Making Sense of Functional Skills Newsletter May 1st

Making Sense of Functional Skills - fortnightly news and comment about Functional Skills edited and compiled by Jonathan Wells - jwells@guroo.co.uk 0191 305 5045

May 1st - the Functional Skills newsletter Doesn't time fly, already into May!  This weeks newsletter is completely dedicated to a new way of doing business with Guroo and that includes getting a free trial to the complete Guroo Functional Skills solution. Functional Skills Direct Functional Skills Direct is a brand new way of doing business with Guroo.  FSD is all about harnessing the power of on-line communication and combining this with a little bit of self-service activity so we do business in a way that reflects todays very tight budgetary constraints. FSD puts you in control of choosing the best Functional Skills solution for you.  You control how you evaluate our offer, you decide when to buy; and you always have full access to our award winning team of friendly Functional Skills experts.   Click here for more details on FSD. A brand new way to try Guroo As we get closer to the day when Functional Skills replaces Key Skills and Adult Basic Skills, we're receiving more and more requests to try Guroo so we're launching a new self-service system that allows you full access to everything in Guroo, free of charge for a four week trial period. The launch of this will take place tomorrow (Wednesday) at our regular webinar so if you'd like to find out about this, please join us tomorrow at the webinar where we'll tell you all about our new free trial system. Click here to let us know you'd like to join. We've added video support too - click here for a sneaky preview of the video that explains how to get the best from your free trial. A reminder about Key Dates for the change to Functional Skills Several AOs have published earlier dates than those below - please check with your AO. Functional Skills is already part of all Foundation Learning programmes. Functional Skills replaces Adult Basic Skills in August 2012.  The last date for registration is therefore August 31st 2012 and the last date for certification August 31st 2014 so students have two years to pass. Functional Skills replaces Key Skills in all Apprenticeships in September 2012.  The last date for registration is therefore September 30th 2012 and the last date for certification September 30th 2013 so students have just one year to complete. From September 2012, all 16-24 apprenticeships programmes will be a minimum of 12 months so it looks as though it will be a very brave Apprentice Provider that seeks to enter students for Key Skills now. The Functional Skills Wednesday Webinar This week it's all about the free Guroo 2.1 trial system. Email info@guroo.co.uk and we'll send you the link on Wednesday.   It's a session that's relevant for all those who are thinking of joining Guroo, so join us at 4.05pm on Wednesday 2nd May for another informative technical webinar. Replay previous webinars at the links below. Simply enter your name and use guroo as the password. Introduction to Guroo 2.1 Functional Skills Policy, Rumour and Opinion Future Developments in Guroo Initial and Diagnostic Assessments Reporting and tracking tools in Guroo 2.1 Guroo 2.1 User and Group Admin Please Plus One us on Google follow us on Twitter @guroofs and like us on Facebook at guroo.functionalskills.  The next newsletter is likely to be Tuesday May 15th - if you have anything you'd like us to know about, just get in touch jwells@guroo.co.uk