courses in the cheshire area

[chris carroll]

hi guys
does anybody know what the best course for me would be and also if there is one in the cheshire area.

i have been looking through the internet and it seams to me the bare minimum i would need to go at it alone would be the city and guilds 6129. is that correct.
do all of these courses have to be done in one go or could i fit one in around my excisting job

thanks for any replies

 

[fuzzy]

if you want a 6129 you have to enrol and register before end of this month as thats when it ends

only building services 2000 access course available for non employed in industry after that, look it up on C&G website

 

[chris carroll]

thanks for the reply
only just joined this forum been having a quick read through seams to be a lot of people on ere willing and happy to help people out which i think is a great thing in this climate.

 

[AquaSystems]

I studied for my NVQ in night classes 2 nights a week for 2 yrs. Only way I could do it around my job. They were long days but well worth it.

 

[fuzzy]

so you got the nvq? or the tc

 

[AquaSystems]

I got the NVQ2. I wanted to stay on and do the level 3 , but unfortunately this wasn't available at nights. I have since set up my own plumbing firm about 18 months ago and doing alright. Any courses I want to do now I have to pay for and cover my wages myself. (the downside of being your own boss).

 

[fuzzy]

oh i see so you were working in the industry when you did night school?

 

[AquaSystems]

When I first started at night school I was just a labourer then I managed to get myself a job bathroom fitting. They wasn't linked in any way but between them I learned what I needed.

 

[fuzzy]

i presumed they were linked in some way though, to get your onsite visits and assessments?

 

[AquaSystems]

No not linked at all, in fact the firm I worked for didn't want me to do the course, cos they'd have to pay me more.
A day release scheme does do the onsite visits and any practical assessments were done in the college. We had to have 2 weeks off work to fit a bathroom suite, tank and cylinder, lead-work around a chimney and pipe a couple of radiators up in steel pipe. There was an outside evidence folder which we could have done too if we had access to the full range of plumbing jobs- I only did bathrooms at the time so didn't qualify for it. Not one of our class did this!

 

[fuzzy]

shame, doing bathrooms isnt far from achieveing the nvq, bit of work around evidence gathering and im sure you could achieve it

 

[AquaSystems]

Yes i know unfortunately its too long since i did the course to do it retrospectively. I took on an apprentice in sept he's doing the course day release, and has almost finished his outside evidence portfolio already and is in line for the college apprentice of the year! He'll be slightly more qualified than me on NVQ by end of next year.

 

[Beng]

If you are near Hyde I can recommed NTPS Training. I know they had part time students who came in on odd days when they could get a day off work. dont think they did nights or weekends though.