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GCSE & other courses for non-school teens at Central College, Nottingham

Update 2018: please note that this writeup is about the 2016-2017 academic year, so OUTDATED by now. Central College has since merged with New College Nottingham to form Nottingham College, and the GCSE courses are now at Stoney Street in the city centre, not in Beeston. Also, the assessment process has changed: to get onto a GCSE course you will have to pass a maths and English assessment comparable to what you’d have learnt in school by the end of Year 9. However, the overall structure is likely to be similar, so if you’re looking into exams & courses for non-school teens, it might still be useful in helping you get your bearings.

This write-up is about free (government-funded) courses available to “electively home educated” teens at Central College, Nottingham. It’s based on an info event which was held at the college on Thursday 5 May 2016, plus some follow-up conversations.

Thanks to Jo Edgerton, Choices Team Leader at Central College, who was immensely helpful in explaining the practicalities of all this and decoding the jargon!

Overview by school “Year”

Central welcomes home ed teens from Year 9: that is, age 13+.

This translates as: To start in autumn 2016, you’d have to have been born before 1 September 2003.

And if you want to start one of the GCSE courses in autumn 2016, you’d normally¹ have to have been born before 1 September 2002.

(Likewise, the people starting in autumn 2017 would’ve been born before 1 September 2004, or 2003 for the GCSEs.)

Here’s a summary of what’s available for 2016-2017:

Age group	Age at start	Age at end	Current options at Central	For autumn 2016 start, birth date before
“Year 9”	13	14	Pre-GCSE Programme In exceptional cases, GCSEs¹	1 Sept 2003
“Year 10”	14	15	Pre-GCSE GCSEs Art & Design Possibly an ICT course, only if enough people interested For those with learning difficulties/ disabilities, “Horizons”.	1 Sept 2002
“Year 11”	15	16	Everything that the Year 10s can do. Various other vocational courses, along with non-home-ed students from older years. These are known as “infill placements”.	1 Sept 2001

Each of these courses is one year long – or, really, about 9 months, from September to June. How many days a week varies depending on the course(s).

Once you reach “Year 12“, there’s a huge amount available, and nothing to stop you continuing on at the college then, or indeed at another college! But this explanation will focus on ages 13 to 16, as that’s when these options will be especially useful to home ed families.

Geography & travel

Central College has multiple sites across Nottingham.

View college sites on OpenStreetMap. (If you’re on a computer with a mouse and can do “hovering”, hovering over each pin shows which subjects take place there. Or see static screenshot version further down this page.)

The home ed GCSE and pre-GCSE courses are all at the Beeston centre, which has a tram stop and orange/Indigo bus stop outside its front door. (Shown slightly brighter pink on OpenStreetMap page.)

Vocational courses may be at Clifton, Highfields, Beeston, or in the city centre, depending on the subject – list of subjects and locations are summarised below.

Central’s page with info on public transport to each of the sites.

Where we fit in to the college

Most of the college’s 4,500 students are between 16 and 19. A small proportion, only about 230 students in total, is younger than 16. Older adults are also welcome.

Within the college, the “Choices” team runs both the home ed courses and some other ones. (A school might pay for a young person to come to the college instead of to school.)

As the college overall is “a post-16 environment”, the Choices team people have thought a lot about what adjustments to make for supporting and including under-16s. For example, if a young person doesn’t arrive at their class, the parent gets a phone call. There’s a pre-course questionnaire to help identify special educational needs and any particular social needs.

There’s a large team of pastoral support people (for all students, not only the younger ones). A key person for this side of things is Vicki Stockdale, Behaviour and Safeguarding Manager.

The home ed courses are now going into their third year. In the academic year that’s recently completed, 50-odd home ed children age 13 to 16 were studying there.

Home ed teens can take part either in the courses specifically set up for them, or, for Year 11, in selected other courses around the college.

In principle, you can mix and match the different bits available to your age group, although not every combination will work. The timetables are organised centrally by the college, not by the “Choices” team.

You can take part in any of these courses and still retain your status as electively home educated – as you’re not registered with a school.

Levels

You’ll hear talk of “Levels”, so here’s a handy guide.

Level	Roughly equivalent to…
Level 3	‘A’ level, though more practical, not as academic.
Level 2	A* to C old-style GCSEs, 9 to 5-or-4 (approx) new-style GCSEs.^*
Level 1	D to G old-style GCSEs, 3-or-4 to 1 new-style GCSEs.
Entry Level 3
Entry Level 2
Entry Level 1
* Apparently the “old” GCSE ratings are being abolished soon, and there’s going to be a new scale of 1 to 9, where 9 is best. There are more divisions in grades in the new system, and new-style 9 is intended to be even better than old A star.

To start a course at Central, except for the Horizons ones, you’d need to be at least at Entry Level 3 or above, in both Maths and English, as shown by the initial assessment. Or more, depending on which course you wanted to do.

Year 9s who aren’t yet at that level would be advised to come back a year later.

Year 10s or Year 11s who aren’t yet at that level could access the Horizons “LLDD provision”, where LLDD stands for “Learners with Learning Difficulties & Disabilities”.

Assessments, discussions, decisions

When you start, the decision of which course(s) to start on would be made by the young person, the parents/carers and the college, together.

The process goes like this:

You put in an application form.

Choices programme page, inc link to application form.
The Admissions team put your details into their system and send you a letter. This letter is an invitation something like “Come and do your assessment at this time and date and place”.
Everyone does two online assessments at a computer at the college, one for English and one for Maths.

There’s no time limit; you work at your own pace. You can choose whether to do English or Maths first. Most people complete both within one to two hours.

The type of assessment is referred to as “Functional Skills”. The questions are meant to be similar to something you might encounter in real life: for example, how much it would cost to buy your tickets for a day out, or whether a sentence makes sense. Usually it’s easy questions to start with, then getting harder as you go through it.

For the maths, you might use the calculator that’s on the computer. You don’t need to bring anything.

(College policy is that everyone takes the English and Maths assessments when starting a new course, whether or not they’ve got existing qualifications – even if they’ve already been at the college a previous year.)

You get your results on the day, and a chance to discuss your next steps with a member of staff from the Choices team.
Within a couple of weeks, you get another letter. In most cases, this will be to invite you for an interview.

(For Year 9s who aren’t yet at Entry Level 3, it would only be to say “Please come back next year”.)
At the interview, the young person, the parent(s) and the college staff discuss which course(s) will suit them best, taking into account…
- Level of your English and Maths skills.
- Age, because of age limits for some of the courses.
- Social maturity – if a course would involve being put in a group with people older than you.
- General readiness for the new learning environment, e.g. study skills / habits / experience.
  
  For example, some people could jump straight into GCSEs in terms of their age and academic level, but prefer to spend a year doing pre-GCSE to get settled into the college routine.
- Where you’d like to be headed in future. For example, if you want to continue to ‘A’ levels in future, you’re likely to need five GCSEs at grade C or above, including your future-‘A’-level subjects.
- Funding rules from the Government.
  
  A key factor is that the Government’s very keen for everyone to get English and Maths qualifications. The funding rule in that area is: If you do more than 150 hours at the college over the year, your programme of study at the college has to include English and Maths, unless you already have the GCSE certificate at C or above.
  
  In practice, that means you can do one GCSE at a time without going over the 150 hours. Two GCSEs, or one and something else, and the rule kicks in.
- Timetabling – as some combinations could clash.
- Available places. At Central, English and Maths GCSE have a maximum class size of 20. For the other GCSEs, and the pre-GCSE course, it’s 15.
If you’re doing one of the vocational courses, you might also have another meeting, this time with someone leading that particular area, to decide which level class you’d start in.
[I’m not sure where the “pre course questionnaire” comes in this process – to be confirmed!]

As some options will be irrelevant to some people purely because of age, let’s take it year by year…

Year 9 options

If you’re Year 9 age, you have one main option: the Pre-GCSE Programme, described in the next section. This takes three days a week.

In exceptional cases, it might be possible for a Year 9 student to instead start GCSEs alongside the older ones. The Choices team would only consider this if (a) the young person were already at Level 2 in both Maths and English Functional Skills, and (b) they were socially ready to join the older classes.

Pre-GCSE Programme

From the leaflet (PDF):

This one year programme is for students in Year 9‑11 and will provide students with the skills that they need to progress on to a GCSE or vocational full time programme.

Level 1 & 2 Functional Skills in English and maths

BTEC Level 1 Certificate in Applied Science

Tutorial Programme that includes: Personal and Social Development and Employability and Progression skills

For this one, you can’t pick and choose among the different bits. It’s either do the whole lot, all three days a week, or don’t do it.

For example, in the 2016 to 2017 year, the draft timetable said Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, starting at 9am and finishing at 2.30pm, or 3.30pm on Thursdays.

Although everyone’s in the same class, they’re not necessarily doing exactly the same activities. A typical pathway would be to do Level 1 Functional Skills over the first half of the year, then Level 2 over the second half. But if, say, it took you all year to do Level 1, or if you were better at maths than English or vice-versa, that’s fine too.

Year 10 options

In Year 10, you can choose from:

The Pre-GCSE Programme described above.
GCSE courses.
BTEC Level 1 Certificate in Art and Design.
Possibly an ICT qualification, if there’s enough take-up.
In future years, possibly an “Automotive” programme. The web page for this is still up at the time of writing, but apparently there hasn’t been enough interest to run it in 2016-2017.

GCSEs

The current GCSE options are:

GCSE English
GCSE Double Science
GCSE Maths
GCSE Psychology
GCSE History

Over the year, each GCSE equates to approximately three hours a week in college. Double science is six hours and gives you two GCSEs at the end.

Typically, each subject would be scheduled as a three-hour chunk with a break in the middle, one morning or one afternoon a week. (There are pros and cons to this scheduling: they’re aware that students aren’t always keen on the long session, but the up side is it’s then easier to schedule the rest of the typical non-schooler’s busy week.)

GCSE exams for “external candidates”

At the moment, the five subjects listed above are the only GCSEs on offer. The main limitation to offering more different ones would be having staff to deliver the courses, as most of Central’s provision isn’t GCSEs. It’s not very likely to expand in the near future.

However, the college does also offer a paid service for “external candidates”, i.e. people who’ve done the learning elsewhere and want somewhere to take an exam.

That’s known as the “Exam only service“.

Art & design half-day

New in September 2016 for Years 9 & 10 is the Art & Design course for home educated students. It’s a BTEC Level 1 Certificate in Art and Design.

You can do this course by itself. It would be one half-day a week, at the Clifton site. Or you can do it together with another course, as long as the combination meets the Government’s funding rules and doesn’t clash in the timetable.

Year 11 options

In Year 11, you can choose from:

Any of the things from Years 9 and 10 described above, if they’re at the right level to suit you, and/or
Joining in with older students on a selection of “intensive vocational learning” courses across the college.

The jargon word for becoming part of the older ones’ courses is “infill“. So that option is known as the “Year 11 Infill Programme”.

Year 11 Infill Programme

Here are the “Infill” options:

Subject	Where?
Art & Design	Clifton
Automotive	London Road
Business & IT	Maid Marian Way
Care & Early Years	Maid Marian Way
Construction	Beeston
Engineering	Highfields
Photography	Maid Marian Way
Science	Maid Marian Way
Sport	Clifton
Travel & Tourism	Maid Marian Way

(Click on map to see it full-size. Or to zoom in for local details, use original map from which this screenshot was taken.)

Each of these courses would be about two-and-a-half to three days per week.

They can run alongside GCSEs and/or half-day add-ons, if the timetables don’t clash.

The qualification could be e.g. BTEC, City & Guilds, CACHE, IMIAL or another industry specialist one, depending on the course you’re doing. For more about each specific course, click through from the list at Central’s page for people age 14 to 16.

These courses are divided by “levels” (as discussed above), where Level 2 is meant to be roughly equivalent to GCSE A* to C, and Level 3 is roughly equivalent to ‘A’ level.

Home ed students could potentially do Level 1, Level 2 or Level 3. Which level you started at would depend on a combination of…

English & Maths levels from your initial assessment.
Other qualifications you’d already done.
Maybe a portfolio, e.g. if the course were art or photography and you already had work to show.
Discussion with the course leaders.
Whether you’re 16 yet, for some Level 2 and Level 3 courses. (Level 1 would be available to all Year 11s.) There are various reasons why the organisation running a qualification – known as the “awarding body” – might set a minimum age for Levels 2 or 3. The Choices team have sometimes been able to get exceptions where a 15-year-old could participate, by talking to the awarding body for that particular course – depending partly on why the limit was there in the first place.²

Even within the same level, on these vocational courses there can be several alternative classes running at different times of the week. So if you apply to these ones together with a friend, you could find yourself in different classes. But if you were at the same level, you could put in a request to be in the same class – no guarantees.

Finding out more

If your question isn’t answered here…

You could ring the Choices team on 0115 884 2278.
You could email them: centralchoices @ centralnottingham . ac . uk (without the spaces).
You could comment here (anonymously if you like) and we’ll invite the college people to comment back. This would be especially useful if you think other people might be wondering the same thing.
It’s also possible we’ll schedule another meeting.

Possible meet-and-chat

Brendan from the college kindly said that if there were enough of us – say 5 or 6 families – he or one of the team would be willing to travel to us, and do another little presentation and chat and answer our questions.

Subject to weather, this could be in a park, e.g. Wollaton or Highfields, so that children not very interested in the grownups’ chat can play. In that case, we would probably schedule a fall-back date in case of rain.

This possible meet-and-chat could also be a nice opportunity for some of the potential future-year-classmates to say hello.

If we do a meetup like that, it’ll be open to all current and potential home edders, and mentioned again on the blog. However, to find out whether enough people would be interested, please comment here (anonymously if you like, but including an email address) if you’d like to be invited.

Footnotes

1. Starting GCSEs in Year 9: As discussed later on in the explanation, a young person who’d already got far enough both academically and socially could possibly start GCSEs in Year 9, but this would be exceptional.

2. Minimum age 16 for some Level 2 & Level 3 courses: These age limits exist for varying reasons.

When it’s primarily because the government wants to discourage specialising at an early age, this likely wouldn’t apply to non-school students.
If it’s because of the content of the course, this would be a case by case basis, possibly depending partly on where the young person’s 16th birthday falls in the academic year.
If it’s because of health and safety, it’s unlikely to be varied.

Quick links to sections
GCSE & other courses for non-school teens at Central College, Nottingham
Overview by school “Year”
Geography & travel
Where we fit in to the college
Levels
Assessments, discussions, decisions
Year 9 options
Pre-GCSE Programme
Year 10 options
GCSEs
GCSE exams for “external candidates”
Art & design half-day
Year 11 options
Year 11 Infill Programme
Finding out more
Possible meet-and-chat

Note on anonymity when commenting:

If you put your email address in the “email” bit of a comment box here, it won’t be published. But blog admin people can see it, and (in this case) use it to make sure you know about the meetup.

The name you fill in would normally be shown, so if you don’t want your real name to be visible either, just write “Anonymous for this” in the “name” box, or use a made-up online name.

(All comments are pre-moderated to avoid spam, so don’t be surprised if your comment doesn’t pop straight up.)

Drumming, free taster session, Sherwood, Friday 12 August

Date: Friday 12 August 2016.

Time: 11.30am for up to an hour.

Venue: Pirate’s Play Centre, 41 Rowley Drive, Sherwood, Nottingham, NG5 1GD.

Area: off the Hucknall Road about 2 miles north of the city centre, on the western side of Sherwood, towards Basford. Brown Line buses go nearby.

Age range: All welcome at taster. In future, possibility of multiple groups for different age ranges.

Price: This taster is FREE. Please email to book, as places are limited.

Price for the possible future sessions is not yet set, but could be about £6 per person.

Bookings and enquiries: Katy is the parent who’s putting this together. To make the email address, put “Katywwebb” in front of “hotmail.com” with the “at” sign in between. Please do still put your name down if you’re interested in later sessions but can’t get to the taster, so that Katy can assess the level of interest.

I am a home ed mum with 2 boys. We did a workshop with “beatfeet” African drumming which was amazing so I’m now trying to organise weekly classes.

Taster is free, but email to book a place, as space is limited.

From September a weekly advanced booking system will be in place, amount tbc, around £6pp.

I’m hoping to get enough interest to split into age groups of around 4-7, 8-11 and 11+.

BeatFeet homepage – this is who’ll be running the drumming session(s).

OpenStreetMap showing Pirate’s Play Centre.

Pirate’s Play Centre web site – the page with maps on.

Nearest bus stop coming from the north: “Leonard Avenue“.

Nearest bus stop coming from the south: “Perry Road” – but there’s not much in it. Leonard Avenue is nearly as close.

Both are on the Brown Line along Hucknall Road. There are frequent buses throughout the day; the 15, 16, 16C or 17 all go there. In town, these buses go from stops T1 and T2 on Milton Road just north of Trinity Square, opposite the Victoria Centre.

Alternatively, if you’re coming from out of town along the Yellow Line along Nottingham Road, your nearest bus stop is called “Haydn Road”. Or if you’re coming from out of town along the Purple or Lime lines, your nearest stop would be a different one called “Haydn Road”. Compared to getting a Brown Line bus, these options mean a bit more walking.

On the map, it looks as though if you’re walking up from the west (e.g. from a yellow line bus), you might be able to turn down some kind of footpath just before the Free School, to take a shortcut to Pirate’s. However, it has gates, so if they’re locked, maybe not. Updates welcome if you’ve been there!

Cars & parking: Note that vehicle access is only along Kelham Drive. There is usually plenty of parking at Pirate’s.

Teens’ climbing group, Nottingham Climbing Centre, one Thursday a month

Date: One Thursday afternoon a month, excepting August – same day as the younger children’s climbing groups, but organised by a different person. Hoping to restart in September 2016, subject to numbers.

Time: Two hour session. Or if you only want an hour, it might be possible to share a place and split the cost.

Age range: Roughly 12-plus, mainly 12 to 16, but flexible depending on young person’s climbing experience & size. Typically there’s a group of 6 to 8 people (minimum 6 for it to run), mix of ages/abilities.

Price: £12 for 2 hours (home ed rate), including harness hire, paid in advance in a block of 3 or block of 4. No refunds if you miss one, because the instructor still has to be paid anyway, but you can get your money back if someone else takes your place that week. If you just want to try it, or you want to join the group and there aren’t currently places, you can be on the waiting list, and dip in when someone can’t make it.

Booking, enquiries, or to express interest: Email teensclimbing at non-school-nottingham dot org dot uk.

Optional qualification: You can work towards the NICAS, “National Indoor Climbing Award Scheme“.

As they learn specific skills, these are noted by the instructor in a logbook (that costs £5 at levels 1 & 2). It is entirely optional, but there is nothing extra or different to do in the sessions, & they can progress at their own pace.

Venue: For all venue and travel info, please see the page about the younger home ed climbing groups.

Free tap dance workshop with live music, Wednesday 10 August, New Art Exchange

Date: Wednesday 10 August 2016.

Time: 6.30pm to 7.30pm.

Venue: New Art Exchange, 39-41 Gregory Boulevard, Nottingham, NG7 6BE.

Area: Forest Fields / Hyson Green. It’s just round the corner from the Forest tram stop / Forest park & ride / Goose Fair site. By tram, 10 mins north of city centre.

Age range: All ages and standards, including beginners, including adults. Tap shoes available to borrow, from child size 10 to adult size 13. Smaller children can wear their own shoes – ideally with a hard sole.

Price: FREE! because it ties in with the Dissonance exhibition, with Beverley Bennett’s art, which is currently on at the NAE.

Booking: via event info page at the NAE site, or by ringing NAE reception on 0115 924 8630… or just by going there before the day and talking to the reception people. Places limited.

This isn’t a non-schoolers’ event as such – it’s open to anyone – but Jess and Stickman are the same people who did some workshops for us earlier in the year. They’re great at the kind of relaxed, flexible leadership style which home ed families tend to like 🙂

Later that same evening, 8pm-9pm, they’ll be playing at NAE in their trio “Untold Rhythm”, a combination of tap dance, spoken word and melody. This performance is not really aimed at children, but children who are old enough to sit still and listen for an hour are very welcome. Again, free and please book tickets in advance, same link & phone number.

This workshop ties in with the “Dissonance” exhibition, where Nottingham-based artists (dance, spoken word etc) take inspiration from Beverley Bennett’s beautiful abstract drawings.

As part of the exhibition, artist Chiara Dellerba created the “tangram floor” and Jessica Murray of Untold Rhythm improvised dances upon it, at three different locations around Hyson Green. A video of the dance expedition forms part of the exhibition, along with a spoken word video from Dave “Stickman” Higgins of Untold Rhythm.

At this workshop, Jess will introduce you to some tap dance moves, Stickman will provide live music, and the tangram floor will be out for everyone to explore its various subtly different sounds!

To get the most out of the workshop, you might like to visit the exhibition first. But if you don’t, that’s fine too – the workshop will still make sense without the rest of the exhibition.

Parents may like to note that as part of a parallel exhibition, there’s currently a lovely “children’s art” room at the NAE, with paper, pens, stickers, dressing-up clothes, electronic screens with a drawing app, etc. Access to the children’s art room is free and no need to book.

Aimed at: everyone who enjoys exploring dance, of any age or standard! Children must be accompanied by an adult.

(Tap shoes will be available to borrow, from child size 10 up to adult size 13. Children with smaller feet can wear any shoes of their own, ideally with a hard sole.)

Map showing New Art Exchange.

Nearest tram stop: “The Forest“. All trams going north out of the city pass through this stop. Tram information.

Nearest bus stops: Coming from town, the tram is more convenient than any of the buses. However, if you want buses anyway…

The L14 runs every half hour to “Hyson Green Asda” stop.

Turquoise Line buses (77 78 79) head west from town to “Player Street” bus stop. From there, you can cross the road, walk down Oldknow Street (with Bridlington Street playground on your left), turn left into Birkin Avenue, turn right onto Gregory Boulevard, for a total of about 600 yards’ walk.

Yellow, Brown, Purple and Lime line buses head north out of town and stop by the Forest, at stops named “Forest Recreation Ground” or “ncn Clarendon College“. From there, you can walk west along Gregory Boulevard or across the Forest, around half a mile.

Parking: There is usually parking at the Park and Ride site at that time of day.

Access: The New Art Exchange has flat access, proper wheelchair-accessible toilets, and lifts to all floors. The only inaccessible space is the actual staircase; this sometimes has artwork on display, but isn’t the location of the Dissonance exhibition. There are two “Blue Badge” spaces next to the building. For more info, see the New Art Exchange access statement (PDF), or contact info@nae.org.uk or 0115 924 8630.

EMHEM 2016 weekend – camping or dorms, canoeing etc, Beaumanor, Leicestershire, 19 to 21 August

EMHEM = East Midlands Home Ed Moot! “An opportunity to get together and have fun in beautiful surroundings.” All home ed families welcome.

Date: Weekend of Friday 19 to Sunday 21 August 2016.

Time: Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon.

Venue: Beaumanor Hall, Woodhouse, Leicestershire, LE12 8TX.

“a Victorian country house located in Woodhouse, Leicestershire. Set in 34 acres of idyllic countryside, Beaumanor has been run by Leicestershire County Council since the 1970s”

Area: The hall is about two miles south of Loughborough Central train station “as the crow flies”, near the village of Woodhouse.

Age range: Family event for all ages, with at least one adult (18+) in each family/friends group. Canoeing is 7-plus only.

Price: Age two and under go free. Everyone else pays per person. The price depends on which type of accommodation you choose (if that kind is still available). Canoeing and maze challenge are extra; see below.

Accommodation	Price per person
Camping (own tent)	£19
Camping (pre-pitched)	£28
Dorms	£34

Included in the accommodation price is the provision of jacket potatoes and pasta/rice for the
evening meals. Bring your own toppings/sides/extras.

Optional extras: canoeing, for 7+ (only a few places left at time of writing) and a “Crystal Maze type challenge“. These will be on the Saturday, and will cost approx £15 per person. Adults can book onto them too.

People will travel to the canoeing site via minibus (included), whereas the maze challenge is on-site.

The staff we feel are excellent leaders and work well with the children.

Booking: Email emhem at non-school-nottingham dot org dot uk.

What to include in the booking email:

total number of people coming
ages of kids
accommodation preference
whether you’d like to do the canoeing &/or the maze challenge
an activity/workshop/game which your family might be happy to contribute/share/lead.

Beaumanor Hall itself is used predominantly for weddings and corporate events, but they do rent out cabins and tents to schools, scouts and other youth groups regularly. They run many workshops and activities for groups of all ages and abilities and have a long established history of accommodating the needs of Home Educating families at a
reasonable rate. To this end, throughout our stay, we have unlimited use of all the grounds, including the formal gardens, woods, playing fields and playground. There are various trails and treasure hunts to follow, a spare marquee for activities and dining, and communal indoor space in the Gage Cabin which sleeps 24 (2×10 and 2×2 ) in bunks as well as a shower block and a games room. Close to Woodhouse, Beacon Hill, The Outwoods and Bradgate Park, there are also plenty of opportunities for exploration nearby.

No Dogs, except guide dogs
No individual fires (the insurance was just too much)
This is a residential visit. There needs to be at least one adult (18+) in each family/friends group.

Beaumanor Hall web site.

Map showing Beaumanor Hall:

Bigger map showing Beaumanor Hall

“How to find us” page on Beaumanor Hall web site.

Nearest conventional railway station is Loughborough, two to three miles away by road. The Beaumanor Hall web site says there would usually be taxis available at the station.

It’s also about a mile from Quorn & Woodhouse heritage train station on the Great Central Railway heritage line between Leicester and Loughborough, which will be running on the Sunday (not the Friday).

There is a Beaumanor Hall bus stop at the bottom of the drive up to the Hall (about 500 yards).

Bus timetable for the 154, which runs hourly during the day on Friday, but doesn’t run on Sundays.

Parking: There is parking at Beaumanor Hall.

Tap & percussion, three sessions FREE, Meadows, Thursdays

Date: Thursday afternoons 16, 23 and 30 June 2016. It’s up to you how many of them to come to.

Each person can choose between tap and percussion, or do a bit of both.

Time: Take note, the time is not the same every week!

Date	Start	Finish
16 June	2pm	3.30pm
23 June	12.30pm	2pm
30 June	2pm	3.30pm

(We asked for timing preferences: some families were busy earlier, and some later, so this timing is to give as many people as possible the chance to join in and try it.)

As these free sessions are drop-in, we don’t know exactly how many people will come. If it turns out there’s more than about 30 to 40 of us, then some people might have to wait a little while before they get a go, depending on space and available tap shoes. Info below on likely timing plan, plus soft play area and café.

Venue: St Saviour’s Church Hall, Arkwright Walk, Nottingham NG2 2JU. Update: Apparently that postcode doesn’t work very well in satnavs, so maybe click through to the map, or have a look at the church’s “how to find us” page – see below.

Area: The Meadows, on the Navy and Green bus lines. Portland Leisure Centre is about 200 yards away.

Age range: All ages! including parents!

Price: FREE for these three sessions, supported by National Lottery funding.

These sessions have been specially set up for non-school families. Those considering non-school education for the future are also welcome!

(If enough of us wanted it, we might subsequently set up a regular group where we chip in to pay session leaders.)

There will be tap shoes available to borrow, starting at around a child size 13 and going up to adult size. For children with feet much smaller than size 13, maybe see if there are some shoes with a hard sole that you could bring.

Booking: There’s no need to book, just turn up. However, if this is your first visit to a home ed event and you won’t know anyone, do drop us a line via email first, so we know to look out for you and say hello!

Enquiries/contact: tapdance at non-school-nottingham dot org dot uk.

Nearby Soft Play and café: Eden Soft Play is in the church itself, in the same group of buildings, along with a community café.

The 4-tier soft play area is open to children under a height limit of 5 feet / 148cm, as measured by their sign, and has a separate toddler area. (It’s advertised as “under-10s”, but in fact that’s a guideline; the real cut-off, for insurance & safety reasons, is the height limit.)

At the soft play area, accompanying adults and under-1s go free. For the children in the paying age ranges, we will have some vouchers to get into soft play for half price. We plan to give out these vouchers when people arrive. This allows for parents to collaborate and take some children into the soft play area if they’re not interested in the tap and percussion, or if they have to wait a little while for their turn.

More on what will happen at the tap and percussion…

Leading the tap session, we have Jess Murray, “a leading artist in the UK’s rhythm tap community… musicality, improvisation and self-expression at the heart of the tap dancer’s craft”.

On percussion, we have Stickman, “world class, multi-disciplined, drummer and percussionist, also a poet, actor, educator, conceptual artist and father”.

The flavour will be informal and there will be a fair bit of “see what everyone wants to do on the day” – perhaps especially at the first session when the group is new.

We shall have two rooms, so that it’s possible for the tappers to go in one space and the percussionists to go in another.

What we might do is have three stages: a first go, a break, a second go which gives priority to anyone who hasn’t yet tried what they wanted, another break, then come together for the last part.

Or we might just be all together all the way through.

Map showing St Saviour’s Church Halls.

St Saviour’s “How to find us” page.

Nearest bus stop: “Ryehill Street“, on the Navy and Green Lines. All the bus numbers from 1 to 10 stop here. It’s about 250 yards from the venue.

Nearest tram stop: “Queens Walk”, about 650 yards from the venue (i.e. the bus stop is closer). You’d need to be on a Clifton tram. Tram information.

Parking: some by the venue, lots at Portland Leisure Centre about 200 yards away.

Acting Up home-grown drama club, age 4 to 8, Cinderhill/Aspley, one Tuesday a month

Date: One Tuesday morning a month, usually the first or second Tuesday in the month.

Currently booked for 2016:

7 June
5 July
9 August
6 September
4 October
8 November

Time: 10.30am to 11.30am approx, and we have to leave the premises by 12pm.

Venue: Bells Lane Community Centre, 194 Amesbury Circus, Nottingham NG8 6DD. The community centre is on the inner round bit of the “Circus”, just by the junction with Dulverton Vale.

Area: Cinderhill/Aspley, on 79 and 35 bus lines, about three miles north-west of Nottingham City Centre. Broxtowe Country Park is less than half a mile away “as the crow flies”.

Age range: 4 to 8.

Price: £3.50 individual child or £5 per family.

Booking: Holly says “Please let me know if you’re thinking of coming so I can be on the look out for new faces, and also it helps me to plan accordingly, but there’s no need to book!”

Email: actingup at non-school-nottingham dot org dot uk.

There is a 30 minute slot then a 15 minute break followed by a 20 minute slot.

We start with a welcome song and then I guide participants through the activities.

I aim to include games, songs, movement, rhyme and other exercises to encourage creativity, communication, confidence and, of course, fun (sorry it doesn’t begin with C)!

The sessions are quite flexible and I adapt to the mood/ interests of the participants as much as possible.

Access info:

Disabled access, including parking, ramps and toilets.

I think there are many elements of the session that would be accessible however best to contact me before hand to discuss particular needs.

Map showing Bells Lane Community Centre:

Bigger map showing Bells Lane Community Centre

Nearest bus stop: “Dulverton Vale“, on the 35 route, Orange Line and 79 route, Turquoise Line. Important: there are actually two bus stops on the 79 route both called Dulverton Vale! The one you want is in between stops called “Eltham Drive” and “Walbrook Close/Bells Lane“.

This stop is only about 150 yards from the venue.

Nearest tram stop is Phoenix Park, just over half a mile away – but the buses go much closer.

Parking: There is a small car park, and off road parking too.

Maths & Science age 4 to 8, free taster session, Sherwood, Monday 6 June

Availability: this taster session is now full, but you can ask to go on the waiting list or find out about future classes!

Date: Monday 6 June 2016.

Time: 2pm to 3pm.

Venue: Pirate’s Play Centre, 41 Rowley Drive, Sherwood, Nottingham, NG5 1GD.
to the front.
Area: off the Hucknall Road about 2 miles north of the city centre, on the western side of Sherwood, towards Basford. Brown Line buses go nearby.

Age range: 4 to 8.

Price: This taster is FREE. Future class price to be confirmed, probably about £4 per session. It includes a free go on the soft play area as well, either before or after the class.

Enquiries: Bekky is the organiser.

Email: bekky_robinson at yahoo dot com.

An hour of hands-on experiments and mathematical discovery aimed at young children, to develop mathematical and scientific thinking skills, and learn more about how the world works.

This is a taster session with the intention of a four week block of classes to follow if there is enough interest.

The taster session will be on the theme of Floating and Sinking with hands on experiments, group work and learning through directed play and fun!

It will take place at the Pirates Play Centre in Sherwood, and the owners have very kindly agreed to let those attending the class have a free play before or after the class.

If a child with autism or a learning disability wishes to attend, then if they let me know in advance I can adjust those parts of the class to make it more suitable to their needs.

Map showing Pirate’s Play Centre:

Bigger map showing Pirate’s Play Centre

Pirate’s Play Centre web site – the page with maps on.

Nearest bus stop coming from the north: “Leonard Avenue“.

Nearest bus stop coming from the south: “Perry Road” – but there’s not much in it. Leonard Avenue is nearly as close.

Cars & parking: Note that vehicle access is only along Kelham Drive.

There is parking at Pirates which should be ample during the day when it’ll be mostly us using the venue.

Home ed climbing, Nottingham Climbing Centre, one Thursday a month

Date: Once a month on a Thursday in term-time.

Time: One hour slots at different times during the day. Children grouped by climbing experience / size / age.

Venue: Nottingham Climbing Centre, The Old Pool, 212 Noel Street, New Basford, Nottingham, NG7 6AT.

Postcode for sat nav: NG7 7FR, to end of Rawson Street.

Area: New Basford / Forest Fields area of Nottingham, north of Hyson Green Asda, near Beaconsfield Street tram stop (or Radford Road tram stop if southbound). The climbing centre was previously Noel Street swimming pool.

Age range: Different children are ready at different ages to cooperate with the climbing instructor, wait for their turn and follow safety instructions. Youngest climbers have been about 4 or 5; some children do better waiting till they’re older. Older age range is up to teens.

(Update: See info about the Teens’ Climbing Group, organised separately from this group.)

Price: £6 per one-hour session, paid termly. If there’s a session where you can’t make it, another family can take your place that day and give you the £6 back. The ratio is 6 children with one coach from the Climbing Centre.

Availability: At the time of writing, there are a few regular places available, in a group for middling confident climbers aged around 5 to 11. However, it’s worth enquiring even if your child is a different age / stage – as the situation may have changed by the time you read this, and/or it may sometimes be possible to reshuffle the groups, if other children were happy with that. There may also be a drop-in place when someone can’t make it.

Booking & enquiries: By email. To make the email address, add “homeedclimbingnottingham” to “gmail dot com” with an “at” sign in the middle.

This is a monthly activity taking place at Nottingham’s Climbing Centre, adapted for use from a swimming pool and run by an enthusiastic climbing family and a small group of climbing instructors.

The centre is open most days anyway, but once a month, 5 teams of 6 young HE climbers meet to climb throughout the day. They climb on bouldering walls (no ropes) and also using ropes and harnesses. There are a variety of walls and routes designed for different ages/heights/aptitudes.

There is a café to chat/play board games/read etc whilst the children climb, and in warmer months several families socialise at the park afterwards.

The cost is paid termly, at £6 a session. This includes harness and insurance. There are often “trial places” available and a waiting list, so drop us a line if it sounds like an activity you may fancy.

Nottingham Climbing Centre web site.

There are several steps up to the front door, so the climbing centre isn’t wheelchair-accessible or very buggy-friendly.

Map showing Nottingham Climbing Centre:

Bigger view of map showing Nottingham Climbing Centre

Nearest tram stop: “Beaconsfield Street“. Note that this is on a one-way bit of tram route; all northbound trams stop here and none of the southbound ones. The nearest southbound tram stop is “Radford Road“, after which you have to walk uphill to the climbing centre. Alternatively, stay on two more stops till you get to “The Forest”, then switch to a northbound tram – but depending on your ticket, this may mean paying twice. Tram information.

Nearest bus stop (but not very near): “Haydn Road“, via buses 68, 69, 70 & 71 on the Yellow Line, on Nottingham Road. From there, it’s about 780 metres’ walk. The tram goes much closer. To catch a Yellow Line bus from town, go to the bus stops near Trinity Square, across the road from the Victoria Centre. The 68 and 69 go from stop T4. The 70 and 71 go from stop T3.

Parking: on street.

Maths groups, Carlton, Wednesdays and Thursdays

Update: Please see newer post with updated info on the maths groups! This one is no longer current.

Days: Wednesday and Thursday mornings.

Time: Each one-hour class is for up to four children, grouped by age range and/or ability. Exact time of the morning depends on what group you’re in.

Area: Carlton / NG4 area of Nottingham.

Age range: 7 to 16+.

Price: £5 per class of 1 hour. Reduction for siblings. Book in advance, pay on the day.

Email: maths at non-school-nottingham dot org dot uk.

Maths groups for all the above ages. Maximum of 4 in each group and classes are 1 hour long.

Hands on approach to learning, with an emphasis on understanding and using numbers rather than rote learning.

Tutor is a former home ed mum who has taught within the home ed community for the past 20 years.

Each class costs £5 with a sibling reduction if more than 1 child. Everything is provided.

Access info:

Fully experienced with autism and dyslexia.

We have a ramp and accessible downstairs toilet, though wheelchair access would need looking at and discussing.