Leisure Time.

 My Name is Kumudu and from April 2008 I have been doing voluntary work at Sobell House Hospice here in Kidlington, Oxford. There I help sort out the clothes and items before pricing the clothes and putting out on the shop floor. Also help sort out the books into the different catergories and pricing them as well. Any broken items or items that are not fit for sale get thrown away. I finished at Sobell House Hospice here in Kidlington May 2011.



Hello.  This is Kumudu and during my free time a go for walks with a friend .  I'm also a national trust member and the membership is worth every penny.  I also enjoy going to the cinema, watching dvd's and listening to much on my discman.  Me and a friend sometimes go for meals out.  Here in oxford there are plenty of activities to do if you can be bothered to go and make inquires about them,  and in some instance you could get discounts like if you are elderly or have a disability.  Most weeks I go to the gym about 2/3 times a week.  Sometimes I play on my Nintendo Wii machine, you can even do exercises on it if you can't go to your local gym in your area.


Occasionally I go to the pub for a drink but not very often, about every 6 months or so as it is not good to do it on a regularly basis.  There are enough people in our society with health problems as it is.  It is bad enough when you are born with a disability for life without making yourself disabled deliberately.

ADULT LEARNING WITH LEARN DIRECT.

My name is Kumudu Perera.   As I mentioned in my last blog. after working for Grant Thornton for six years and a week at the end of September 2007,  I got made redundant from my job which I loved.  But after a few months looking for a new job, I could find a new job so I went to my local library in my area and found a leaflet which mentioned learn direct.  Once I got home I immediately phoned them up and arranged a day and time to go and discuss what I wanted to learn.  I chose this opportunity for myself as I was getting bored and fustrated at home not being able to do anything which I am not used to even though I have a learning disability through childhood.  Once I started with Learn Direct in early 2008 the lectures really helped me, I could take my own time and was not under any pressure.

The Staff are really helpful to all their adult learners regardless if you have a learning disabilty or not.  The courses I took with them were English and Maths.  I passed my English Level 1 with them in the summer of 2009.  Which I am really pleased about.  All the staff at my local Learn Direct centre were really pleased for me.  They also noticed I was struggling with my maths as always have found very difficult for me especially as I have a learning disability as I mentioned earlier,  so they arranged me a maths tutor in a adult class with a small group of adult learners and also that year I took my maths entry level 3 and passed that as well which I did not expect.  I kept up the maths course again for a further two years,so from 2010 I started to learn more maths and go onto the next level for me which was level 1 in maths.  So in mid July of this year I took my maths level 1 exam, and I succeded and passed this level also which I took longer to learn.  I would recommend learn direct to any adult who want to learn with them.

About Me!

My name is Kumudu Perera.  I was born with a learning disability which resulted from an early age, during this period until I left secondary school I didn't have any type of qualifications.  Once I left school I went to the college of further education and did for 2 years a special vocational education course. subjects were pottery, typing, basic motor vechicle maintenance, Basic english and maths.  After that course I did a further 2 years at the same college doing a Youth Training course which prepares you and trains you for the world of work.  with the Yts scheme I did my NVQ qualification in Level 1 catering which is the basic level.

After Leaving the College of Further Education I went onto D'overbroeck's college in Oxford.  Which my parents arranged for me a private tutor there.  From then on I got a kitchen porters job at Lincoln college here in Oxford.  The job invloved washing up, basic food preparation like peeling potatoes ready for making mash potato. I also helped with cooked breakfasts which was bacon, eggs, toast etc.  I did this job part time from september 1994 until  mid March 2000.


Come mid march 2000 I decide to move on and leave my kitchen porters job to find something better for myself. So for one year I went to the Pitman training Centre here in Oxford.  My Parents help me to pay for this course which I worked extremly hard at.  And got  typing keyboard skills in.  In September 2001 office angels helped me get a job.  Which I was extremley grateful for.  The company I  worked for was Grant Thornton the accountacy firm which was based in Botley here in Oxford.  I was working for the Archiving department which involved preparation of files for scanning.  This involved taking out paper clips, staples and other objects which could damage the scanning machine.  I did other duties around the office as well which was preparing the boardrooms for functions and meetings,  made sure the office had enough supplies like paper for various machines.