I've had an amazing experience with NowSkills throughout my journey to secure a Digital Marketing…read moreapprenticeship, and I genuinely couldn't be happier with the support I received! From day one, the team has been professional, encouraging, and committed to helping me find the right opportunity! But I have to give a special shoutout to Dionne Hazelwood. Dionne has been absolutely wonderful! She has been incredibly friendly, understanding, and supportive at every stage of the process. Her positive attitude and genuine care made such a difference and truly helped boost my confidence. Dionne took the time to listen, guide, and reassure me, making the entire experience feel personal and tailored to me. It's clear she loves what she does, and her passion for helping others shines through. Thanks to NowSkills (and especially Dionne), I'm now on the path to an exciting career in Digital Marketing, and I'm so grateful for everything they've done. I highly recommend NowSkills to anyone looking for an apprenticeship!!!

My overall experience with NowSkills has been really positive. The team was supportive and…read moreprofessional, and the whole apprenticeship process was made clear and easy. Katie was especially helpful, she was friendly, encouraging, and always happy to answer questions. Her support made a big difference, and I'd definitely recommend NowSkills to anyone looking for an apprenticeship.

The University of Manchester's Student Union is very mediocre and disappointingly so given the size…read moreof the student population. I assume the fact that so many people live in Fallowfield, where there is ample nightlife, has rendered the Union pretty much defunct as a venue for student nights whereas the antithesis is often found to be the case at other campus universities. The bar has been revamped and now resembles a burlesque-themed brothel. I've only been there once. Biko's café on the first floor is pretty good, get there early for a fried egg sandwich for a pound and there is a student market opposite which I used to run the occasional vintage stall at. It used to trade on a Tuesday but as this semester I have the first two days of the week free, I haven't been on campus to see whether it's still running. Despite being located in the dark and dingy Academy 2, the market is often worth a look in. There are very browse-worthy vintage and clothing stalls along with bicycles and second-hand books. Most things are priced very reasonably and you are able to barter which always makes shopping a little more rewarding.

Ah, manchester students' union.. many a happy hour were spent in this place. They have a bunch of…read morebars, each of which serves food (though not all night). This is also the building that hosts the Academy 2, 3 & Club Academy venues. Other than for gigs, you probably wouldn't want to come here if you aren't a student and you can't anyway. In the evening, you can only get in with a concert ticket or a student card.

Merchant Taylor's is a fee paying school, which is probably my first and only criticism; it's…read moreawfully expensive each year and, while I agree education is extremely important and every parent surely wants the best for their child, said child will perform just as well over the road at the non-fee paying school. I didn't do too badly and nor did my friends, nearly all of whom went on to university, several at Cambridge. Merchants has had a bit of bad press lately with a few scandals seeping out of their well hedged boundaries. Unfortunately this is destroying the reputation it once had; there are always going to be scandals, there'll be successes and failures, what matters is the indivdual student and their attitude and response to the amenities offered. Merchant Taylors offers a good deal. The extra-curricular activities, for example, include Combined Cadet Force, Boat Club, Music and Drama skills, Swimming Club and the Gifted and Talented enrichment programme is well reputed. The school building itself, and the grounds are beautiful and have a great history, and in the main, the boys act as very good ambassadors for the school.

BPP, which few know stands for Brierley Price Prior, is one of the two best colleges to study…read morepostgraduate Law in Manchester, along with the more simply named College of Law. Certain law firms have links with BPP and insist that their future workers attend the college, as they influence what goes onto the syllabus. Fees are high, as with any law firm, at around £8500 for the one-year course, but around half of students have these paid by law firms with whom they have pre-contracts. If you do go there without a training contract the college have excellent services for securing their students places, so it will probably end up being a worthwhile investment in the long run. They host networking events and termly parties to assist students in getting contracts and making connections, and alumni events for previous students. BPP also have several sports teams including football, hockey and netball. A new womens football team has just been started. They also do a lot of pro bono work and care in the community work such as presentations to the homeless and to prisoners. BBP is located in St James' Bulding on Oxford Street, and has a library and a canteen and common room. They do have some temperature issues, and studenst are often bemoaning the randomly high temperatures in the classrooms and the freezing library. They also don't have an exam room so students have to travel elsewhere for them. In all, if you're looking to study Law, you certainly should look into BPP.

Futureworks is a leading media training facility in Manchester which offers courses in everything…read morefrom game design to sound recording. Futureworks offers short, fast-track and diploma courses as well as degree equivalent qualifications in a range of disciplines and technologies. The rates aren't the cheapest in town (you can get short courses in some of the same software and technologies cheaper at The Manchester College) but I think they're fairly priced and are worth the money. I've been here for one of their short editing courses and thought it was great. The staff were really attentive and didn't just shout out instructions as they do in some other training centres. They mixed lecturing and demonstration with hands-on practice and one to one discussions, which I found useful as I felt I was falling behind but was a bit embarrassed to ask for help. The centre itself is easy to find (just at the end of Oxford Road before the Central Library) and has state of the art facilties and equipment. The whole place is very shiney and modern and is so covered in buttons and gadgets it feels a bit like you're in the future...perhaps thats why the call it Futureworks....

I needed training for our church groups and to make us legal. Just one phone call to this company…read moreand they provided training on Fire Safety, Food hygiene, health & safety and first aid courses at our church. It was alarming how illegal we were before the teaching. It was easy to understand, to learn and to ask questions. I highly recommend Action Training for all your training needs whether business or organisation like our chruch..

As you might have guessed from my Salford review, I'm something of a Salford University fan. And…read morewhile Manchester Metropolitan is still a great university, there's one word that comes to mind when I think about it. 'Fragmented'. I could be completely wrong, after all, it was a post-grad course I did here and they tend to be sectioned off somewhat from the rest of the crowd... hang on, I tell a lie. One of my best friends is currently doing her Masters at Salford and she feels part of the machine, so it goes to show, there can be differences. The fact that Manchester Met has so many campuses has a great deal to do with it, I think. The main campus is set across Oxford Road, which as we all know is one of Manchester's main party streets. Bars, clubs, pubs aplenty are dotted along the street, so your student accommodation would only be a stone's throw from someone being sick via too much sambuca. Depending on what kind of student you are, this can be a good thing or a bad thing. But there's more. While Oxford Road has a sense of community, some students are chucked far, far away on a campus entitled Crewe and Alsager. Have you ever passed Crewe on a train from Manchester to God-knows-where? I have. Many times. It takes a very long time. And I visited the Crewe campus. There is NOTHING there. Similarly campuses are scattered around Didsbury as well as other parts of Manchester... perhaps I feel like I've been spoiled with Salford and the fact that everything's within walking distance - in fact I know I have. I do admire Man Met's student union building, as it even has a rock club in it, and the Humanities department has a great mix of teachers. I adored my supervisors during my Masters, they were fabulous. However one of my best friends did make the mistake about talking about Man Met's 'not so great reputation' (the rumour that they'll let anyone in regardless of grades) on The Weakest Link, to which Anne Robinson raised an eyebrow and the Man Met head honchos chastised him greatly. So my conclusion would be, don't get drawn in by its central location and party atmosphere. Go there because you like the tutors and find a course that suits you. If you do, you have the potential to make good use of Manchester's student Mecca. Enjoy! (Just don't get stuck in Crewe, for the love of God. Unless you're into suburbs and trumpets.)

mmu = mickey mouse university…read more the happiest place on earth! This area includes All Saints, The New Business School, Hollings Faculty, Mabel Tylecote, School of Art and Geoffrey Manton to name a few. On the other side of Oxford road are delicious cheap takeouts and easy-going cheap pubs. Lovely place to go for a pint when you have had enough of seminars and lectures.

Walk into Prestwich library, go round the till. Ok? Now down near the large print books, through…read morethe doors, up the stairs to where the computers are. Aha. The Adult Education Centre. Firstly - what a lifesaver these computers are. Your printer runs out of ink and you need something desperately. Well, Bury Libraries members can use a PC here for free for an hour (or longer if no-one else is waiting). Plus printing is cheap for black and white pages. The smaller room to the left as you come in is for Adult Learning. The staff there told me about the huge range of beginner's courses in I.T and the grasshoppers playing about whilst I was there seemed to be getting a good amount of support. A sign on a window downstairs advertised courses in crafts, stitching and the intriguing 'Adventures in Writing'. It is a shame that most of the courses are during the day as this leaves many people unable to join in this reasonably-priced learning fun. There are substantial discounts for those on income support. I went in to enquire about their e-learning which involves you paying a set fee for a year. With this you get access to a teach yourself course which you can use to your heart's content at home. There is a specified number of in-centre hours if you need them although, disappointingly the library employee explained that for the course I was interested in, she didn't think anybody could help.This was their Web Design and HTML course which I was quoted as £75 for the year. So, if you have the get up and go to make yourself put the time in their e-learning courses are good value. It is primarily for the basics though (they do the I.C.T ECDL Driver's License). We're talking Word, Excel, email and the Web. For instance, they do not currently offer any courses in Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Indesign, Illustrator).