Sandwell College

Central Campus, Sandwell College

Sandwell College, is the only College of Further Education in Sandwell, West Midlands, England. It predominantly serves Sandwell, West Birmingham and areas of Dudley, Walsall and Wolverhampton.

The College includes a separate sixth form (Central Sixth) teaching A Levels and facilities for teaching a wide variety of skills-based courses to school leavers and adults. Over 2,500 16- to 18-year-old students currently study in the College.

The College's £77 million 'Central Campus' was opened on Spon Lane in West Bromwich in March 2012. Sandwell College is currently over-subscribed in many areas and has ambitious plans for growth.

Central Campus

File:Central Campus 737 Cabin.JPG

A Boeing 737 Aircraft Cabin used for Aircraft Cabin Crew Courses

Central Campus is an iconic eight-storey building, underpinning the regeneration of both West Bromwich and Sandwell borough. Innovative features included in the new college include a practice dental surgery for training nurses and a life-size Aircraft cabin to support Airline Cabin Crew courses. Other facilities include engineering and construction workshops, photographic, fashion and dance studios, a full theatre, hairdressing and beauty salons, a four-court sports hall and gymnasium, computing and multimedia suites and a two-floor automotive workshop.

The campus is situated immediately next to West Bromwich bus station and West Bromwich Central tram stop (on the Birmingham to Wolverhampton light railway). The building itself is instantly recognisable by its 'ski jump' roof.

Courses

The main area of activity within the College is the provision of Level 1, 2 and 3 courses to 16- to 18-year-olds. Courses include: A Levels Animal Care, Automotive Mechanics and Bodywork, Beauty Therapy, Business Studies, Cabin Crew, Carpentry & Joinery, Childcare, CNC, Computer Games Design, Computing, Employability skills, Engineering, ESOL, Fashion, Hairdressing, Health and Social Care, Health & Safety in the Workplace, IT Skills and Office Administration, Leadership and Management, Microsoft Office Specialist, Manufacturing Engineering, Motorsports Engineering, Multimedia Design, Imaging and Animation, Multimedia Programming, Painting & Decorating, PC Repair, Plastering, Performing Arts, Photography, Plumbing, Psychology, Mentoring and Counselling, Public Services – Uniformed, Sports Studies, Teacher Education, Tiling, Travel & Tourism, Web Design.

Some areas of teaching offer Higher Education qualifications such as the Foundation Degree and HND.

In addition, over three hundred school leavers are preparing for A Levels and university in Central Sixth, the heavily over-subscribed Sixth Form. Central Sixth offers some 30 different A Level choices; details are available here: http://www.sandwell.ac.uk/Sixth-Form/A-Levels.aspx

Apprenticeship provision

An increasing area of activity is the provision of apprenticeship training. There are currently hundreds of young people and adults attending Central Campus as part of their apprenticeship training. Areas covered include: Business Administration Customer Service Dental Nursing Engineering Hairdressing Health and Social Care Leadership and Management Light Vehicle Mechanics Management Mechanical, Electrical, Trim (MET) Pharmacy Technician Vehicle Body Repair Vehicle Refinishing Team Leading.

Quality

The College's overall standards of success and achievement have been rising for many years. Many of the College's courses for school leavers have 100% pass rates; a partial list is posted here: http://www.sandwell.ac.uk/Pass-rates.aspx The College's newly opened sixth form, Central Sixth, is not yet included in government league tables of school performance. The latest Ofsted report for the College is available here: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-reports/find-inspection-report/provider/ELS/130479

History

Sandwell College can trace its history back to the first local technical schools created by the philanthropy of Black Country industrial 'giants' in the mid-19th Century.

Messrs. Chance Brothers Limited, whose factory produced the million square feet of glass for the Crystal Palace at the Great Exhibition of 1851, established a school on Spon Lane, West Bromwich in the mid-1840s.

It is fitting that the new Sandwell College Central Campus has relocated to Spon Lane after a gap of over 100 years.

By the 1860s, an enlightened curriculum provided factory workers (including hundreds of boys aged 14) with classes in Reading, Writing and Arithmetic but also Freehand and Mechanical Drawing, Magnetism, Electricity and Heat, Chemistry and Mechanics. These were the skills that fuelled the great advances in industry and commerce during the Victorian era.

In 2004, the Birmingham Post & Mail indicated that a debt-ridden college accrued a £12 million deficit in over two years leading to a fraud investigation by West Midlands Police and the loss of 100 staff. The college has been expanding rapidly since moving to Central Campus.

The Pound Road site of Sandwell College, which had originally been the base of Oldbury Technical College, later known as Warley College of Technology, was demolished in the summer of 2012to make way for a new housing estate called College Gate.

The old nine-storey college building in High Street, which was originally West Bromwich College, was demolished in 2013 after dominating the town centre's landscape for some 50 years.

Sixth Form

In May 2013, it was announced that Sandwell Council was in discussions with Sandwell College regarding the potential repurposing of the arts centre 'The Public'.

In November 2013, it was confirmed that Sandwell College would be moving its sixth form into the Public. The building was re-fitted over the following year and re-opened to as Central Sixth opened in September 2014. It was officially opened by Prince Edward HRH The Earl of Wessex, on 1 October 2014.