SECOND chance learners at Great Yarmouth College are preparing to start their training to become social workers as a high profile national TV campaign gets under way to recruit more people into the profession in the wake of the Baby P and other high-profile cases.

SECOND chance learners at Great Yarmouth College are preparing to start their training to become social workers as a high profile national TV campaign gets under way to recruit more people into the profession in the wake of the Baby P and other high-profile cases.

The mature students are heading off to start BA degrees in Social Work at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, and Norwich City College after successfully completing an adults' “passport to university” in Social Work at Great Yarmouth College.

The one-year Access to Higher Education in Social Work course fast-tracks candidates to degree courses to prepare them to work as social workers when they graduate.

The women are following a growing trend of adults who change their lives with Access courses, designed to arm students - some of whom left school with no formal qualifications - with the skills, knowledge and confidence to embark on more advanced study and address the particular needs of adults.

The course hours are spread over three days a week and are designed to fit around school hours and family life. Anita Lewis, Nicole Paven, Salome Nale, Lynne Judd and Deborah Pring will begin their three-year courses later this month.

Anita, from Mundesley, is heading to Norwich City College for her degree after deciding to change career from nursing.

She chose the Yarmouth course because it offered work placement opportunities with children's services and she worked with children with disabilities in Yarmouth.

The five women were all awarded

the Access to Higher Education

Diploma (Social Work) by the

Cambridge Access Validating Agency, qualifying them to move on to higher education and professional training.

They begin working for their new careers as a host of celebrities are backing a campaign launched this week to recruit more than 5,000 social workers for vulnerable children, adults and families.

Oscar-nominated actor Samantha Morton, who spoke of the “wonderful” social workers who supported her as a child, is backing the Help Give Them a Voice TV campaign.

No formal qualifications are needed for entry on to an Access course and bursaries are available which cover the cost of all tuition fees in most cases.

For more details about the social work course contact Jenny Davis on 01493 418336 or email j.davis@gyc.ac.uk or call Great Yarmouth College Information Centre on 01493 655261.