Our service wants to ensure that you and your fellow participants have the best opportunity to learn from the courses and events we provide. We’ve created this guidance from trainer and participant feedback about what makes the best learning experience. It will be updated annually from the feedback we receive.
We are responsible for your health, safety and wellbeing, as well ensuring that our courses are as accessible as possible.
We ask for your training requirements when you sign up to our website, and every time a booking is made, we will ask you to confirm this information is correct. Please tell us everything we need to know so we can meet your needs and our responsibilities on both face-to-face and online training. For example, wheelchair access, needs relating to neurodiverse conditions or allergies.
If someone books training on your behalf, they will also be able to confirm and edit these requirements, so we share the most up to date information with our trainers.
Please complete any pre course reading or coursework, print off relevant materials (if you are asked to) and read the course confirmation information so you can be fully prepared. You can access any course materials you need on the course overview page. At times, course tutors will email you additional material.
Please arrive for the training 10 minutes early to ensure a prompt start and bring a pen, notebook, or any equipment you need to attend and fully engage with the course.
If you are attending online learning, we ask that all participants have their own laptop or tablet to access the workshop. We ask that people don’t attend in pairs on one screen.
Please use headphones when you are accessing training in a space where anyone else could be present, to protect the confidentiality of the training course.
If the trainer uses Microsoft Teams or Zoom to deliver online training, you need to have installed the package in advance of the session and tested this to ensure that it works. Check you have access to the resource at the time of booking to give yourself plenty of time to have this put in place.
For external staff:
Teams: Get started with Microsoft Teams
Zoom: Joining a Zoom meeting
For external staff:
Zoom: Official Zoom Support | Help Center
When you are attending online training, please ensure you can be free from distractions and have protected time to enable full engagement, for example no childcare or work-based responsibilities that day.
We ask that your clothing and environment present a professional image to other participants. Please make sure that you are training in a confidential and suitable environment, to prevent you from inadvertently sharing personal or sensitive information, and use a background that isn’t distracting to other participants.
We ask that you arrive on time, don’t attend appointments, meetings, take work calls or complete a duty task within the training session, and stay for the full session.
If you have any problems regarding this, please contact training@southglos.gov.uk in advance. Any legitimate need to join a session late, or leave a session early, must be discussed with the trainer/facilitator or put in writing so they can plan around this.
If you are 20 minutes or more late arriving for the start of a course, trainers may turn you away and you will be marked as non-attended. You may be subject to a no-show fee in line with our terms and conditions.
It is a course requirement that delegates are not absent from the training or event for more than 30 minutes outside break times. This is subject to change at the discretion of the trainer. It may result in your certificate being withheld until you have completed the requirements of the course.
We ask you to have your camera and microphone on for online training so you can fully engage with the learning. If it is off, and there is a lack of engagement during the workshop, it will be assumed that you are not there and so may be marked as absent. Therefore, it’s essential that you raise any need to have your camera off, with the trainer in advance.
We plan training days to have regular breaks - usually mid-morning and for full days, a lunch break and mid-afternoon break. Online sessions require more breaks. We ask trainers to put in additional short comfort breaks so people can stretch and move or fetch refreshments.
Our brains need rest from mental processing, to integrate learning, and working during break times will make it less likely you’ll retain the knowledge. Please take the breaks you are given to rest and/or connect with people on your course.
Should you need to take regular screen breaks for your wellbeing, or as a reasonable adjustment, please inform the trainer in advance by completing the training requirements section of your account. You can discuss this with the trainer in advance.
We understand that people may need to take urgent calls, but around that, we ask that mobile phones and laptops are not used between the beginning and end of courses.
The use of laptops or tablets in face-to-face sessions must be agreed in advance as a reasonable adjustment for specific learning needs.
We encourage you to bring food and drink to face-to-face training so you can stay refreshed during the event. For online learning, we ask that people turn off their camera whilst eating or wait for a break to snack.
Our training rooms don’t get a lot of air flow so please eat any aromatic foods outside of the training rooms. We will inform delegates if there are any dietary restrictions based on risks to those with food allergies.
Attending training in a workplace or online is still considered working and we ask that any smoking or vaping is saved for break times only.
We are committed to providing our delegates with excellent professional development, training and learning experiences. As a participant on our programmes, you can expect:
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