Humber Centre and Pine View Become Official Centre for AQA Unit Award Scheme

In October 2023 the Humber Centre and Pine View became an official centre for the AQA Unit Award Scheme. The AQA Unit Award Scheme (UAS) allows service users to explore, inspire and learn. This is a unique way to record learners’ achievements through an AQA UAS to provide confidence, a wide range of engagement opportunities, and motivation for those taking part.

While these acknowledgments are not formal qualifications, they can be used to develop a portfolio of the skills developed by the service users. This is done by showing the achievement of planned aims and objectives which are required to be achieved to gain the AQA UAS. The scheme can also be used to show the continued development of any current skills they have achieved previously. The service user demonstrates they can apply knowledge and their previous skill to a skill set they have already achieved to a higher standard.

The Humber Centre and Pine View are medium and low secure inpatient units within our Forensic Psychiatry division.

Since our units became official centres, our service users have completed and been awarded 32 AQA UAS, showing a great level of engagement in this development opportunity. Looking at what service users have taken most interest in, the areas of focus have been in Mathematics and Money Management. In November 2023 a 6-week money management program, supported by the Education and Development Tutor and the Occupational Therapy team, was completed a Humber Centre. This program was delivered by external providers Probe. The UAS has allowed the centre coordinator to make relevant submissions based on skill and/or work developed in the session for example to achieve ‘Basic Financial Management: Loans’, each learner had to achieve the selected aims and objectives.

Other available courses are varied and diverse in their subject matter. Some offer support on basic needs, such as independence skills and personal hygiene. Others are more unusual and tap into key interests, including skills for working with animals and learning languages.