Energy & the

Environment

Jo Elver Evans PhD

Jo did a BA Honours in

Economics and French.

She then travelled to

France where she studied

statistics for a year.

On her return to the UK, Jo

secured a job in the City

as a Trainee Fund Man-

ager. She was keen to

work on the trading floor

where she would be more

involved in making deci-

sions on the banking side.

She successfully secured

employment with Morgan

Stanley—the American

Investment Bank—as a

Trainee Runner. Jo then

moved onto work at Bar-

clays Capital for 4½ years

as a Fixed Income Trader

where she assessed the

risk associated with indi-

vidual trades.

Thereafter, she was Credit

Risk Manager in the Finan-

cial Markets Division of

Lloyds TSB. Whilst there,

as part of a team of four

people, she helped create

and maintain relationships

with clients and analysed

risk associated with trades

conducted with the top 100

global banks.

Reading this impressive

CV you are probably think-

ing …… wow this girl is

intelligent, has climbed the

professional ladder in a

male dominated indus-

try…. So, “how can I relate

my situation to Jo‟s?”

Well, read on……

Jo‟s passion for diving

started at the age of 24.

Her hobby brought her into

contact with a number of

marine biologists, whose

stories she found fascinat-

ing. At this point, it crossed

her mind that she was not

going down the path that

her true passion lay. How-

ever, after just finishing a 4

year degree and with no

money, merely a mounting

trail of debt, she dismissed

these thoughts and concen-

trated on getting her career

off the ground. Which as

you have just read she did,

accumulating pay rises,

buying a house and enjoy-

ing the finer things in life

that such a good salary al-

lows.

Having worked in a high

pressured environment ,

travelled excessively and

worked tirelessly for up to

15 hours a day, Jo‟s han-

kering for an outdoor way

of life became stronger.

It was during a visit to Aber-

deen in August 2006,at the

age of 34, that Jo‟s life

changed dramatically. She

noticed an advert for an

Open Day at Aberdeen Uni-

versity. Within a few weeks

she had moved from Lon-

don to Aberdeen to study

full time for a BSc Marine

Biology!

As this was Jo‟s second

degree there was no finan-

cial support available. She

therefore had to attend uni-

versity on a self-financing

basis. To do so, she

rented her house out in

London and used her sav-

ings.

The return to study was a

shock to the system! As a

successful career-woman

she had no reason to

question her ability, but

now found herself in a

situation where she was

„out of her comfort zone‟.

She was now placed as an

equal with other students

and was not used to

someone correcting her

work. Jo said this led to

her really having to push

herself. She struggled

with the change in how

she had to work and ini-

tially this resulted in a drop

in confidence.

She was overwhelmed at

how quickly her younger

peers absorbed informa-

tion. Their enthusiasm

and wealth of creative

ideas amazed her. The

learning style was so dif-

ferent than when she was

a student first time round

and she found it very hard

to adjust. In the end, she

found that combining both

the traditional and new

methods brings a much

more rounded skills base.

After 2 years studying Jo

hit a particularly low spell.

However, her sheer deter-

mination and willpower

saw her through to suc-

cessfully achieving her

honours in 2010.

A D U L T L E A R N E R S S U P P L E M E N T

PA G E 8

A D U L T L E A R N E R S S U P P L E M E N T PA G E 9

Janice Hardie BA(Hons) Business & Management Janice left school after completing a sixth year at Thurso High School intending to then go on to study business at college in Aberdeen. Instead she met David and ended up working in the local branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland for a few years before getting married and having a family. Janice decided she wanted to be a stay at home mum where her time was fully occupied with her then two children, especially her daughter who went on to par-ticipate at a competitive level at swimming. She volun-teered to act as secretary and press secretary during that period for the local swimming club and worked part-time at a local supermarket. Janice unexpectantly became pregnant again at the age of 36 and once Scott was about 7 years old she decided to go to North Highland College to up-date her skills and enrolled at NC level for a business admin course. Along with looking after her family and going to college Janice also volunteered to act as secretary for Thurso in Bloom and minute secretary for Homeaid after some gentle persuasion from a neighbour. Janice never expected to be on the final stages of an honours degree at her time of life. This would not have been possible without the support of her family and the local college. Janice did at times feel a bit iso-lated when she first started my studying as she was seen not in a bad way but as the mother figure of the group. The constant support from college lecturers and staff has encouraged her to reach the stage of hope-

fully gaining an honours degree. Janice says “I have even surprised myself. I hope to be able to gain employment using some of the knowledge I have picked up along the last 6 years and I fully support the work of the college.”

After completing the degree, Jo admits that she craved more mature company so she could speak

about things like bills, the mortgage etc which were alien to her younger peers. After unsuccessfully

applying for a PhD at the ERI, she was surprised to receive a call offering her an interview as there

was a PhD vacancy for someone who was an experienced Marine Biologist and Economist—with ex-

pertise of risk analysis and marine biology. The PhD, based in the college‟s Centre for Energy and the

Environment involves analysing the suitability of wind and wave to install, maintain and service ma-

rine renewable devices.

Jo says “it is easy to think you cannot change course. But there is no career for life anymore so it is possible as long as you are willing to make sacrifices.” There are an increasing number of grants and hardship funds available for people returning to higher education. These are not huge amounts of money but with a bit of time and research they are avail-able and can make all the difference.

Janice Hardie

didn’t expect

to be in the

final stages of

an honours

degree at her

time of life.

A D U L T L E A R N E R S S U P P L E M E N T

For further information on any of our courses or support available please phone, email or drop into one of our campuses.

Ormlie Road

Thurso

Caithness

KW14 7EE

01847 889000

Achavrole Equestrian Centre

Halkirk

KW12 6XQ

01847 889249

Burghfield House

Cnoc an Lobht

Dornoch

IV25 3HN

01862 811006

Tern House

Alness Point

Alness

IV17 0UP

01349 882545

www.northhighland.ac.uk