First Steps - Reading and Writing - Arnold Library - Adult Learning

Arnold Library, Arnold

Date	11 September - 18 December 2026
Sessions	Fridays: 9:30am - 12pm
No. sessions	13
Venue	Arnold Library, Arnold View venue details
For ages	19+
Group size	5 - 8
Cost	Free

About this course

This Functional Skills course aims to improve your English skills and your confidence in using these. This course has been designed for adult learners who require some extra help with reading and writing and may have already been assessed as working at Entry level 1-3.

This Entry Level course will be delivered in a small group and at a slower pace than our other English Functional Skills courses. Our experienced staff will help you to improve your reading, writing and speaking and listening in a friendly and relaxed environment.

You will start with some of the basics of reading and writing and build your skills from there. You will be assessed near the end of the course on these three elements and once you have successfully completed all of these you will achieve an Entry Level City and Guilds Functional Skills English Qualification.

Please make sure that you can attend the lesson each week before enrolling on the course. If you are new to learning English as a second language, an ESOL course will be more suitable for you, and these are listed on our website.

What you will need to bring to the course:

All resources that you need will be supplied by the tutor, but you may wish to have your own notebook to work in as well.

Booking your place and fee information

Funding and Fees

If you receive certain benefits, you may be able to take the course for free.
If money is stopping you from enrolling, please visit our funding page to see what help is available.

Living in England

To book and join one of our courses, you must live in England permanently and either:

Live inside the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) area (Nottinghamshire or Derbyshire)

Live outside the devolved areas listed below

You cannot enrol if you live in these devolved areas:

Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA)
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority
North East Combined Authority
South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority
Tees Valley Combined Authority
West Midlands Combined Authority
West of England Combined Authority
West Yorkshire Combined Authority
Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority
York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority
Hull and East Yorkshire
Greater Lincolnshire
Devon and Torbay Combined County Authority
Cornwall Council
Lancashire Combined County Authority
Buckinghamshire Council

Residency Requirements (Additional Information)

If you live in the UK on a visa, we’ll need evidence of your visa to confirm funding. You can upload this when applying, and you’ll need to complete a short questionnaire.

Some exceptions include:

Your visa must last until after your course ends.
Asylum seekers must have lived in the UK for at least 6 months while their claim is being processed.
You are supported by your local authority under Section 23C or 23CA of the Children Act 1989, or under the Care Act 2014.

Anyone who does not meet the funding criteria would need to pay full course fees.