Suffolk New College

Suffolk New College (SNC) is based in Suffolk with campuses in Ipswich, ‘On the Coast,’ at Leiston (which was opened in September 2018) and the Rural Campus at Otley, acquired following the dissolution of Easton and Otley College at the end of 2019. In addition, Suffolk New College has assumed responsibility for the Skills Centre in Halesworth, where provision commenced in September 2020.

Suffolk New College has close links with the University of Suffolk as the Ipswich Campus is situated in what is known as the ‘Education Quarter’ of Ipswich and is close to the regenerated waterfront. In the last academic year (2021/22), there were 2861 16 – 18 year-old students, 1472 19+ students, 1000 apprenticeships and 125 Higher Education students. Most students aged 16 to 18 are from the local and surrounding rural areas.

Standards on entry are below the average for the East of England. Around 57.3% of all young people following programs at the College did not achieve high-grade GCSE qualifications in English and maths. This reflects the locality, where the proportion of people in the area educated to Level 3 and above is lower than in the region and across England.

The College focuses on providing a curriculum that meets the needs of learners, employers, and the wider community. The offer takes into account the need of providing a skilled workforce for the future. Fourteen (out of a possible fifteen) subject sector areas are providing an extensive range of learning, which are Health, Public Services and Care; Science and Mathematics; Agriculture, Horticulture and Animal Care; Engineering and Manufacturing Technology; Construction and Planning; Information and Communication Technology; Retail and Commercial Enterprise; Leisure, Travel and Tourism; Arts, Media and Publishing; Social Sciences; Languages, Literature and Culture; Education and Training; Preparation for Life and Work and Business Administration and Law (no History, Philosophy and Theology).

The acquisition of the Otley Campus, renamed Suffolk Rural in January 2020, has added Land Based, Animal and Equine Studies to the College’s curriculum offer, to support entry into the local Land Based community.

The Values of Suffolk New College are ‘openness and trust; having a learning culture to support all staff; providing platforms for expressing opinions, concerns, and views for all staff at all levels; involvement in decision making; recognizing, appreciating, and celebrating achievement and success areas; actively encouraging and finding time for continued professional development, creating time to generate new ideas and experiment; and valuing and respecting differences and views of others, promoting diversity’. In the pages that follow, evidence will be described to illustrate these achievements. The strapline for the college is, ‘Exceptional Learner Experience,’ and this will be evidenced by, for example, a range of documented feedback from students.