Case Studies

When Kate came to Diversity House her initial goal was to find a way to gain her Level 2 qualifications in Numeracy & English after not being able to find a suitable time and way to study for this qualification on her own. Kate is self-motivated but was becoming rather frustrated as she could not seem to find a way to move forward. Kate recently passed her Level I qualifications in English with KAES and had obtained her Level 1 Numeracy qualification at Crawley College around 10 years ago. As a mother with young children, she was finding it very challenging fitting in with some of the limited options that were available from KAES and other organisations offering Level 2 courses.

The starting point of Kate’s journey with our funded project was to sit with our Consultant Employment & Life Skills Coach and complete our in-house Individual Learning Plan which helps us to better understand the learners needs and set goals and milestones that are SMART.

On starting her sessions, Kate initially found it hard to concentrate and motivate herself to learn and as she had not engaged in further studies in numeracy, she found that she really needed a refresher course in Level 1. Our consultant coached Kate in building her confidence using one to one technique and drawing out Kate’s skills during conversations. Lessons were structured around the CGP Functional Skills Level 1 book and one to one support and homework extension activities. Kate’s daughter attended all sessions with her, but she was an angel and provided very little distraction, note that Diversity House provides a safe environment for its learners and all health and safety protocols are in place.

Through carrying out research activities it was possible to identify a university that Kate could apply to which took into consideration her prior learning and qualifications and with the support and skill of our consultant she submitted an application for a foundation degree.

The rest is history, Kate is starting a Foundation Degree in September 2022.

When Thi first came to Diversity House it was because of a phone call made by her husband further to a post that Thi had seen on Facebook. The starting point for Thi with our funded project was to have an initial appointment with our Administrator, Andrea and complete our inhouse Individual Learning Plan which helps us to better understand the learners’ needs and set goals and milestones that are SMART.

Thi is not always able to communicate what she wants to say because she doesn’t know what words to use in English and really wanted to improve her confidence in speaking and listening and developing more skills in writing English. In terms of levels Thi is probably Entry Level 1 in English but this does not always reflect due to her low confidence when speaking with others. One of the goals that was set for Thi was for her to improve her skills by attending the ESOL Conversation classes for a number of months. This could lead to her progressing on to an Entry Level 1 English course with KAES or any other organisation from November 2022.

Like many others, Thi had been isolated at home during Covid19 and this affected her confidence and self-esteem. She really wanted to build a community of friends and begin to learn more about living and learning in the UK and to progress into work in the future. Thi started to attend the ESOL Conversation classes and as time went on, she started the IT Skills classes and welcomed the opportunity to work with our Consultant Employment & Life Skills Coach to develop more confidence.

It’s not been easy an easy journey for Thi as she has to come to class with her daughter but somehow, she juggles being a mum with being a student and is so eager to learn. Initially it was hard for Thi to speak to others in the class because everyone was trying to learn English and she was afraid of making mistakes. With the encouragement and support of our ESOL Consultant tutor she has made so much progress and now is able to even start conversations with less fear of others. Thi has a very quiet voice so didn’t really speak up when talking in a group but now she not only tries to start conversations, even though she may make mistakes she will try to use new words with much less fear of getting wrong!

Thi is still attending the ESOL Conversation Classes but has also progressed onto one-to-one mentoring sessions.

When Vytas first came to Diversity House it was because of an appointment that he had with his job coach at the Job Centre which led to a referral. The starting point for Vytas with our funded project was to have a brief conversation with our Administrator, Andrea. Further to this he sat with our inhouse Employment & Life Skills Consultant, and they went through the Individual Learning Plan which helps us to better understand the learners’ needs and set goals and milestones that are SMART. Vytas at this point had been away from social interactions with others for almost 2 years due to shielding during Covid19. He also experienced some major life changing health situations which meant that he had a long road to recovery. Vytas had a major heart attack when he was out socially, and this changed so many things for him especially since he has always led an active life. Vytas also struggled with memory loss after his heart attack and found that he had to learn many things all over again.

Vytas could not attend his first appointment on his own and was supported by his lovely wife Jurgita. Vytas had been isolated at home for such a long that he was very anxious, lonely and overwhelmed with emotions since he had not had much social contact with anyone apart from his family for such a long time. He also wanted to improve his confidence in speaking and listening and develop more skills in writing English. One of the goals that was set for Vytas was for him to improve his skills by attending the ESOL Conversation classes for a number of months.

He really wanted to build a community of friends and begin to be less socially disadvantaged and marginalised. Vytas started to attend the ESOL Conversation classes and as time went on he started the IT Skills classes and welcomed the opportunity to work with our Consultant Employment & Life Skills Coach to develop more confidence.

With the encouragement and support of our team of consultants he has made so much progress and now is able to even start conversations with less fear of others. Vytas has also gained more confidence in speaking in group situations and actually makes a joke or two in class! Go Vytas!

Vytasi is still attending the ESOL Conversation Classes but has also progressed onto one-to-one mentoring sessions.

Life has been very tough for Courtney but fortunately due to her resilience she has been able to make it through situations which would have been almost impossible for many to cope with. Sadly when Courtney was only 12 years old, she lost her mother due to a blood clot which unfortunately led to her passing away before the medical services could get to her. The situation led to Courtney unconsciously becoming more of mum than big sister to Sophia (and her younger brother) simply because she was older than her and felt that she needed to look after her. What a responsibility for someone so young … When Courtney first came to Diversity House, it was due to a referral from the Job Centre and the commitment that Courtney agreed to was to come to Diversity House on Tuesday, Thursdays & Fridays to engage in various activities at Diversity House to improve her mental health and wellbeing.

The starting point for Courtney with our funded project was to have an initial appointment with one of our Community Navigators Justin and complete our inhouse Individual Learning Plan which helps us to better understand the learners’ needs and set goals and milestones that are SMART. At the initial meeting Courtney was very emotional and didn’t really know how to proceed but knew that she wanted things to change in her life.

With the support and encouragement of our Consultants, Courtney agreed to attend various sessions such as IT Skills, Sewing classes which she enjoyed doing whilst in Year 9 as well as the ESOL Conversation classes and any other classes which she could engage with others.

Since then, Courtney has achieved many goals and these include:

• Attending a day out in Rochester with our ESOL group run in
  conjunction with Kent Community Rail Partnership/ Sustrans with her
  friend and assisting with supporting other learners by explaining things
  to them
• Attended the health and wellbeing sessions which run every Tuesday
  fortnight and has had one to one sessions with our Health Coach