Monterey House
After spending a couple of years at City College Plymouth’s Monterey House venue for autistic students, Emma owes this experience to giving her the confidence and skills to progress on to further education..
Initially nervous about joining the College, Emma spent her first few months of study feeling sceptical about her new educational journey. After settling in and getting to know her fellow students and lecturers, Emma began to become more confident and realise what she wanted to get out of her educational experience. Emma progressed to the Skills Development department at the College and, after finding her feet, this is where she really began to flourish.
“I began to become a lot more confident and wanted to talk to people as much as possible, which was so different to how I felt when I first joined Monterey House. I started to make friends and discovered that I really wanted to follow my passions.”
After trying her hand at a couple of subjects, Emma decided to pursue what she felt she really wanted to do and was good at – art and design. Emma put together a portfolio of her work and quickly progressed through the level of courses. Her creative flair was clear and her passion enabled her to gain a place at the University of Plymouth to study art.
“I never thought the university would even take a look at my application, so I’m really happy that I’ve been offered a place to study there. And, I owe it all to the College and Monterey House.
City College has really given me the confidence to go bigger and go on to do things that I never thought I could. I know that I wouldn’t have progressed personally as much without my experience at Monterey House, I’d still be very quiet and reserved and never put myself out there to get these opportunities, so it’s really had a massive impact on me.”
At City College, we believe further education should be accessible to everybody. Whether you’re an existing student here, studying elsewhere, or you are a parent assisting your child with what to do next, you are invited to be part of it. To find out about Monterey House and the College’s skills development courses, click here.
