At Croydon College the Basic Skills, ESOL and EFL department works with adults returning to study, maybe after they have raised a family or following a career change.

Often students need to brush up on their English, IT or Maths skills.

In this area, students can attend college during family-friendly hours and follow a short programme that will prepare them for progressing onto other college programmes, completing a job application or helping the children complete their homework.

Also studying in the department, are students who have come to live in Croydon, either permanently, or on a temporary basis, from countries where English is not the main language.

They attend classes to improve both their written and spoken English.

Some are au-pairs, for example, and in between looking after their employer's children, they come to college to study for the well-known University of Cambridge exams.

Other students come from elsewhere in Europe to take work locally or they might be recently married husbands or wives of Croydon residents, anxious to be able to speak and write the language of their new country.

Many have come to Croydon from areas of conflict around the world, such as Sri Lanka or Afghanistan, and want to learn English so they can study and get work to contribute to the country that has given them asylum.

For further details of these and any of the other programmes available in this area, please contact the College Information Centre on : 020 8760 5914.