Student May 2021

“ Thanks for letting me join your lovely college I love it.”

Swarthmore seeks to inspire lives through friendly learning within a commitment to equality of opportunity

Swarthmore is a centre for lifelong learning, community projects and family learning sessions as well as the courses and activities  Our main aim is to encourage people who want to learn but might not feel comfortable in more formal educational institutions. We work on a friendly, human scale, offering a confidential counselling service, on-site childcare and learning support. Many volunteers currently support the Centre’s work, and we welcome their contributions of time and energy.

Family Oct 2020

(Students ) “improve and develop in a range of areas as a direct result of the expertise and personal qualities of all staff at Swarthmore”

“This level of support, planning and personal sacrifice ,with staff going well over the ‘extra mile’ is what makes your institution so remarkable”

Swarthmore Study Programme is for young people ages 16-25 who have additional support needs offering Personal Learning Programmes – based on real life experiences

This full time course for young people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, offers a wide range of opportunities to suit the needs of individual students.

We focus on providing a general education and utilise a broad range of learning opportunities to improve English, Maths and IT skills, with the aim of preparing our students for employment or further training. The course promotes the development of ‘independence skills’, e.g. travel training and decision making.

Family November 2020

“ You’re doing a great job keeping our young people safe”

During the Covid pandemic, our students have suffered disproportionately due to the inability to meet and socialise due to government restrictions, particularly as the online provision, could not meet their needs in the same way. This has had a huge, negative, impact on their mental health and wellbeing.  

Although the students are now back in the centre, and doing well, we are aware that we do not have the financial resources to run a summer provision which would really be beneficial to stop any regression due to isolation over the summer.

The course leaders have been consulting with our students to find out what they would like to do, what would help them to continue their recovery.

Hence Swarthmore Aloud was born! This project has been developed by our students and we really want to make it possible for them to achieve their goal.

We plan it to be 2 days pw over 5 weeks, with a musician delivering a specific session each week. The students will attend all sessions, ending with a performance and uploading of sessions to soundcloud / podcast.

As well as learning new musical skills, the students will also benefit from the following outcomes:

• Reduce mental health issues caused by enforced social isolation
• Develop new music skills- instrumental/composition/vocal
• Build personal skills- collaboration/confidence/independent working/communication/resilience.
• Develop social media skills as Swarthmore Aloud will have it’s own dedicated online presence
• Connect with local and wider community through final production that will be available online.

 Family November 2020

“Your college and support has made a huge difference to his life"

Funding will enable us to buy the instruments and pay for musicians to support the students. Not only are the young people the beneficiaries, but also their families/ carers and wider community who will be able to share in the final outcome.

Family November 2020

“ It seems incredible to us that after two years out of education she is not only attending but seems confident and actually seems to be enjoying learning”

The young people are trying to fundraise themselves and any donation to help make their musical dreams come true would be gratefully received.

Thank you!