Life Skills and Wellbeing
Useful, life enhancing and enjoyable, all of our Life Skills and Wellbeing courses are a fantastic addition to any timetable. With a variety to choose from, they will take you from the College, to the workplace and beyond.
Short Courses
Preparing for your driving theory test
What colour comes after green on Puffin crossings?
- intermittent amber
- constant red
- constant amber
- intermittent green?
Can you answer this question? Join us to learn the answer!
This short course will support you in learning the traffic signs and Highway Code for car drivers in readiness for your 50-question Theory Test. We will also cover aspects of the Hazard Perception Test.
Sessions will be a mixture of taught content and practice tests, getting you ready for the real thing! (P.S. the answer is constant amber, find out why on the course!)
On Yer Bike Maintenance
This course is aimed at students who cycle to college or who are keen cyclists and wish to know more about how to maintain their bikes and develop skills that can keep them cycling.
Anyone who rides a bike knows that from time- to-time things break or stop working as well as they should. It can be expensive to take your bike to a shop to get fixed and time consuming in losing a mode of transport. You will:
- Learn how fix the main problems that occur with bikes such as fixing punctures, aligning brakes, dialling in gears and general maintenance skills.
- Apply these skills to donated bikes so that they can be put in working order and sold to raise money for the Colleges charity ECAT.
- Fix students’ bikes as part of lunch clinics where students can make a donation to ECAT for the work.
- Learning more advanced skills, if possible, such as wheel truing.
We will use a dedicated area in college, which will be fully resourced with the necessary tools and equipment. If students want their bikes fixed then consumables such as inner tubes will need to be purchased.
There is no mechanical knowledge needed for the course, as we will cover all basics.
Leadership for sixth formers
In a new and unknown post- covid world leadership involves personally engaging and being emotionally intelligent. Ask yourself these 3 questions:
- How well do you understand the daily impact of your actions on those around you?
- How well do you listen?
- How well do you learn?
If you score yourself 100% you may already be a great leader!
Your course leaders will draw from an incredible range of leadership experiences (executive coaching, military, sport, Industry, Public and Voluntary) to help you:
- learn the skills and techniques of effective leadership; and
- understand how Emotional Intelligence underpins effective leadership.
Past student Hasti Mozdehi said, “From being the quiet one in the corner I found myself leading projects and running feedback sessions for my team members”. Now age 19, Hasti, is managing 2 retail outlets before reading Law at Queen Mary’s this September.
Personal finance
This course is aimed at improving your ability to make sound financial decisions. We will look at:
· Bank accounts, savings and current accounts
· Student loans and borrowing money
· Income tax, national insurance and state benefits
· Rent and mortgages
· Budgeting to ensure your income matches your expenditure
· Inflation and why it can be bad
· Spending vs. saving
· Investing: stocks and shares, physical goods
· Pensions; when is a good time to enrol in a scheme
· Fraud and scams
· How to get help if you fall in debt or become a victim of a scam
You do not need any previous knowledge to study this course.
Long Courses
Community Volunteers
This activity is particularly suitable for those thinking of entering the caring professions such as teaching, medicine or nursing. It involves going out into the community to help in local hospitals, local care homes, nurseries and schools.
Placements typically involve spending a minimum of one hour and ten minutes working assisting with various tasks. In schools you may be asked to help children with reading, sports, art, drama etc., or to help the teacher prepare materials for class use or clear up after a class.
In care homes you may be asked to talk with the old people or help to organise social activities. In a hospital you may be asked to work as a dining companion, assisting ward staff and patients during mealtimes.
Students will follow a short induction course with talks from caring professionals and will start their placements after October half-term.
Duke of Edinburgh Award (Gold)
We have successfully run the Duke of Edinburgh Award at Esher College for the past 12 years. At College, we only offer the Gold Award but it is important to realise that you do not have to have completed the Bronze or Silver to start the Gold Award.
The Award consists of 3 main sections Volunteering, Skill and Physical and students have to do an hour a week in each section over a period of time ranging from 6 to 18 months. Note: they do not all have to be done at the same time so the Award allows up to the age of 24 for completion.
You will be allocated to a group and from that group a sub group that will form the team with which you complete the expedition. Previous expeditions include walking across the Brecon Beacons then paddling on the River Wey.
Costs £154 registration fee plus preparation and expedition costs.
Scuba Diving
This course gives you a fantastic opportunity to obtain an internationally recognised diver certification whilst having fun alongside the rest of your studies. If you’ve ever been snorkelling and been frustrated that so much marine life was out of reach or maybe you have been enthralled by ‘Blue Planet’, then this is an opportunity not to be missed.
You will complete the PADI Open Water Course which will give you the knowledge and skills needed to keep you safe as you experience your first breaths underwater and is designed for people who have never previously dived. It could be the first step to a lifestyle change, preparation for a marine biology degree or even a career as a dive professional although most students do it just for fun especially if they go travelling.
The course comprises of:
- The theory behind all aspects of scuba diving including safety.
- Confined Water Training to develop skills in a safe swimming pool environment.
- Open Water Dives to review and assess skills in a real environment before certification.
Theory is taught through weekly lessons in college as part of your timetable. Six Pool sessions are on Friday evenings at Putney Leisure Centre.
The Open Water Dive assessment, where you will complete 4 dives over 2 days is at Wraysbury Diving Centre near Staines. This will take place after your 1st year progression exams.
All practical training is provided by Aquanaut dive school in Kingston http://www.aquanautscuba.co.uk/
All students who apply for this must complete a medical self-assessment questionnaire when enrolling and must be able to commit to all planned sessions. You don’t have to be a fantastic swimmer as long as you are confident in the water and not claustrophobic. If you need more information before committing then please email nglennard@esher.ac.uk.
Costs: £415 includes all tuition, kit hire, crew pack (containing course learning materials) and certification. The normal cost for this course is £515! Extra Costs – Entrance to Wraysbury Dive Centre (WDC) (approx. £15 per day) and air fills (approx. £8 – £16) paid directly to WDC on the day.
The course has always proved extremely popular. Success rate is more than 90% for all students that commit to the course, but please do not this select this course unless you have discussed the costs with your parent/guardian and can commit to the Friday evening sessions otherwise you are likely to disappoint other students. The course is often oversubscribed.
