Year 2 Continued Coaching Course

The BRBKA is proud to offer its brand-new Year 2 Continued Coaching  Course. Recognising that even a full year of education can’t possibly cover all essential basic beekeeping topics without causing learner overload, Year 2 builds on the theory taught in the Beginners’ Course to look at 3 important topics (swarm control, nuc making and varroa management) in greater depth, with a strong emphasis on practical application.

Year 2 has a more informal structure designed to make it as flexible and accessible as possible. The 3 theory classes are taught in seminar style via Zoom on weekday evenings in May, June, and August, with preparatory readings provided in advance. Practical sessions are carried out in small groups formulated according to learner and mentor geographical location, with groups meeting at The Wern, Ty Mawr, or learner or mentor home apiaries. For maximum convenience, these sessions are organised entirely within the groups, and all the practical tasks relating to the 3 theory topics will be carried through with decisions made collaboratively between learners and their mentor.

While we acknowledge that not everyone will want to return to the world of exams in their beekeeping, we do support any Year 2 learners wishing to take the WBKA Basic Assessment, and hold a mock assessment day in July. Beginning at Llanddew Hall, we revise the Basic Assessment syllabus before going on to the Wern where learners will be ‘assessed’ by their mentors. This is purely for the purposes of checking learner knowledge and understanding, and is again strongly focussed on how the theory will help them in their practical beekeeping.

The final round-up session of the Year 2 course is at the end of September, when the groups will present a summary report of the activities they undertook in their practical sessions throughout the summer, with a prize for the most interesting presentation.

Our first cohort of Year 2 students have thrown themselves enthusiastically into the course.