Big week of training here in our decorating centre in Dartford. Lots of new students coming to complete qualification and short decorating courses with us and they’ve got off to a fantastic start as they begin preparing surfaces for painting and wallpapering.

Here at Able Skills, we run a variation of painting & decorating courses to suit everyone's needs as they plan for a new career in the industry. If you are looking for some basic skills for standard DIY work in your own home, our Introduction and Hands-on courses are the ideal courses to give you the range of skills you'll need. Our longer City & Guilds qualifications and NVQs are for those looking to go out and make a new career as a Painter & Decorator.

We also understand that a lot of people out there are highly skilled Decorators but have never got the qualifications. This is why we offer two further routes to gaining an NVQ as a Painter & Decorator. See here:

EWPA – A quick route to NVQ for Time-Served Painters

OSAT – A route to NVQ for Time-Served Painters

The OSAT route is for those Decorators that have been working in the industry for less than five years and now need to achieve an NVQ to gain a CSCS Card. For this route here at Able Skills we can arrange work-based assessments carried out by our NVQ assessors. This will let you prove your competency as a Decorator and help you gain an NVQ. You will need access to site work where our assessor can come out and assess you. Also, you will need to be within a 60-mile radius of our training centre for our assessors to come out to your place of work.

The next route is the EWPA (Experienced Worker Practical Assessment) which is for the time-served Decorators that have been working in the industry for over five years but need a Painting & Decorating NVQ. To qualify for this route, you will need to give at least five years’ worth of evidence showing you have worked as a Decorator. Once you have done this you will come in for a profiling at our centre in Dartford. This will be followed up by completing a portfolio of work completed and a 2-day practical assessment here in our centre to test your competency.

In our centre this week we have been in filming our students on the first day of their training as the prepare their surfaces, along with students that are deep into their qualification training with us. You can watch it all here on our YouTube Channel.

If you fancy yourself at Painting & Decorating, then why not try one of our decorating courses?

Call 01322 280 202 for more information. Also, we recommend you come and visit our centre here in Dartford, no appointment is needed, just pop down and we will be more than happy to show you around.