Learner experiences

Mark Completes Activity Agreement

It has just been 5 months since Mark from Aberdeenshire started his Activity Agreement on Stage 1 of the employability programme back in January this year. He has discovered a new sense of confidence in these past few months. Not only has he nearly completed NC 4 Core Skills in Numeracy but also attended an […]

Posted: Friday, May 26th, 2017

I can help my son with his homework now

Pauline is a Dundee adult learner on a mission, to find work and to be a good parent.  Pauline experienced a period of anxiety and depression which led to her giving up work. One year on she has now taken up learning opportunities, has had work experience in different sectors and has achieved an Adult […]

Posted: Thursday, May 11th, 2017

Casey Starts Volunteering at Café Connect

I met Casey and her mum Sharron during November 2016.  Casey is 19 years old and comes from a small village in the North East of Aberdeenshire.   She belongs to a close knit family and has a special bond with her grandparents who live in the same village.  At present, she is living with her […]

Posted: Monday, March 13th, 2017

Learners Gain Adult Achievement Award

During October to December last year, Barbara, our Aberdeenshire Learning Co-ordinator has been working in partnership with the Co-ordinator from The Bridge Project in Fraserburgh to arrange for two groups of 4 learners to work towards an Adult Achievement Award. The Bridge Project is a partnership between Day Services and Employability in Aberdeenshire Council. It’s […]

Posted: Friday, January 13th, 2017

Louise

Louise wanted to improve her reading, writing and numbers skills beyond the limits of only being able to write her own name. Louise’s social worker referred her to Lead for possible support with her learning. With support from the Fife Coordinator, Louise made progress with form filling and reading and she is now able to […]

Posted: Thursday, November 24th, 2016

Tommy Receives the Adult Achievement Award

Tommy found his way to Lead via his GP and psychologist after a period of depression because he was determined to learn reading, writing and computer skills. After a few initial meetings in the library they moved to home learning. The library internet connection wasn’t very good and Tommy actually preferred one to one support […]

Posted: Thursday, June 2nd, 2016

Taking that first step back into learning

Eddie at the job centre told me about Lead.  A lot of services don’t come to the house but that’s what I need because I have panic attacks and agoraphobia.  I need someone with me all the time.  I wanted to build up my confidence. Through Eddie, I met Amy the Learning Co-ordinator and she […]

Posted: Wednesday, April 27th, 2016

I’m about 80-85% back to who I used to be

“I feel like I’m part of the world again.  Amy came into my life at exactly the right point.  I had been withdrawn and was frightened of people.  I had become anxious and experienced agoraphobia. The home visit was really important.  I would have had a lot of anxiety about going outside to meet anyone. […]

Posted: Friday, April 15th, 2016

Personal achievement award for learning

Chris was nominated for the ‘Personal Achievement’ award at the Adult Literacies Awards in Fife, for all his hard work. Chris, initially contacted Leonard Cheshire to learn computing and was referred to Lead Scotland for their support.  Prior to the referral, Chris had not used a computer before and, because of his visual impairment, was […]

Posted: Friday, December 4th, 2015

From Learner to Lead Volunteer

I first came out of hospital in 2001. A nurse told me about a man who was a learner with Lead Scotland. I contacted him and he put me in touch with Annabel Fairweather who was the Lead Co-ordinator based in Elgin in 2003. I got support and started off working through computer basics and […]

Posted: Friday, December 4th, 2015

Finding a way forward with dyslexia

Katy thinks back to school days as days of misery. Her mum knew that she needed extra support but the school refused to accept this.  They suggested that she was not very bright, did not keep well and spent a lot of time absent from school. School was the last place this girl wanted to go to and by the time she […]

Posted: Friday, December 4th, 2015

Amy receives the Barony College Trophy for Inspiration

Amy was referred to Lead Scotland by her guidance teacher at school.  After being accepted by Lead Amy joined our MCMC (More Choices More Chances) SCOPE (Socialisation, communication, opportunities, progression, Effective Citizenship) group in Westhill where she worked on improving many skills such as IT, budgeting, confidence and social skills. We supported Amy to apply […]

Posted: Friday, December 4th, 2015

Rachel’s Story

Rachel was referred for an Activity Agreement by Social Work as she left school after a poor experience regarding transition.  Rachel moved from Children and Family Services when she was 18 and worked with Lead one to one to smooth her transition and help her to find her next positive destination. Rachel has a very supportive […]

Posted: Friday, December 4th, 2015

Lisa became a self employed Aromatherapist

Lisa is a single parent with two children. She told the Lead Scotland Learning Co-ordinator that she would like to get away from needing benefit support, but she had no qualifications. During discussions and advice meetings she decided that she would like to have a job that would enable her to be available when the children […]

Posted: Friday, December 4th, 2015

Getting Digital

“Everything is computerised – I wanted to learn about it to not get left behind.” Wendy was referred to the Locality Link Officer as part of a group referral and expressed a desire to learn how to use a laptop to keep in touch with family, use e-mail and Skype, and to be able to […]

Posted: Friday, December 4th, 2015

Fraserburgh learners

A group of six adult learners  improved their literacy and numeracy skills over 10 weeks supported by Barbara, our Moray Learning Co-ordinator and two volunteers. “I have enjoyed coming to the group. I am more confident in using numbers and writing things down. I was able to recognize all the coins and I was able to […]

Posted: Tuesday, December 1st, 2015