L6 Diploma Arboriculture

[Luckyleaf]

I am really interested in taking this course on ! does anyone know :-

 

Is it just Treelife offering this course now or are there any other providers ?

 

Also with anyone whom has done this course, did you manage to get any funding via student finance ?

 

It looks like a good course and with a good qualification to gain from it, but doesn't seem to be very accessible, if anyone has any info they could pass on it would be greatly appreciated

[Andrew Gale]

I'm currently studying the L6 and although amazingly hard work it's been well worth it. I believe Treelife are the only ones offering the course although Warwickshire College are/were offering it.

The one thing I would say is accept you will have no social life for the 2 years. Not sure about funding, speak to Keely at Treelife.

Hope it helps.

[Luckyleaf]

I'm currently studying the L6 and although amazingly hard work it's been well worth it. I believe Treelife are the only ones offering the course although Warwickshire College are/were offering it.

The one thing I would say is accept you will have no social life for the 2 years. Not sure about funding, speak to Keely at Treelife.

Hope it helps.

 

Yes spoke to her on Thursday and have all the joining details, they have quite a good interest free pay by instalments scheme over the 2 year period but it still amounts to finding £300 a month for the next 2 years, I was just slightly concerned about over committing myself financially. For me it's about finding the appropriate funding, do you pay by instalments or did you just pay in one wack ?

[Gary Prentice]

Yes spoke to her on Thursday and have all the joining details, they have quite a good interest free pay by instalments scheme over the 2 year period but it still amounts to finding £300 a month for the next 2 years, I was just slightly concerned about over committing myself financially. For me it's about finding the appropriate funding, do you pay by instalments or did you just pay in one wack ?

 

You can pay monthly - I think the payments last 14 months or so on a DD. It's a lot to find each month and you'll probably find that you'll need to spend a fair bit on books.

 

As Andrew said, It's far from easy and requires a stupid amount of time to do. Forget working weekends for extra money to pay for the course - or anything like that, because you'd need to be doing the coursework most nights and every weekend to keep up.

 

Good luck if you go ahead, but do proceed with a full understanding of the commitment required. Keely has said that Treelife try to explain the workload etc, but she doesn't think learners really appreciate the effort involved. Some of our class have quit, one after the first day, and I know that we have all seriously considered giving up over the last ten months.

 

On the positive side, there is one, Dave and Andy are great, enthusiastic teachers and encouraging. Treelife provide a lot of help and the L6 certainly opens the doors to the wider world of arb.

[Andrew Gale]

I paid in monthly installments, all completed now and concur with the comments made by Btggaz.

 

In my first year we had half the group drop out and in my second year, the first year group lost 3 early on so the course is not for the faint hearted but well worth it if you can put the time and effort in

[Luckyleaf]

Yep I'm aware of the work load I've just this week finished the L4 Diploma at Merrist Wood with a 350 mile round trip back to Devon every Wednesday :-) it was pretty tough going but again worth it ! I think I will just look into the financing in a bit more detail, then just go for it ! At least I've completed one of the level 5 Units already which is a bonus.

 

Thanks guys I appreciate your comments 👍

[Luckyleaf]

Sorry one more question.. Is there anything assignment wise worth starting now ??

[Andrew Gale]

As it's all modular, and given out on a session by session basis, there isn't anything you can start; however, you will be expected to complete a 7'500 word independent research project, it may be worth putting your thinking cap on what to write about, again you can't really start anything as the subject needs to be ok'd by your course lecturer.

[Luckyleaf]

Ok thanks, is there...dare I say it ! a suggested reading list that was given to you at the start if the course ?

[Andrew Gale]

Yes, a reading list was given out with the course literature. You'll be expected to attend an introduction day at Syston (at lest they did when I started and I can't see that changing) when they give you you're course information etc. It's really important you attend as a lot of how the course is run is discussed at this meeting.