A ?6 million building project to upgrade the campus and provide new facilities for students at Great Yarmouth College has been given the go-ahead by the government.
Sam Russell
Friday, July 26, 2013
11:00 AM
A ?6 million building project to upgrade the campus and provide new facilities for students at Great Yarmouth College was today given the go-ahead by the government.
Work has already started to transform the Southtown campus to create a fully up-to-date building fit for its mission of making young people ready for work.
The project will bring the campus up to the same standard as its engineering and construction workshops on the new West Campus and the state-of-the-art creative, dance and performance studios.
Skills Minister Matthew Hancock said: ?I?m delighted to announce ?5.5m in government funding for Great Yarmouth College, combined with a college contribution of more than ?600,000, to help transform their campus and improve teaching and learning locally.?
?The government is helping to create specialist facilities that will ensure thousands of students get the best possible learning experience and inspire them to reach their potential, while addressing local skills shortages.?
?We are making the skills system more rigorous and responsive to the needs of employers, and this funding will help do that.?
Due for completion for by September 2015, the reborn college will include:
? A bright new glass-fronted library, known as the Community Learning Resources Centre (CLRC) overlooking a landscaped courtyard
? ?Learning streets? with distinct specialist subject areas to develop occupational skills
? Break-out areas along the learning streets with clusters of computers for independent study
? Flexible teaching rooms with occupational resources so students will know what to do when they start work
? A new English and maths centre with resources for individuals and groups
? New social spaces at the heart of the college and across campus.
? Top-floor drawing and fashion studios, spacious and with north-facing light.
? An extended fitness centre adjacent to the Sports Hall
? A job shop, careers shop and a travel shop at the crossroads onlearning streets
Principal Penny Wycherley announced the good news to all the staff as term ended at the college.
?This recognises the hard work and commitment shown by our staff in ensuring our students succeed. Our success rates are already at the same level, or in many cases higher, than other local colleges.
?Our vision is to make a difference; we have been succeeding in doing that and this will help us to be even more effective in preparing people for work and university.?
Mrs Wycherley showed skills minister Matthew Hancock the most out-dated areas of accommodation when he visited the college earlier this year. The 3-storey ?B? block dates back to the 60s and, structurally sound, it is in need of updating.
?We have taken our existing building and remodelled it to create a high quality learning environment focused on raising aspirations and preparing people for work and further training.?
?The theme for the project is Getting Ready for Work so it will include a Job Shop, a careers shop and other units, including a travel shop to enable students to practise their new skills. A major theme is the creation of a specialised area to raise students? skills and confidence in their use of English and maths. This underpins our learning programmes and each year hundreds of students work with us to improve their English, maths and vital work skills. The project will link with the work experience so generously offered by employers across all our vocational programmes to provide targeted and highly successful preparation for work and higher education.?
A new programme manager for extended learning and English and maths has also just joined the college. Paul Padda will lead the shift to individual study programmes for students to strengthen the offer of work placements and English and maths in their chosen course.
Mrs Wycherley said the building work ? designed by architects BroadwayMalyan - would offer new social and teaching opportunities as well as an exhibition space for student work. Every curriculum area will benefit from this investment to improve specialist and general learning.
The first, second and third floors will be refurbished with a new-build extension to the ground and first floor.
?The promotion of technology as part of everyday life will be embedded in the organisation of learning spaces with break-out areas and clusters of computers adacent to each subject area. The changes in layout will enable us to create new studios for drawing, fashion and textiles with that much desired north facing light on the top floor offerig fantastic views to inspire our students.
?The new building will enhance learning, ensuring students feel that their education is valued and it will prepare them for the wider work of work and higher education. The college already offer hundreds of students the opportunity to study degrees in Great Yarmouth and this plan will enhance that?
?As students move through the building, it will be a journey which culminates in the Higher Education study area and the CLRC so the building will itself be an expression of aspiration. The culture it will help us to emphasise is our focus on the development of the whole person so they have the attitudes and skills that employers seek.?
The news comes after it was revealed that Great Yarmouth would remain a stand-alone college following lengthy talks about merger with Lowestoft College. Penny Wycherley, who joined the college as interim principal two and a half years ago, will stay on until next summer when a new principal will be appointed.
It also coincides with the start of a new awareness campaign ?Get Ready for Work? -? launched last week on bus backs across the Great Yarmouth area ? featuring apprentices and former students who are working in their chosen careers after courses at Great Yarmouth College.
In the next two years, works will include new classrooms to be created in the present CLRC, in the Kier Building and in other areas across the campus, the fitness centre will be extended, a new motor vehicle workshop added to the West Campus and a new public entrance for the hair and beauty salon.
The main building will look out on a remodelled, green oasis in the central courtyard where it is planned to retain the mature trees outside the new CLRC.
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