FOUNDATION STUDIES

Welcome to Foundation Studies
As part of Riverside and Cronton Colleges - The Foundation Studies department provides further education for students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, social anxiety and autistic spectrum disorders, who are aged between 16–25 years.

Student of the MONTH

Sydney Peacock

Foundation Studies - February 2020

The sessions we offer are designed to provide a personalized learning programme for every student capability.

Support is made available to enable equal access to our courses by students who have learning difficulties and/or disabilities. They are able to assess individual needs and advise on matters concerning the welfare, education and social development of our students.

We pride ourselves on creating a supportive and friendly atmosphere. This comes from the strong relationships which exist between staff and students creating a college community where each person is valued and can flourish.

Students follow individual timetables that have been designed specifically to suit the students abilities and areas of interest. The programmes are intended to develop both independent living and employment related skills, in a wide range of vocational and academic subjects.

UPCOMING EVENTS

17th FebRuary

February Half Term
College is closed
College closes for the February half term for 1 week. College re-opens on 25th February.

24TH FEBRUARY

Staff Training Day
College is open to staff only
College re-opens to students on Tuesday 25th February.

6th April

Easter Holidays
College is closed
College closes for the Easter Holidays. College re-opens on 20th April.

PAN DISIBILITY CUP QUALIFIER

Students turned their shirts backwards to help raise awareness of mental health in sport

Well done and Congratulations!

Foundation studies would like to recognise the incredible achievement of our football mixed under 18 squad. During the AOC Regional Pan Disability Cup, hosted at Lancaster & Morecambe College. They have become the North West Champions and finished top of the league undefeated.
We are honoured to be a part of The Pan disability Cup, and to help provide our students with the opportunity to compete. Enabling everyone to play whatever the ability or disability, while promoting equality.

We are very proud of the time and hard work the squad put in to get to this stage. They will now represent the college and the North West at St George's Park, England's official training base on April 29th. Good Luck to you all.

Click for more information:
Pan Disability Football
St. Georges Park

Mayor visit

Foundation studies welcomed the Mayor of Halton, as part of her tour of Riverside College and Cronton college campuses. The Mayor took a tour of our facilities and looked in on some of our sessions, ending in a well-earned break in our student run cafe. Thank you for visiting Foundation Studies and we hope you enjoyed your visit.

"It was lovely meeting with the students and staff, and I must say they have such a lovely atmosphere walking around"

Everyday at Foundation studies

As well as Key skills such as English, Maths and IT. We focus on practical everyday skills to encourage students to be independent and help them into employment.

Independent living - We aim to develop each students personal and social skills, to help them achieve and maintain an independent lifestyle. Students can learn new skills in a comfortable and supported environment. That encourages positive feedback, allowing students to experiment and grow.

In our Community Access session, students are encouraged to develop their confidence and social skills interacting with other members of the public. Students work together to plan their travel and organise themselves to visit places of interest, like town centres and supermarkets.
With our Cookery session, students will learn practical cooking techniques and learn how to make basic meals while keeping to a set budget. As part of a supported session students shop for the needed ingredients, prepare them and make a their meal.

Employment and higher learning - We support our students to improve their English and Math GCSE's. Students can also achieve a NCFE Occupational studies for the workplace qualification, in a session of their choice ranging from Entry Level 3 to Level 2.

Like our Team Enterprise session, which encourages student creativity to make Arts/Craft items. These are sold by students at our Easter/Christmas fetes and other sales events throughout the year. Students work to agreed deadlines and are set targets as part of a team.
With our student run Cafe sessions, we offer practical experience providing customer service in a working environment. Students learn how to serve, handle money and ensure quality for their customers. Those are just two examples of sessions we provide with a focus on workplace skills.

Work placement and Supported internship - For students who have the necessary skills and are are ready for more, we may be able to offer them a supported internship or work placement.

Students will focus on their employability skills and create a CV, until they are placed in a real job role with one of our partner businesses. Students work with and learn from employee's, gaining valuble work experience and the possibility of paid employment.

For more images like these, please visit our FlickR gallery

Visit our "What can I study?" section for more information about qualifications and sessions.

Everyday someone in the UK is diagnosed with cancer. Support through events like Race for Life is what helps Cancer Research UK continue working to see more people surviving cancer. Cancer Research UK are world leaders in finding new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer. They receive no government funding for research and rely solely on the funds raised by events like this.

Foundation Studies would like to thank all staff and students who took part to help raise money for this amazing charity. Thank you all.

For more pictures, visit our Flickr Gallery
For more information, visit Cancer Research UK

International Women's Day

International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the achievements of women. On March 8th Foundation Studies staff and students posed with selfie cards to help raise awareness, against bias and for gender equality.

International Women's Day

For more pictures like this visit our FlickR Gallery

Charity Sale

All items £10 or less

To enable, inspire and support children with cerebral palsy and their families.

The Stick n Step cerebral palsy charity will be hosting a clothing sale in Centre Stage on Wednesday 20th March from 9am-4pm. There will be a selection of clothing on sale from the online shop Boohoo.com. All items on sale will be £10 or less with all proceeds going to the Stick n Step charity.

Click here for more information.

wednesday 2Oth march 9am - 4pm

Please note - You will not be able to make card payments as this is a CASH ONLY sale event.

Looking back at October and november

We have had a very busy few months with events like Halloween, Bonfire night and Remembrance Sunday to keep us occupied. Students have been working hard with a focus on modern British values. Values like democracy, rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.

Enrichment - Museum Visits
As part of our look into British values, our students have visited Merseyside Maritime Museum, Liverpool World Museum and local historical sites to explore British culture through history.

For more pictures like this
please visit our FlickR Gallery

Remembrance Sunday
Our Arts and Crafts students made Poppys to decorate the college and help create awareness. All students also had the option to attend a special service, observing the one minute silence and remembering those who have been lost to war.

Health and Wellbeing
As part of mental health awareness week we invited MBSY Yoga to give a demonstration. Gentle exercise like yoga can be done anywhere, helping to improve health and give relief from anxiety and stress.

Halloween
As part of the Accessing the Community session. We sent our students to the Lady Green Garden Centre to pick pumpkins for our Halloween activities. Students were showing off their knife skills, carving Jack-o'-lanterns and using the flesh to make pumpkin pies to take home.

Bonfire Night
The cooking and Cafe sessions got creative with a Bonfire night theme. The Cooking students made toffee apples and chocolate treats to have by the fire. While the student run Cafe served Tiffin and hot chocolate at break time for everybody to enjoy.

For more pictures like
this, visit our FlickR Gallery

As the weather turns cold we would like to give a special mention to all the Community Access, Work Placement, Sports and Gardening students working hard outdoors.

Photography - Field Trip

As part of the Level 2 ICT/Media qualification students visited historical sites and points of interest around Widnes and Liverpool. Students used multiple cameras with different styles and settings to create new images. Students visited the Child of Hale statue, Fiddlers Ferry Yacht Haven, the Lighthouse at Hale shore and went plane spotting at Liverpool Airport. Students compared their pictures to understand what cameras where best suited for each type of image.

For more pictures visit our FlickR Gallery

Duke of edinburgh - 2018 Highlights

The Duke of Edinburgh Award is the world’s leading youth achievement award, giving 14 to 24-year-olds the opportunity to be the very best they can be.
Foundation Studies provide Bronze, Silver and Gold level awards and are the only college in the North West of England to provide gold/silver awards to students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. Providing support for lower ability students across multiple activities.

In recognition for their achievements, our Gold students took part in an awards ceremony at Buckingham Palace. Getting to meet other students like them, gold medalists, celebrities and royalty.
Here's a brief look back at all of our Duke of Edinburgh groups over the last year. They worked so hard to complete their Duke of Edinburgh award overcoming personal challenges, gaining new skills and enhancing their CVs and university applications.