News
Learning in Partnership
2nd September 2010
ABE regularly run lip reading courses for deaf or hard of hearing people. However, communication is a two-way process so we've developed a new short course for deaf and hearing friends or partners.
The 4 week course was delivered in partnership with Deaf Action and promoted the understanding of deafness from the viewpoint of both deaf and hearing people. The course looked at the value of lipreading and the importance of clear lipspeaking from the he… read more
Tom Meek Awards
19th July 2010
This year the Tom Meek Award is celebrating its tenth birthday. Each year the awards night is a celebration of learning and achievement and there was certainly plenty to cram in to this year's event.
Kenneth MacAlpine has become our latest winner of the Tom Meek Award. Kenneth has had overcome a number of barriers to make progress with his learning. His experiences have encouraged him to put something back into his community including de… read more
Launching our Spotter and Referrer Factfile
18th May 2010
Over the last year, 353 new students have accessed the Adult Basic Education Service. How did they find out about us? For 82% of students it was the result of our Spotter and Referrer network.
The network consists of a range of agencies, organisations and key workers, who work with potential learners. They are able to spot literacy & numeracy issues and, importantly, have the knowledge to refer those individuals to us.
… read more
FABE AGM Coming Up
17th May 2010
Friends of Adult Basic Education (FABE) is a voluntary organisation who support the work of ABE and help the students' voice to be heard.
Their Annual General Meeting will take place on Wednesday 26th May 7 - 9pm in The Adult Learning Centre at Bathgate.
If you want to get involved then come along. There will be coffee, tea, biscuits and the chance to join in a fun quiz and you might win a ?5 voucher.
Everyone is welcome.
Spotlight on ... George
10th May 2010
Our spotlight for May is on George who goes to the Craigsfarm group on a Wednesday evening. He tells us a bit about what he has been learning and how it helps him in his everyday life.
"I come from Blackburn. I work in the cleansing department; I'm the Weighbrig Operator on my shift. I found out about ABE through one of the boys at work. He was telling me all about the class so I asked the Union Rep. if he could try to get me into one of the classes.… read more
Spotlight on... Tony
1st April 2010
Tony from the Adult Learning Centre, Wednesday morning group has become our 'Mr April'. He tells us a bit about his learning experience - from working in the chippy to Cooking by Numbers.
" Hi, my name is Tony and the reason I came to ABE is to improve my reading and vocabulary. Since coming here I've improved greatly but still get a little confused with punctuation marks and knowing when and where to use them. In time and with practice… read more
?River City? Comes to the Regal!
17th March 2010
As part of 'Get into Reading' we invited Morag Bain, series producer, to come to the Regal Community Theatre on Wednesday 17th March and tell us how the 'River City' drama is put together ? from initial idea to the finished product which you see on T.V.
We had a brilliant evening and found out information about the scripts, locations, actors' characters and stunts.
Morag talked us through the programme where Ewan fell off the building and s… read more
Spotlight on ... Caroline
1st March 2010
This month, Caroline tells us how her learning has helped in her working life.
"I attended ABE about 5 years ago. I'd decided that I'd achieved what I wanted at that time and decided to leave. Now I've got a bit more time on my hands, I decided to come back again as I've always felt I had a bit of a struggle with my English.
Coming along has given me much more confidence in things that I approach in my everyday life; my job; … read more
Spotlight On...Craig
11th February 2010
This month Craig, from the Monday night Bathgate group, tells us about his experiences of learning.
"I came to ABE for the second time because of my kids. My oldest daughter?s who?s seven and goes to the local school. I felt I wasn?t wanting her to come to me for help on her spelling and words and me saying I can?t help because I can?t spell. I wanted to get in early and make my spelling better but it?s also helped me with my daughter; we?re starting to… read more
In with the New at ABE
18th January 2010
A big welcome to the new members of the ABE team who have recently been recruited.
Two Development Workers, Signe Jakobsen and Ljupka Lynch, have recently been appointed. They will be running groups and developing new courses across the county.
Meanwhile, seven Volunteer Tutors are just about to start their training programme. They will be joining groups in February to give extra support to students. The volunteer team make a huge cont… read more
Spotlight On......Karen
23rd November 2009
Spotlight On? is a new web feature where each month a different student talks about their experiences at ABE. To start the ball rolling Karen, from the Wednesday morning group at the Adult Learning Centre, tells us what she has been up to.
"I like to do acting - I'm in the Linlithgow players and I've done pantos for goodness knows how many years. I'm one of these people who will never stop doing them!
I came here to do numeracy especially wor… read more
Money Minefield Launched
6th October 2009
The Money Minefield board game was launched at St Margaret's Academy on 25th September. Money Minefield is a resource that has been developed in partnership by ABE and West Lothian Credit Union Forum and has been a firm favourite in the DOSH course.
Funding was gained to professionally produce 100 copies of the game to be distributed to schools and community groups across West Lothian in order to get people talking about money management.
The project had t… read more
Snakes and Ladders
7th September 2009
Recently the Financial Inclusion Network held a seminar looking at ?Young People in Transition?. Learners from the ABE Literacies group at BLES facilitated a workshop based on their journey to employment. The learners were keen for those attending to experience the highs and lows of this journey.
The workshop themed on Snakes and Ladders to illustrate not only the learning opportunities within the ?Get Ready for Work? programme and ABE, but also the sup… read more
A Celebration of Success.
25th August 2009
ABE and their partners picked up an award at the Council's annual Celebrating Success night on 14th August.
BBC TV presenter Jackie Bird hosted the ceremony, which was attended by more than 400 staff, councillors and event sponsors.
ABE came top in the Wealthier and Fairer category for their contribution to financial learning through the delivery of the DOSH course and the development of the Money Minefield board game. We were joined on th… read more
Getting Ready for Work
25th August 2009
Preparation for Employment, is a 7 week short course, currently being delivered to SIBBALD Training Providers, Blackridge, West Lothian.
The course is designed to enable learners to enhance employability skills by providing them with the opportunity to assess their qualities and abilities and present these effectively to an employer with the help and guidance of a tutor. This course is suitable for candidates … read more
New Tom Meek Winner
9th July 2009
The new winner of the Tom Meek 'Student of the Year' award was unveiled at our annual awards ceremony. Elisa Kilgallon was awarded with the trophy and 6 other deserving nominees received certificates and had their achievements recognised. Elisa has had a busy year in is now working towards her 3rd qualification with ABE having already gained an SQA Core Skills in numeracy and the Creche Worker qualification. She received the trophy from Wes… read more
Surveying the Scene
23rd June 2009
The Number Quest group meet once a week to look at all things number related. They have recently been looking at how data is used by making sense of news reports and collecting their own data. They then looked at how averages and percentages could be used to present data in different ways. When Friends of Adult Basic Education (FABE) were approached by the library service to find out what ABE learners think of their services, it seemed the ideal opportunity … read more
Adult Learners Awards finalists
23rd June 2009
The Scottish Adult Learning Partnership hosted their annual Scottish Adult Learners Awards in May. Several students made the trip to Edinburgh to collect their certificates as finalists in the STV Central regional awards. Janice Flynn had been nominated by her tutor for her efforts in her individual learning, this year. A group from Bathgate House were nominated for the group awards for their work on the here to see the latest posts.
Celebrating Success!
25th September 2008
The team behind our successful project ?Creche Any Time, Any Place, Any Where? were delighted to find they were a winning combination. At the Council?s Celebrating Success Award ceremony held at West Lothian College on 15 August, the team was delighted to be the winner in the developing employees category.
The project continues to grow and develop with new courses already planned for Bridgend, Livingston and West Calder. If you would like further … read more
FABE is Fab
25th September 2008
Friends of Adult Basic Education, our student body, have had a busy year. Not only have they achieved charitable status but they have also developed their own microsite and been successful in receiving funds from ?Awards For All? to produce their own raising awareness DVD entitled ?Strictly Come Spelling?.
This busy year was completed when they found out they had won the group award at the recent West Lothian Volunteer of the Year awards which were held… read more
Watch 'Strictly Come Spelling' online
2nd September 2008
The student made DVD, 'Strictly Come Spelling' is now available to watch online.
A group of students wrote the script and starred in the DVD which tells the story of life at ABE.
Click here to watch the film in full.
What a Night!
14th July 2008
Our annual Tom Meek Award celebration was held in the Kaim Park Hotel, Bathgate at the end of June. There were around 100 people in attendance; learners, family, friends and tutors all joined together to celebrate learning.
There were tears, laughter and much joy as we all shared in each other's achievements. Five young people achieved the bronze Youth Achievement Award and sixteen learners received 'Six Book Challenge' certificates.
&n… read more
The Six Book Challenge
10th July 2008
The National Year of Reading is a nationwide campaign promoting the power of reading to change the lives of individuals and communities. The 'Six Book Challenge' gave students the opportunity to focus on their reading and discover what the world of books had to offer. Library Services hosted 'getting to know you' events which encouraged students to find out what their local library could offer them. The result: an increase in the … read more
Oh what a Beautiful Total!
12th May 2008
?6130 is the magnificent total raised by staff and students who have worked hard together to help the work of Beautiful Gate.
Beautiful Gate is a residential care centre in Cape Town, South Africa which supports adults and children whose lives have been affected by AIDS. Over two years ago, staff and students made the decision to raise funds for this project. We aimed to raise ?5000 to help with the costs of training local people with few, if any,… read more
'I'm a Mum, Now What?', Available Online.
12th May 2008
Earlier this year, the learner-produced book, 'I'm a Mum, Now What?' was launched. 1000 copies of the book were printed to be made available to parents in West Lothian and literacy learners across Scotland. To allow more people to access the book, a copy is now available to see online. To read the book click here
Launches
10th April 2008
The completion of two student projects were celebrated earlier this year.
In February, the DVD of 'Strictly Come Spelling' was launched at the Regal Community Theatre. Staff, students and guests gathered for the first official showing of the film. Learners wrote and starred in the film which is a light-hearted look at the work done by ABE, from the students' point of view.
Then in March, the book 'I'm a Mum, Now What?' w… read more
Lindsay Blackwood
19th February 2008
Nearly twenty years ago, Lindsay joined Adult Basic Education. Over the years Lindsay has had many jobs: group tutor, trainer, tutor advisor, open access co-ordinator and, latterly, as a tutor organiser. All of them with the same aim; to enable individuals to access a service which would put the learner at the centre, would ensure that their needs were met and would help to improve their literacies skills. During her time she has worked with an enormous numb… read more
Film Stars in the Making
23rd January 2008
Some of the students at ABE have been keeping their talents very quiet but are about to be found out. Students, who attend various ABE groups, have joined together to write and star in their own short film.
The ABE Back Chat Book Club wrote a rhyming script, based on a storytelling theme, last summer. They thought it would be a good idea to develop this as an awareness?raising D.V.D called "Strictly Come Spelling" This was based on students' f… read more
Festive Messages
18th December 2007
ABE students have been writing their Christmas messages to post on a board at the Adult Learning Centre. The board has added a bit of festive spirit to the centre and includes positive messsages such as
"Learning is the best thing in my life" and
"I am addicted to my learning success"
Best wishes for a New Year of learning to all who come to ABE.
FABE's online
18th December 2007
Members of Friends of Adult Basic Education (FABE) have been working hard to get their own web pages up and running. The microsite is part of the Get Online and Learn website which provides information about local learning opportunities. To find out the latest news from FABE click here
Roll Up, Roll Up!
13th December 2007
It's that time of year when Janice, in the office, dusts off her decorations and gets out her tombola stall.
This year she is raising money for Children 1st and Cancer Research. The grand total raised, so far, is over ?215. Staff, students and volunteers have won an assortment of goodies.
Thanks to all those who made a donation or bought a ticket.
Cooking by Numbers!
30th September 2007
Learning a bit about numbers at the same time as food sounded like a bit of fun! ?In partnership with Community Health and Broxburn Food Co-op, ABE is offering this opportunity between October – December 2007. ?Cooking by Numbers is being held at Strathbrock Partnership Centre.
Those taking part will have the chance to try for a SQA numeracy qualification at Access3/Level1.
If you are interested in finding out more about this initiative, please co… read more
Games and Puzzle Club
27th September 2007
Following hard on the heels of Sudoku, Darts and Dominoes and other one-off fun events, ABE now has a Games and Puzzles Club.
It will meet for the second time early October. At the moment, this is open only to our students and is being held on a monthly basis.
Previous events have shown how this can be a great way to learn about and use number skills.? Here’s to a great future for the Club, no doubt with lots of fun and laughter.
Fund Raising ……. STOP PRESS!
12th September 2007
Our Fund raising Task Force is delighted to tell you that our current total is now in excess of ?4250. The initiative stops in December 2007 after two years. All money raised is in support of Beautiful Gate Children’s Care Centre in Cape Town, SA.
WATCH THIS SPACE FOR AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT COMING SOON.
DOSH…. Helping young people ‘through the money minefield’!
1st September 2007
In partnership with West Lothian Credit Union, we run DOSH. The plan is to help people aged 16-21 get to grips with their personal finances. As you would expect the group is relaxed and informal. Currently DOSH is running in Bathgate for 4 weeks. COZ is providing a place to meet. The next venue will be Almondbank Resource Centre in Craigshill. At the end of DOSH, everyone who takes part will have their own Credit Union account. For each week attended, there will be ?5 in the … read more
Could a Mac Book Pro make learning fun??
20th August 2007
Learning Connections asked for people to come up with ideas,that would inspire young learners to improve their litercies and be creative at the same time. There was a prize at the end so ABE rose to the challenge!
First of all we had to think of a project or two where young people could use new technology to help them learn. This in itself was a bit of a hurdle because we didn’t know what this new technology could do! A lot of research and picking of brain… read more
Inspirational!
9th July 2007
Inspiring! Awesome! Tear jerking! Emotional! Brilliant!
All words that people who attended our Tom Meek Award celebration used to describe the experience. This year the event was held in the Kaim Park Hotel, Bathgate. There were around 80 people in attendance. Amongst the guests were friends and family of those who had been nominated – even grand children and a ‘Hearing Dog’!
In total there were 9 nominations for the award. Information … read more
Summer School
2nd July 2007
Why not try out Summer School for Adults?
There is a variety of things on offer with creche support available. Your local library or community centre will have all the information about what is on offer.
If it is easier you can contact 01506 777505.
The School will be running as follows:
Bathgate Community Centre
3/4/5 July
10/11/12 July
Addiewell Community Centre
17/18/19 July
24/25/26 July
What a Star!
15th June 2007
The McRobert Pavilion, Ingliston was the venue for the star-studded Adult Learners' Week Awards 2007. We knew that we had a winner in Joyce McCourt, one of our lip reading students. What we had no reason to believe was that not only was she a finalist, but that she would receive the Overall Winner's Award for the Scottish Television Area!
What a wonderful evening for Joyce, her family and those of us from ABE who had been fortunate enough to be invited. Joyce is … read more
ABE raise ?1200 for Beautiful Gate!
14th June 2007
Our Fundraising Task Force (FTF) booked out the Thrift Shop in Bathgate. There were lots of opportunities for students and staff to volunteer for a range of jobs, to learn new skills and to use existing ones. This, alongside taking our turn to provide a service to the community made it a great week!
The sum of ?1219.61 was raised during the week.
This brings the total for our fundraising for Beautiful Gate to an incredible (almost) ?4000!
Driving Ahead
10th June 2007
Driving Ahead!
Eight young people signed up for the latest Driving Ahead course. They came along to nine sessions, to look at the kind of skills and understanding they would need to have, for the Driving Theory Test. These included stopping distance, understanding and using the Highway Code, road safety, and hazard perception.
The best bit for them was that they had eight driving lessons with Euan?s School of Motoring!
At the end of this successful course… read more
?3000 makes it easier...!
3rd June 2007
Some young mums from Armadale have decided to produce their own guide to parenting! Several of them, all part of a group run by Sure Start, had been talking about the written information that new parents are given. They felt it was hard to get to grips with some of it. Sure Start and Adult Basic Education got together and are supporting the young parents to write their own version.
Even more exciting -the group was awarded a ?3000 grant from Learning Connections to crea… read more
More Dosh!
1st June 2007
Do you often wish you could make your money go further; wishing you something put by? DOSH is a four week course aimed at helping you to think about your money and saving. It will look at running a bank account, understanding a payslip and day-to-day budgeting.
Each week you will be given a savings incentive of ?5 in the form of a Credit Union Account. Money can be taken out or savings can be added into the Credit Union account, two weeks after the cour… read more
ARE NUMBERS FUN?
15th May 2007
For some adult learners the words, ?numbers? and ?fun? are highly unlikely to appear in the same sentence, even less likely when the words come together as the title for a course!
But ? here?s what the students said,
"gave me lots to think about"- "a sense of achievement when you completed a puzzle"
"very interesting, fun""thoroughly enjoyable"The idea was to that learners would be equipped with a range of numeracy skills to help them feel more co… read more
200 years on
14th May 2007
"In 1807 there were 4 million slaves. Today it is more like 12 million". (Unicef 2003)
You may know that this year is the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery. It was an amazing victory but did you know that in 2007, there are 3 times as many people living as slaves in the world? Through the use of film, audio, the written word and discussion, we hope to explore what happened then and what is happening now.
WHEN &nbs… read more
Numbers are Fun!
14th May 2007
Don't believe us? Why not find out for yourself and join us in a series of workshops: you can attend one or them all, it is up to you. They are intended to look at the lighter side of numeracy and include opportunities to find out the history of numbers, become a Sudoku expert, learn the secrets of the 'Countdown' numbers game or even get better at saving money.
WHEN 14 May 2007
WHERE Murrayfield, Bla… read more
Once Upon A Time...
9th May 2007
there was a plan to run a storytelling taster to give students tips to increase their storytelling skills to read to children ....
This session aims to explore ways to have fun telling stories to children. Everyone will leave the session with a story idea and, if there is enough interest, the sessions will be extended for a further four weeks, to explore the use of rhyme, pictures and props. At the end, you will produce a storybook to read with your child.
We all need a little DOSH!
1st May 2007
If you are between the ages of 16-21, then you will no doubt be wishing you had more money. DOSH is a four week course aimed at helping you to think about your money and saving. It will look at running a bank account, understanding a payslip and day-to-day budgeting.
Each week you will be given a savings incentive of ?5 in the form of a Credit Union Account. Money can be taken out or savings can be added into the Credit Union account, two weeks after th… read more
Getting Ready To Vote
26th April 2007
The date for the elections to both the Scottish Parliament and Local Government is Thursday 3 May. With all the changes in voting taking place, it may seem easier to opt out. However, politics affects us all but feel unsure then this is perhaps the taster for you. If you would like to find out more about the new Scottish Parliament ballot papers, local multi-member wards, local elections and the single transferable vote, then come along.
WHEN … read more
Change Today Choose Fairtade
19th February 2007
ABE is pleased to say that it wholeheartedly supports goods that are fairly traded. All tea, coffee and sugar we have available, carries the Fairtrade mark. When offering hospitality, we ensure that at the very least, fruit, fruit juices, and biscuits also have the mark.
Think about it?. By changing to Fairtrade today, you can change the lives of farmers and producers across the developing world. Why not
CHANGE TODAY AN CHOOSE FAIRTRADE too!
PLEASE NOTE… read more
Money Makes The World Go Round!
19th February 2007
Working in partnership is providing an ever increasing, array of exciting opportunities for those individuals who use the Adult Basic Education service (ABE). Our partnership with West Lothian Credit Forum is one example. The potential for future development is looking particularly good!
Getting your first home, managing your pay and bills can all be a bit of a minefield. With this in mind the partnership between ABE and the West Lothian Credit Union Forum has bee… read more
STOP PRESS!
14th February 2007
Following a successful assessment visit on 30 January 2007, it has just been confirmed that ABE has retained the Charter Mark Standard. Well done to all involved, and to our students, staff, partners and members of the public for their continued support.