Blackpool Skills College
Individual Study Programmes
Learn practical skills with a purpose.
Your study programme is built around your learning needs, strengths and ambitions. We work with you and your commissioning local authority to agree a suitable balance of practical learning, English and maths, personal development and preparation for adulthood.
Where you have an EHCP, its specified provision and outcomes inform programme planning and review. Subject choices depend on suitability and confirmed availability.
How it fits together
More than one subject. A programme for you.
Practical learning
Explore interests and develop useful vocational skills.
English and maths
Build skills you can apply in work and everyday life.
Personal development
Grow in confidence and take greater responsibility.
Preparation for adulthood
Work towards meaningful goals for your future.
Find what interests you
Get practical.
Open a subject to explore the learning and where it could lead.
Create and connect Barbering
Develop your eye for detail and explore a trade built on skill, creativity and trust. Proposed learning includes preparing a workstation, caring for tools, shampooing, consultation, styling and an introduction to cutting and clipper techniques. Hygiene and safe practice underpin practical work.
You will also practise listening to client requests, explaining choices and responding to feedback. As your confidence develops, the emphasis moves towards greater accuracy and independence. This area can help you explore further barbering training and apprenticeship opportunities; it does not by itself establish professional competence.
Express your creativity Beauty Therapy and Hairdressing
Explore creative services and the care that makes clients feel comfortable. Proposed activities include hair preparation and styling, nail care, manicure, introductory beauty treatments and client consultation, according to your agreed programme and supervision arrangements.
You will learn why presentation, product knowledge, hygiene and clear communication matter. Practical tasks encourage you to plan a service, follow a sequence and review the result. This can provide a foundation for further study in hair, beauty or related customer service roles.
Build your skills Brickwork
Discover the satisfaction of producing accurate practical work. Proposed learning covers workshop safety, bricklaying tools, construction materials, measuring, setting out and introductory wall building. You will practise checking alignment, following a brief and improving the quality of a finished task.
The emphasis is on working safely and understanding why accuracy matters. Brickwork can help you explore progression into further construction training or an apprenticeship, subject to the requirements of the next provider or employer.
Make and improve Joinery, Decorating and Plastering
Try a range of construction skills and discover which tasks suit your interests. Proposed learning includes measuring and marking out, selecting materials, introductory timber work, surface preparation, decorating and plastering activities.
Practical projects help you develop care, patience and problem solving. You will learn to organise a workspace, follow instructions and assess the quality of your work. All tool and equipment use will be matched to the task, your experience and the required supervision.
Prepare and share Catering and Hospitality
Build confidence with food preparation and discover the teamwork behind good service. Proposed learning includes kitchen routines, safe food handling, cooking techniques, nutrition, menu choices, costing and presentation.
You will practise planning tasks, managing time and responding to feedback on the food you prepare. Hospitality activities introduce customer care and service expectations. These experiences can support everyday independence and help you explore further training in food and hospitality.
Ideas and people Business and Customer Service
Understand how organisations work and what good service looks like. Proposed learning explores goods and services, customer needs, workplace roles and professional communication. Activities may include handling an enquiry, responding to a customer problem or developing a simple business idea.
You will practise listening carefully, presenting information and choosing an appropriate response. These skills are useful across vocational areas, particularly where work involves clients, customers or colleagues.
Useful every day
Skills that open doors.
English and maths connect practical learning with everyday independence.
Read. Write. Be heard. English and Foundation English
English supports your ability to participate, express yourself and make progress. Learning will focus on reading, writing, speaking and listening, with tasks linked to everyday life and vocational situations. You might interpret instructions, write an enquiry, explain a practical process or prepare information for an application.
Where needed, foundation learning will address gaps in essential literacy. The qualification route, if applicable, will be agreed after reviewing previous attainment and assessment information.
Make it add up Maths and Foundation Maths
Maths becomes more meaningful when you can see where it is used. Learning will connect number, measures, money, time and problem solving with practical situations such as estimating materials, comparing prices, scaling a recipe or planning a budget.
Foundation learning will build essential understanding where needed. Your programme and any qualification route will reflect your starting point and confirmed College arrangements.
See the connection
Beyond the practical task
Learn for the life you want.
Build confidence in your choices, relationships and understanding of the wider world.
Confidence and independence Life Skills and Personal Development
Develop the confidence to manage everyday situations and plan ahead. Proposed themes include personal strengths, emotional regulation, relationships, communication, money, decision making and preparation for work. You will practise asking for help, responding to setbacks and taking greater responsibility as your confidence grows.
Explore your world Science, Humanities, News and PSHE
The Academy also publishes Science, Humanities, and News and PSHE curriculum plans. For the College, we propose using relevant themes within wider learning rather than assuming that every school subject becomes a separate College course.
Science can help explain materials, hygiene, nutrition and the environment. Humanities can encourage discussion of communities, society and different perspectives. News and PSHE can support informed discussion about current affairs, health, relationships, rights, responsibilities and online life. The balance will reflect students’ needs and the agreed programme.
Your starting point. Your progress.
Learning linked to your outcomes.
Progress is considered through what you know, what you can do and the independence with which you can apply it. Individual targets should connect learning to your longer term aspirations.
Review discussions bring together your views, learning evidence and relevant professional advice, alongside EHCP review arrangements where applicable.
What you know
The understanding you build and can explain.
What you can do
The skills you practise and apply.
Your independence
How you use your learning with the support you need.
Let’s explore a programme for you.
Talk to us about interests, support needs and local authority commissioned placements.