Spring into brighter days with community learning

The Council's Spring 2021 programme of community learning courses will open for bookings on 8 April.

The programme, developed by Orkney Islands Council’s Community Learning and Development (CLD) team, offers a range of online, family, outdoor and face-to-face classes.

The new programme offers two brand new courses - Japanese for Beginners being offered at KGS, and Introduction to Cartoons & Comics running online as a Family course.

Japanese for Beginners offers an introduction to learning Kana and Kanji – Japanese alphabet – as well as basic grammar and vocabulary. Low level previous experience of Kana is welcome but not essential. By the end of the course students should be able to read, write, speak and understand a basic level of Japanese. Tutor Rex Chester says learning to communicate in a non-Latin-based language is a unique experience for native English speakers.

Introduction to Cartoons and Comics is for adults and children aged six and over – children must be accompanied by an adult. Students can ‘draw along’ with the tutor in demos ranging from cartoon heads to monsters and dragons. Students should have an interest in drawing and cartoons. Tutor Tony O Donnell has worked on comics such as The Beano and The Real Ghostbusters.

The programme also includes popular favourites such as photography and furniture restoration, and a range of wellbeing courses including yoga which are free to full-price ActiveLife members (50p per session for Budget ActiveLife members).

CLD Team Leader Kerry Spence says she hopes the Spring programme will help people launch themselves into brighter days: “Learning something new is good for you. It positively stimulates your brain and boosts your mood. Bringing people together also builds cohesive and supportive communities and increases confidence. So it’s a bit of self-care which helps on many levels.

“We know some people may be nervous about mixing - we’re following strict guidelines to make all our community learning activities as safe as possible, so we hope this reassures and encourages people considering enrolling.”

The full programme is now available on the Council website at www.orkney.gov.uk/WeLearn.

Paper copies are available from various locations in the community or by contacting the CLD team on 01856 873535 extension 2408 or by email.

A closing date of Friday 23 April is applied to some courses so that students can re-register for another course if their first choice is cancelled or full.

Guidance will be issued prior to the start of courses detailing the Coronavirus measures and precautions that both tutors and learners will need to comply with, in line with national guidance. Course participants must also provide their own equipment and materials.

Note that depending on the guidelines and restrictions in place at the time, courses may have to be cancelled at short notice. Refunds will be issued in this case.