City College Norwich

City College Norwich
Type Further Education College
Location Ipswich Road
Norwich
Norfolk
NR2 2LJ
 England
Coordinates: 52°37′05″N 1°17′13″E / 52.618°N 1.287°E / 52.618; 1.287
DfE number 926/8003
DfE URN 130764
Gender Coeducational
Website City College Norwich

City College Norwich (CCN) is a college of further and higher education which is located on Ipswich Road, in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The college has a second site at St. Andrews House in Norwich city centre, which is also home to the National Skills Academy for Financial Services. Founded in 1891, City College Norwich has been situated in its current location since 1953. It is one of the largest colleges in the country.[1]

Overview

City College Norwich has over 11,000 full-time and part-time students on a wide range of vocational, academic and professional courses. The College’s provision spans work with 14- to 16-year-olds (around 1,000 of whom attend college one day a week whilst attending high school), full and part-time further education courses for young people and adults, higher education courses, apprenticeships and other bespoke training for employers. The college has around a 900 full and part-time staff.[2]

City College Norwich, University Technical College Norfolk and various Norfolk Academies collectively form the TEN (Transforming Education in Norfolk) Group.,[3] which was formed in 2012.[4]

Ofsted rates it as good in 2013, up from satisfactory on most criteria, and good for equality of opportunity in the previous (2008–10) inspection. In such a large establishment, overall grades cover a wide variability of results: so for instance in the 2013 inspection, business, administration and finance was graded inadequate, when overall the college is judged good; In the earlier (2008) one,[5] training in hospitality and catering was found to be good (grade 2), while science and Mathematics was judged inadequate at first, then satisfactory in a 2010 reinspection.[6]

The College has one of the most developed and independent Students' Unions in the country within Further Education in terms of representation, staff, activities, active participation, finance, and services. In 2010, the Students’ Union was named a runner-up in the NUS Further Education Union of the Year award.[7]

Campus

The College is based on a large campus close to Norwich city centre on the Ipswich Road from where the majority of its courses are delivered. The Norwich Building was opened in 1953 and other buildings have been opened at various times since. The Ipswich Road campus is home to the Debut Restaurant,[8] based within the College’s Hotel School, which is open to the public during term time. Members of the public can also visit the College’s Solutions Hair and Beauty Salons,[9] and Solutions Gym[10] — all part of the College’s learning model of giving students work experience in real working environments. A shop "Ego", staffed by the College’s retail students, opened in 2011, giving retail students the opportunity to experience the full range of roles within a real working environment.

The College also has a site at St. Andrews House in the centre of Norwich. Opened by the then-Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alastair Darling, in December 2007, St. Andrews House is home to the National Skills Academy for Financial Services and is the base for the College's business courses. Here students are taught in a modern environment with the latest facilities which have been modelled on those that would be found in any contemporary financial services company headquarters.

City College Norwich has a strong reputation for employer engagement. The College is unique in having 5 sector-based National Skills Academies — in Creative and Cultural skills, Financial Services, Hospitality, Manufacturing and Retail. In 2008 the College won a National Training Award for its work with Lotus Cars.

In 2009 the College won a Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education for its work with students with Asperger’s Syndrome. The College’s RUGroom[11] provides a safe haven and a social and study space for students with AS and other Autistic Spectrum Disorders. The unique ingredient has been the involvement of the College’s AS learners — who named themselves “The Really Useful Group” — in the design of an AS friendly physical environment which developed into the RUGroom. The RUGroom was opened in February 2008 by Charles Clarke, a member of parliament at the time, and has since won a string of awards in recognition of the excellence of its leading edge work including two National Training Awards in 2008 and 2009.

In 2011 the college has come under criticism for making over 30 of its staff redundant and closing departments,[12] including Computing,[13] only months before computer science became a government priority in education.[14]

Principal

The principal of City College Norwich is Corrienne Peasgood. Ms Peasgood, a former plumbing lecturer at the college, took over as principal in September 2012.[15] Starting out at the college as a sessional lecturer in 1997, Ms Peasgood worked as a lecturer, senior lecturer, director, vice principal, deputy principal and acting principal, before taking over as principal of the college from Dick Palmer.

Mr Palmer, who was the college’s principal for nine years from 2003 to 2012 – during which time he was named “Principal of the Year” at the Learning and Skills Improvement Service’s Leading the Learner Voice Awards - remains closely involved with City College Norwich. Dick Palmer is Chief Executive Officer of City College Norwich and also Group Chief Executive Officer for the Transforming Education in Norfolk (TEN Group) federation.[16]

Notable alumni

Previous notable students of CCN include:

References

External links

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