SWANSEA: At 36 she’d never finished a course. Now she’s off to Cardiff Met

Natalie Price Pettersson was 36 when she finally finished something. She is now heading to Cardiff Metropolitan University to study for a degree.

She got there through courses run at a community centre in Clase, and says she never expected to. “For the first time in my life, at the age of 36, I’ve finally managed to stick to something and become qualified,” she said.

She added: “I’m now going on to study a Bachelor’s degree with Cardiff Met University, something I never thought I’d be capable of. Thank you for your belief and support in us.”

The classes are part of Inspiring Futures, a programme run by Faith in Families at its Community Cwtches.

Seventy-three certificates across Clase, Portmead and Bonymaen

The charity says learners at the three Cwtches have gained a combined 73 accredited certificates, with more than 20 moving on to work, volunteering or further study.

Clase accounts for most of them. Faith in Families says 51 certificates were awarded there, alongside 17 identified progression outcomes.

Six of those learners have registered with agencies for teaching assistant work, according to the charity, and two are going on to Level 3 study. One has taken a volunteering placement, and one is Natalie.

At Teilo’s Community Cwtch in Portmead, the charity says 19 certificates were awarded across digital literacy, playwork and customer service. Two learners have gone into paid work and three into volunteering.

Bonymaen is the smallest of the three. Three learners took Level 1 Digital Literacy for Business there, the charity says, all three passed, and one has since found a job.

“The certificate isn’t the finish line”

Faith in Families training and development coordinator Natasha Cardone said the certificates were not the part she found most interesting.

“Seventy-three accredited certificates is something we are hugely proud of, but the really exciting part of this story is what people are doing next,” she said. “For us, the certificate isn’t the finish line. It can be the beginning of something much bigger.”

She said some learners had chosen to keep studying “because they have discovered confidence and abilities they may not have recognised in themselves before”.

Why adults stop going back to the classroom

The charity says the people it works with are often held back by low confidence, bad experiences of school the first time round, money worries and poor mental health.

Its answer is to run the courses inside buildings people already use, rather than asking them to travel to a college campus. The same thinking sits behind the charity’s plans for a health and wellbeing hub in the former St Margaret’s Church on Mansel Road.

The jobs at the other end are local ones. Faith in Families says one Portmead learner is now a volunteer co-ordinator assistant with the charity itself, another has been taken on as a play worker with Interplay, and a third is volunteering with Dylan Thomas Girls Club.

The programme sits alongside the charity’s wider work on poverty in the city, which this month saw it deliver around 35,000 free school uniform items to 26 schools. In May its chief executive was named public and third sector director of the year at the IoD Wales awards.

Inspiring Futures is based at the Bonymaen Community Cwtch on Mansel Road. Anyone wanting to know what is running now can call 01792 686937, or follow the programme on Facebook, where the charity posts its current sessions.

Author

Kit Peters

Kit Peters is a journalist and the editor of Swansea Bay News, covering Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Carmarthenshire since 2020.