WEA courses

Are you looking for functional skills English courses for free? You can boost your maths and English skills with a government-funded course at the WEA. If you are over 19 and don’t have an English GCSE at C or Grade 4, then you can study for free.  Not having a qualification in English can hold you back. In many cases, you will need it for apprenticeships or to get a job. Maybe you want to ace your GCSE retakes but the idea of going back to school fills you with dread. Or you want a level 2 qualification, but you don’t want to do GCSEs again. This is where the WEA comes in.  We’re not like a school or a college; we’re adult learning specialists. Our English functional skills classes help you build on the skills that you use every day. We make our courses fun and easy to learn.

Are you looking for functional skills maths courses for free?  You can boost your maths and maths skills with a government-funded course at the WEA. If you are over 19 and don’t have an English GCSE at C or Grade 4, then you can study for free.  Not having a qualification in maths can hold you back. In many cases, you will need it for apprenticeships or to get a job. Maybe you want to ace your GCSE retakes but the idea of going back to school fills you with dread. Or you want a level 2 qualification, but you don’t want to do GCSEs again. This is where the WEA comes in.  We’re not like a school or a college; we’re adult learning specialists. Our maths functional skills classes help you build on the skills that you use every day. We make our courses fun and easy to learn.

Ready to make a difference? Step Into Care is a dynamic five-week online pre-employment programme designed to launch your career in Adult Social Care. Aligned with the new care pathway, this course equips you with essential knowledge, values, and skills to thrive in the sector. You’ll explore key topics including Dementia, Mental Health, Autism, and Learning Disabilities, and complete the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training to support inclusive, person-centred care. You’ll gain knowledge about the expected behaviours in the role; understand the rights of those you care for—and your own—and develop the professional behaviours employers expect. Alongside care-specific learning, you’ll sharpen your CV, job application, and interview skills with expert guidance. On completion, our dedicated Step Into Care work coach will arrange a working interview in a real care setting, giving you the chance to step confidently into your future.

This supportive introductory course helps learners with little or no English develop the language needed to take part in simple numeracy activities. Through practical, real‑life tasks, you will learn key vocabulary for numbers, money, dates, time, sizes and everyday measurements, while building the confidence to understand and use English in a learning environment.

This course is designed to help you build confidence, understand workplace expectations and prepare for employment. Across the interactive units, you will develop essential skills for work and life, including communication, teamwork, resilience, and professional etiquette. Activities include storytelling, vision boards, group challenges, wellbeing planning, and mock interviews. You will also explore equality and diversity, health and safety and strategies for managing stress. The course concludes with creating a personalised progression plan to support your next steps. You will feel more confident, informed, and ready for the working environment.

Build on basic reading skills with these ESOL classes. This is an English course for beginners. It is aimed at speakers of other languages. ESOL courses help you learn basic English for life in the UK and improve your chances of finding work or study options. Learners have to be enrolled and assessed in person. This course is funded by the Greater London Authority and is only available to residents living within the Greater London Authority area.

This fun and supportive course helps ESOL learners improve their English through creative writing. You will explore simple ways to write short stories, poems, and personal experiences. The course builds your vocabulary, grammar, and confidence in expressing ideas. You’ll learn how to describe people, places, and feelings, and share your imagination in English. No previous writing experience is needed – just a willingness to try! Through group activities and writing tasks, you’ll enjoy learning English in a creative and relaxed way.

This intermediate course is designed for learners who already have some experience in textiles and are ready to explore the creative and sustainable practice of natural dyeing. Focusing on both technique and experimentation, the course introduces students to a wide range of plant-based and kitchen-source dyes and teaches how these can be used to create rich, organic colours for textile projects. Learners will investigate the full dyeing process—from fibre preparation and mordanting to dye extraction, colour development, and finishing. The course covers a variety of methods such as immersion dyeing, bundle dyeing, resist techniques, and creating multi-tonal effects. Students will experiment with natural materials like leaves, bark, fruit skins, and flowers to produce swatches, samples, and small dyed pieces suitable for incorporation into personal textile work. Emphasis is placed on understanding how different fibres react to natural dyes, how to achieve consistent results, and how to log processes through sampling and note-taking. Environmental responsibility and sustainable sourcing are explored throughout. By the end of the course, learners will have developed a broad palette of naturally dyed textiles, improved their technical confidence, and gained the knowledge needed to integrate natural dyeing into future creative projects. This course is ideal for anyone wishing to expand their textile practice through sustainable colour-making.

Feel confident starting your level 1 ESOL course with this ESOL preparation course. It is designed to prepare you for the ESOL level 1 speaking and listening course. Learn key verbal communication skills you’ll need for the level 1 ESOL course in speaking and listening to set yourself up for success.

Employability & Skills: ESOL for Employability (Group 1) Improve your English language skills while preparing for work in the UK with this practical and supportive course designed for ESOL learners. Employability & Skills: ESOL for Employability helps adults develop the communication skills, vocabulary, and confidence needed to succeed in job applications, interviews, and workplace settings.