My Name is Michael Parr, and I work within Sainsbury’s/Argos CMC on a Resolutions team. I knew about the Learning Curve through my role as an USDAW shop steward representative, as they worked alongside us to support our members.

As part of my own progression I enrolled onto an apprenticeship within the business that required me to either have my GCSE certificates in grades C or above for English and Maths or Functional Skills level 2.

As I wasn’t yet at this level I enrolled onto a Functional Skills level 2 in numeracy, I knew the Learning Curve could support me through the course and that they could help me with the topics that I needed to work on. I tried to work alone and teach myself but after 2 attempts at the exam I knew it was time to ask for support.

I needed help so contacted Kerry in the Learning Curve and arranged some sit down time with her to go over the topics I was struggling with and test papers to see how to rectify this. Once I had some maths sessions with Kerry I felt more confident to take my exam again.

I passed the next time, and know the support given by Kerry in the Learning Curve was instrumental to passing my exam this time, being able to understand topics I had struggled with, and accessing practice papers shown me what I was not doing correctly, but also gave me a better understanding of the exam criteria.

All of this was free, and I would honestly say that everyone can benefit from using the Learning Curve to support them if they need it. I would recommend the Learning Curve for distance learning courses and support to all; they have lots of courses available including Functional Skills.