Student Support Services

Supporting You and Your Studies

We place great emphasis on supporting and guiding you personally and academically. You are important to us and we will do everything we can to try to make your time here as enjoyable and productive as possible. The college is well equipped and we will ensure that you take a full part in college life.

Personal Tutors

Your personal tutor will play a key role in your life at college. You will meet him/her and your tutor group twice a week as well as having regular one-to-one tutorial sessions. Your tutor will get to know you well, monitoring your progress and attendance and making sure that you are kept up-to-date with what is going on in college.

Student Officer

Students with difficult problems or those which take time to resolve will often be referred to the Student Officer for support and guidance.

Study Skills Support

We will expect you to spend at least 10 hours a week in college doing private study, as well as a significant amount of independent study at home. In total, you should be doing around 18 hours' independent study each week.

Study Support Groups

We encourage students to form study support groups. We have a team of well-trained tutors who will discuss with you how they can best meet your specific needs.

Extra Support

We welcome applications from students with learning difficulties, disabilities and medical conditions. It is important that you tell us on your application form whether you will require any extra support, so that we can make sure that it is there for you. If you would like to discuss any issues, please contact our Student Officer.

First Aid Officer

Our First Aid Officer is also available during college hours for helpful advice and in case of emergency treatment.

EAL – English as an Additional Language

If English is not your first language you may be given one-to-one or small group teaching to improve your spoken and written English. If you are offered an intensive 3-6 months English support course, you are advised to take it up.

Learning Resources

You will also have access to computers, which you can use for your studies. You will be given your own personal network account which allows you to use colour printers, scanners and photocopiers. The building is fully wireless-enabled so you will be able to use your own laptop as well.

Our friendly team of professional and experienced staff are happy to help you find the information you need, answer any of your IT queries and support your use of online resources and audio-visual equipment.

Availability

We are open from 9am to 6pm Monday to Friday. We are also open from 10am to 3pm each day in the college holidays (apart from Christmas and the Summer).

Supporting You

We look forward to providing you with the support that you need during this challenging and fulfilling time of your life.

The Student Union

The Student Union will represent all students in meetings with staff, senior managers and outside bodies. They will work closely with the Student Officer to organise events, awareness-raising campaigns and fund-raising activities. You can become involved in the Union as the representative elected by your tutor group, or by being elected as an executive officer in a college election.

Information and Guidance

We offer information on many topics which may affect you – financial concerns, leaving home, arranging counselling appointments – as well as routine issues of everyday college life – calculators, timetables and lost property.

Safeguarding Students

We recognise we will play a large part in safeguarding and promoting your welfare. We aim to provide good lines of communication with trusted adults, clear procedures and policies and an ethos of protection.

Our focus is on maximising opportunity and minimising risk and enabling you to achieve the best possible outcomes in relation to "being healthy; staying safe; enjoying and achieving; making a positive contribution; and achieving economic well-being".

Equal Opportunities

We pride ourselves on being a caring community and believe that everyone is of equal value irrespective of ethnic origin, religion or belief, gender, class, age, sexuality, disability or any other perceived difference. We will take active steps to promote equality of opportunity and celebrate diversity and will take action to prevent racial or sexual harassment, sexist or racist jokes and insults, bullying and any other form of intimidation or discrimination. We are committed to ensuring that disabled people, including those with learning difficulties, are treated fairly. We will make any reasonable adjustments to our provisions to ensure that anyone with a disability is not substantially disadvantaged.