New College Swindon is the most successful College in the area and one of the top performing Further Education providers in the country, with success rates in the top 10%.

The College’s 2005 OFSTED inspection report rated all areas outstanding or good and the Centre for Excellence in Leadership rates New College in the top 5 Colleges for quality.

Such is the College’s reputation that it has enjoyed rapid growth in learners in recent years. It now provides high quality learning for 3000 16-18 year-olds and over 15,000 adults. Students are attracted to New College from all over Swindon and a wide area around it.

The College has an enthusiastic, friendly and professional staff dedicated to first class customer service, excellence to teaching and learning and continuous improvement.

Sixth Form College

New College offers a very wide range of programmes for 16-18 year olds. It is one of the biggest and best A-level centres in the country, with a choice of 52 subjects, on top of a range of vocational programmes at levels 1 and 2 in IT, Art & Design, Science, Sport, Leisure and Tourism, Public Services, Health and Child Care.

The College sends more students to university than any other school or college in the area. In 2005 over 450 New College students won places at University, including twelve at Oxbridge. 7 learners achieved one of the top five marks in the whole country in 2005 in their subject.

Studies at New College are complemented by the best enrichment programme of educational, social, cultural and sporting activities in the region. Students can enrich their programme with anything from IT qualifications to college pantomime and a wide choice of sporting activities.

14-16

New College runs programmes such as Gifted and Talented Maths & Science and Young Apprenticeship in Business Administration (with work placement) for school age youngsters. This is part of Swindon’s Increased Flexibility project in partnership with local schools, Swindon Borough Council and the Learning & Skills Council.

Adult Learning

New College has over 15,000 adult (19+) learners. 13,500 are on work-related programmes, while others are learning for fun.

From Reflexology to Flexible Computing, an extremely wide and diverse range of adult courses are offered in the daytime, evenings and at weekends. Adults benefit from open and distance learning options, at a time, place, price and pace to suit the learners.

On top of this, the College runs highly successful Essential Skills provision in literacy, numeracy, ESOL and IT.

Over recent years New College has partnered other high quality providers to ensure that it maintains the best one-stop shop across the area to meet learning needs.

Higher Education

New College runs Foundation Degrees and Higher Nationals in Business IT/Computing, Early Years, Health Care Management and Sport & Exercise Sciences in partnership with local Universities, and the first year of a degree with Bath Spa University in English, Geography, Psychology and the Social Sciences.

For adults who want to go to University (to become a teacher or nurse for example), New College’s highly successful Access courses prepare adult learners for Higher Education. The relaxed and extremely rewarding courses give students the chance to refresh their knowledge, skills and confidence through a range of subjects and provides them with the required entry qualifications for University.

Business Services – Fast Forward

Fast Forward, the College’s business services unit, runs customised training and development programmes for businesses (large and small) and public sector organisations working closely with business clients.

Programmes include: Management and Business Skills, Call Handling, Customer Service, IT, Early Years and Care, Health & Safety and work-based learning/NVQ Assessment. Fast Forward also provides tailored training and in-house delivery for businesses.

New College is also a centre for unionlearn and the South West regional learndirect hub for Trades Union Studies, in partnership with the TUC.

College Facilities

New College has all-new state of the art resources and equipment and its Queens Drive campus features a large learning resources centre, a modern café and food hall, specialist facilities in Science, Art & Design, IT, Performing Arts and music technology. Each classroom is Internet-ready with the latest computer hardware and software

The campus boasts a futuristic design and is light and airy, energy-efficient with some modern air conditioning. The centrepiece of the modern structure is the 250-seat Phoenix Theatre with PA system, professional lighting rigs control box, and an auditorium area of 300m². The Phoenix Theatre hosts regular performances from the College’s talented Performing Arts and Music students and is also available for hire and open to the general public.

Students also benefit from New College’s impressive sports centre, with excellent facilities including a contemporary sprung wooden floor sports hall and fitness suite.

Sporting Excellence

New College is committed to sport and College teams have enjoyed national success, most recently the netball and swimming teams. At individual level New College students have represented county, region and country in a range of sports and events. So far four New College students have gone on to compete in the Olympic and Commonwealth Games. Most recently, former student Shelley Rudman became an overnight national treasure coming home with a Silver medal from the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.

Further Information/Contact

For further information about New College, the courses and facilities offered, see the New College website: www.newcollege.ac.uk Alternatively, you can contact:

Admissions Department
New College
New College Drive
Swindon
SN3 1AH

Tel: 01793 611470
Fax: 01793 436437
Email: admission@newcollege.ac.uk