Skills for life and work
We offer a range of courses for you to develop your skills and knowledge for both life and work. You can enjoy a course starting from beginners’ level all the way to advanced level. Build your confidence in reading, writing, mathematics, and digital skills on a short or long course. Our supportive tutors will help you gain the skills and qualifications to achieve your ambitions.
Most of our courses are FREE if you are on a low income or claiming benefits.
How do I apply?
Step 1: Book an appointment for an assessment at our campus so we can offer you the right course.
Step 2: We will mark your assessment in 7 working days and email you with the courses we can offer.
Step 3: Then complete your enrolment by either calling or visiting the college enrolment team.
How to book an appointment for an assessment?
Call 02045820423 or email universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk
Where will the assessment take place?
Initial assessments take place at our City Lit Campus Keeley Street London, WC2B 4BA on the M floor student learning centre.
- Gateway to maths GCSECourse start date: Tue 27 May 2025 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Do you want to gain a Maths GCSE but are not ready yet to achieve this in a single year? Do you need to test your abilities before attempting the qualification course? Then this Preparing for Maths GCSE is the course for you. It will prepare you for the accreditation and familiarise you with its content, level and expectation. You will need to complete and pass an initial assessment before starting this course to demonstrate at least a Level 1 Functional Skills level of Maths.
You need to do a pre-course assessment. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / 020 8078 0489 for a face-to-face assessment or click the Start Assessment button on this page. Log on with your email address (not name).
This course is FREE if you are employed and on a low wage or you are claiming benefits. For more information Click here
Full fee £209.00 Senior fee £167.00 Concession £105.00 - Getting ready for English Functional Skills (level 1)
Course start date: Tue 9 Sep 2025 (and 1 other date)Location on this date: Keeley Street
This course is FREE if you are employed and on a low wage or you are claiming benefits. For more information Click here
Full fee £129.00 - Develop your confidence in writing: grammar, punctuation, expression (level 1-2) Course start date: Tue 14 Oct 2025 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Would you like to be more confident in the way you write whether emails or reports at work or messages to friends? Do you want to work on how you form sentences, understand grammar and use punctuation so your writing is more creative? Do you want to learn how to create meaning in your writing?. This course will help you be more secure in your professional, academic or creative writing skills and help you improve some of your weak areas around forming and punctuating sentences with appropriate grammatical form. You will develop your confidence in the most essential areas of writing including different sentence structures, writing paragraphs, using punctuation effectively, using active and passive voices and proofreading.
You need to do a pre-course assessment. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / 020 8078 0489 for a face-to-face assessment or click the Start Assessment button on this page. Log on with your email address (not name).
This course is FREE if you are employed and on a low wage or you are claiming benefits. For more information Click here
Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £85.00 - Workplace communication skills: how to be confident in meetings and in groups (level 1-2) Course start date: Tue 4 Nov 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Do you sometimes feel you cannot speak in meetings? Are you shy with customers? In your daily life, do you find it difficult to give your opinions? This course will give you the confidence and skills to express yourself in different situations.
Our experienced skills tutor, also a trained actor, will help you learn how to stay calm and focused. You will work on increasing your vocabulary, developing your listening skills and expressing your thoughts and opinions clearly in a positive manner.
You need to do a pre-course assessment. Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / 020 8078 0489 for a face-to-face assessment or click the Start Assessment button on this page. Log on with your email address (not name).
This course is FREE if you are employed and on a low wage or you are claiming benefits. For more information Click here
Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £75.00 - Workplace communication with digital skills: English for the office and business (intermediate level 1-level 2) Course start date: Tue 13 Jan 2026
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Are you working in an office and need to improve your communication skills? Would you like to become an administrator but feel your written English is holding you back? This course will help you become a confident, flexible and successful communicator in writing, in person, on the phone and online. You will work on using the right language for written documents and for when speaking to colleagues, managers, customers, in meetings and on the phone. You will focus on different levels of formal and informal communication and how to speak and write clearly and concisely, with appropriate tone e.g. in emails and letters on a PC. You will also work on how to lay out key documents using Word, spell well and punctuate correctly. You will also start to learn about the cloud and how to use key parts of Microsoft 365. By the end of this course, you will confident you can work successfully in an office environment.
Contact universal.skills@citylit.ac.uk / 020 8078 0489 for information and to book a pre-course assessment. You can also click the Start Assessment button on this page.
This course is FREE if you are employed and on a low wage or you are claiming benefits. For more information Click here
Full fee £149.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £75.00 - English Entry 2 for deaf people - part 3 Course start date: Tue 29 Apr 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
This course will help you to get confident in reading, writing and communication. You will learn to read pieces of texts, write sentences, spell correctly and use punctuation. This course has no exams.
This course is free for learners who have not achieved a GCSE grade C (4) and higher in English. For more information Click here
Full fee £0.00 - English for deaf people: Word classes (entry 2 - entry 3) Course start date: Tue 29 Apr 2025
Location on this date: Online
The aim of the course is to help you to develop your language awareness and knowledge of English grammar in terms of word classes and their functions. You will learn about nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, determiners, prepositions and connectives. You will be signposted to online sources of information and practical exercises which can be used to refine and revise your knowledge throughout the course and after the course has concluded. This course has no exams.
This course is free for learners who have not achieved a GCSE grade C (4) and higher in English. For more information Click here
- Basic DS skills for deaf people: Getting started with online learning (pre-entry - entry 1) - part 3 Course start date: Tue 29 Apr 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
This complete course for beginners will help to become a confident user of your computer from setting it up to understanding and using basic digital skills functions.
This course is free for learners who have digital skills assessed as below level 1. For more information Click here
Full fee £0.00
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