Learning

We guarantee that on successful completion of your programme you will be able to move on to the next stage in your career, to higher-level learning, into employment or to a better job.

Our mission is to provide talent for business, and transform people’s lives through our Learning Philosophy. We currently support more than 12,000 further education learners and 2,000 employers. You could be one of them. 

Discover another way of learning

Explore the six key ingredients to our approach to learning:   

• Transformational Learning Philosophy
• Preparing for career success
• Industry standard learning
• High quality
• Independence
• Support to succeed

Transformational Learning Philosophy

It's all about the balance between thoughts, emotions and motivation.

We use neuroscience to find out how your brain works, so that our teaching can meet your individual needs.

We’ll also look at your emotions and motivation, helping you to build confidence and overcome any emotional barriers to learning.

By looking at the whole person, we will open your mind to great possibilities, raise your future aspirations and help make you ready for work.

Our Learning Philosophy won the 2016 Beacon Award for Practical Teaching and Learning from the Association of Colleges (AoC) – designed to recognise the best innovations in further education.

Preparing for career success

We are 100% focused on your career success. Study one of our employment-focused programmes and we'll help you develop your employability - the skills and attributes to progress in your chosen career.  

Industry standard learning

With Activate Learning, you will work on real-life projects, training and practising in industry standard facilities at our campuses in Banbury, Bracknell and Wokingham, Oxford and Reading.

You will learn from industry experienced experts, who will give you the best teaching and support.

We also incorporate education about globalisation, technology and neuroscience into our courses, to ensure everything you learn is relevant to the world in which we live.

It’s a winning formula, according to Ofsted - and here's what they said in their 2018 report: “Leaders and managers develop the curriculum well in response to the needs of the local community, local businesses and the local enterprise partnerships.”

High quality

Activate Learning has been rated by Ofsted as Good, with students’ results improving every year:

• Our teaching staff have relevant skills and experience, and we continually train and develop them
• We maintain close links with business to ensure our courses match workplace needs
• We have a dedicated team (Applied Learning Foundation) which drives the quality of our teaching
• We monitor students’ progress via our Learning Philosophy and career pathways, so you can reach your potential.

We’ve achieved the highest rating of Outstanding for our provision for learners with high needs. We’ve also won three Beacon Awards in the last two years from the Association of Colleges, for the quality of our teaching and use of technology. 

We work in partnership with universities and employers to ensure our programmes are relevant to the workplace:

• We organise our vocational subjects into clusters and ‘career pathways.’ These are combinations of subjects and courses that we know will help with your career progression.
• We have also developed a programme to build personal skills. Businesses and universities have told us that career success hinges upon these qualities as much as qualifications.

Attributes for success

We’ve identified five key personality traits shared by successful people across all industries - professional, confident, enterprising, resilient and aware. We’ll look at developing your core skills in these areas as part of our Learning Philosophy.

We will help you to develop your abilities in these areas:

• Teamwork
• Problem solving
• Positive attitude – such as punctuality, commitment and honesty
• Vocational competence and knowledge
• Motivation
• English language skills (written and verbal)
• Numeracy
• Computer literacy

English and maths

Employers tell us that they need people with good English and maths skills. It is the government’s aim that, by the age of 19, all learners will have achieved a grade A*-C (9-4) in GCSE English Language and maths.

If you have not gained a GCSE English language and/ or Maths at grade A*-C (9-4), you must commit to these qualifications as an essential part of your study programme.

If you've got a D (3), you will have to retake your GCSE. If your grade is lower than a D (3) then you will need to study Functional skills. This will support your learning and enhance your opportunities to progress into employment or university-level education.

Independence

We treat you as a responsible adult, giving you more independence and responsibility for your own learning than you had at school.

Our vibrant campuses at Banbury, Bracknell and Wokingham, Oxford and Reading have a business-like feel that helps prepare you for work. All sites have state-of-the-art training facilities, workshops, technologies, learning zones and studios to help you learn in the way that works for you – that's anytime, anywhere, any device.

During your time at college you will have the opportunity to:

• Learn from visiting speakers
• Take part on trips
• Experience life in the workplace through work experience opportunities
• Visit employers and universities
• Attend careers events

Support to succeed

Experiencing any challenges that might affect your learning? Activate Learning is on hand to help. We can offer you support with financial, learning and wellbeing issues. Talk to our staff to find out more. 

Our Learning Philosophy recognises the relationship between brain, motivation and emotions, giving you further insight and techniques to help you progress.

Last but not least, we continually listen to students to ensure that our courses meet their needs.