Joining adult evening classes can lead to new skills, new hobbies, meeting new people, expanding your learning and creativity and having fun. There are craft, language classes, music, arts, and tradition skill classes like maths or computing.
This guide to adults evenng classes in Bristol gives you the main learning centres to look up, with their locations, and lists of places offering courses by type.
Top adult learning centre in Bristol
There are 5 main adult learning centres in Bristol;
- Bristol city council (Stoke Bishop)
- The Folk House (Park Street)
- St Pauls Learning Center (St Pauls)
- The University of West England “UWE” (Frenchay)
There are many other learning centres; city of Bristol college, RWA, Bristol Language Center, and Bristol international house.
Below we’ve split these centres up into the best creative courses, the best for language courses, the best for professional courses and some places offering courses in knowledge and development.
Creative & Arts evening courses Bristol
Bristol hosts many wonderful, creative craft, art, skills and ideas classes. These centres below offer fantastic, wide-ranging courses. Whether you’re developing your practice or trying a new skill- there is something for everyone here.
| Education Centre | Offerings | Details |
| The Folk house | Sewing, mosaics, dressmaking, watercolour, drawing, jewellery, stained glass, creative writing, pottery photography, nature journalling, music (guitar, ukulele, harmonica), dance and songwriting, comedy and creativity workshops. | Mixed costs- usually evenings for a 12 or 6-week block, or weekend one-day workshops. |
| RWA | Tradition drawing and painting, printmaking, sculpture, composition, art history, buildings and cityscapes | Example one day workshop- £65, varies depending on the type of class |
| Bristol City Council Courses | 3 Dimensional Art, Creative Writing and Literature, Drawing and Pastel, Music, Painting and Print, Floristry, Willow Craft, Textiles, Sewing & Upholstery | Structures courses- either weekend workshops or evenings, usually around £60-£120 depending widely on the course type. Some drop-ins. |
Language evening courses Bristol
Language courses are a fab way to learn new skills and meet people. If you’ve dabbled in Duolingo and are looking to take things further, booked regular sessions that build on each other- and where you can meet people learning the same as you at the same time are a great option.
Look for a course that suits you- whether it’s a casual beginners course, conversational course, or more specific- for business purposes you’ll usually be able to find one that is tailored to your needs.
| Education Centre | Offerings | Details |
| Bristol Language School | Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Czech, Polish, Russian, English, German, French, Italian, Catalan, Portuguese, and Spanish | Example 10 weeks, 90 min, about £140 |
| The Folk House | French, German, Spanish, Italian. Options for conversation and beginners to intermediate. | Example; 12-week course, 1.25 hours a week, £125/£100 |
| City of Bristol College | Spanish, British sign language | For Example, £200, 12 weeks, 2-hour classes per week |
| Bristol City Council Courses (Stoke Bishop or online) | French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish | Example structure; £80-50 for a block of 6 classes |
| International House Bristol | Arabic, french, german, greek, Italian, Japanese mandarin, polish Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, Welsh | Evening courses- in person or online. |
Professional skills evening courses Bristol
These are certified courses. They are a great option towards CPD, or if you can get funding by some means to study here. There are a huge range of practical courses and academic courses, run by leading experts in their field.
| Education Centre | Offerings | Details |
| The University of West England | A huge list of options includes- Professional skills, social care, mental health, sustainable cities, machine learning, global health | These can be more expensive, often several hundred for the course- they’re professional meaning they count towards CPD or as credit towards masters programmes |
| City of Bristol College | English, maths, basic car maintenance, British sign language, welding interior design | Here you can undertake qualifications- leading you to career changes. These are courses with certificates of education. |
General knowledge & interest- Adult learning in Bristol
As well as the more active, and practical skills courses above, there are also many classes for people who want to broaden their thinking and knowledge. For those who have always been interested to learn more in a subject such as literature or philosophy- these centres offer courses you might love.
The University of West England and many of the courses that make up master’s programmes are also available for the public to take. This means you get high-quality, academic teaching in their specific field, and the courses are niche- but can be quite interesting. Since they’re professional they can be used for CPD. For example, global health, sustainability and the built environment, flood risk and society, ethics, social and mental health and many more.
Bristol city council courses offer philosophy and literature classes. They also offer film studies.
The Folk house offer writing, comedy and literature courses, as well as general life and well-being course which includes philosophy/ stoicism and the art of being.