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