Wiltshire College

Updated on Oct 25, 2023

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Established 2002 DfE URN 132779 Tables Staff 750 Total enrollment 10,100 (2010) Principal Amanda Burnside		Type Further education Ofsted Reports Phone +44 1225 350035 Founded 2002

Location Castle Combe, Chippenham, Lacock, Salisbury, Trowbridge Wiltshire UK Address College Rd, Trowbridge BA14 0ES, UK Similar Swindon College, Bath College, Bournemouth and Poole College, New College - Swindon, Yeovil College Profiles Facebook Twitter

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Wiltshire College is a tertiary college of education founded in 2002 by the merger of Chippenham Technical College, Lackham College and Trowbridge College. Consolidation was completed with the merger of Salisbury College, which commenced in January 2008. In 2015-16 the college had approximately 3,000 full-time and 6,000 part-time students, with over 600 enrolled on degree-level courses.

The college's most recent OfSTED report, in June 2015, assessed it as good.

Locations

Wiltshire College Chippenham was founded as North Wilts College of Further Education and later changed its name to Chippenham Technical College, and again to Chippenham College in 1993. It offers a wide range of vocational courses and qualifications, specialising in engineering, commerce and construction trades. Its buildings are in Cocklebury Road, close to the town centre and railway station, and were rebuilt on the existing site in 2015 at a cost of £21 million. There are workshops for motor vehicle, engineering and construction trades, as well as hair and beauty studios, art studios, and a sports science lab.

Wiltshire College Lackham is based close to Lacock and opened in 1946 as a purely agricultural college. It has a 400-acre (1.6 km²) working farm to allow students hands-on experience of the rural economy, and also hosts a Museum of Agriculture and Rural Life. The college offers a number of extramural courses to non-students and also has a full programme of public events throughout the year, such as flower shows, equestrian, and related events. Following the 2001 foot and mouth disease outbreak which limited access to many farms, a "Virtual Farm" was opened in 2004 to provide continued education should access to the college farm be restricted again in the future. The college holds an annual Lambing Weekend where local children can see at first hand lambs being born.

Wiltshire College Trowbridge, in College Road, offers a wide range of vocational courses for school-leavers, and houses the Arc Theatre, a venue for live performances. A Construction Skills Centre was opened in 2015.

Wiltshire College Salisbury was formed in 1992 as the merger of the College of Art & Design and the Technology College. Situated in Southampton Road, it offers degree courses in association with Bournemouth University and vocational courses for school leavers. A-level courses for sixth-form students were also offered at the site until 2013 when the provision was withdrawn. However Salisbury Sixth Form College opened at the Southampton Road campus in 2014, and is expected to relocate to its own site by September 2016.

Castle Combe, at the Castle Combe Circuit near Chippenham, is the home of Wiltshire College's 6,500 square foot motorsport centre. The centre was the first circuit-based motorsport engineering centre in the UK, and has two classrooms, six car workshops, an engine workshop and a machining workshop. It provides motorsport engineering courses ranging from the BTEC Level 2 Diploma to a Level 6 BSc Honours Degree from the University of Bath.

Wiltshire College also has learning centres at Corsham, Devizes and Warminster.

Courses

A wide range of courses are offered to students, either part-time, full-time or as apprenticeships. Vocational qualifications include BTEC Diplomas, NVQ Level 1, and GCSE.

University level

Courses lead to qualifications including Foundation degrees, HNC, HND, and BA/BSc degrees.

Chippenham: Business, Computing & Systems Development, Applied Computing, Criminal Justice, Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Mechanical Engineering.

Castle Combe: Motorsport Engineering.

Salisbury: Art & Design, Film Production & Cinematography, Music, Photography, Education Studies for Teaching Assistants, Professional Certificate in Education.

Trowbridge: Art & Design, Early Years & Childhood Studies, Health & Social Care, Social Work.

Lackham: land-based courses including Animal Science & Management, Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural Management, Equine Management, Game & Wildlife Management, Sports Coaching.

Alumni

Jamie Cullum – singer/songwriter

Lizzie Greenwood-Hughes – television presenter

Lewis Haldane – former professional football player

Aaron Moores – British Paralympic swimmer

References

Wiltshire College Wikipedia

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