Supporting Your Studies
Pastoral Care and Guidance
Our pastoral system is designed to give you friendly support and professional guidance throughout your time here.
You get to know your personal tutor in the first few days and become a member of a tutor group which meets regularly. Here you will make new friends and explore all kinds of topics such as personal career ambitions, health matters, study skills and current world issues.
Each term we arrange for you to talk about your progress, first with your subject teachers and then with your tutor. In this way, your tutor comes to know you better and is well placed to give advice on study or personal problems should they arise. You can also talk to our college counsellor whenever you wish.
For your parents, there are evenings held during the year. However, they may make an appointment to talk to staff at any time.
Additional Learning Support
We welcome applications from students with additional learning support needs. Information, guidance and reassurance are readily available and specialist equipment can be provided for use within college. Early disclosure is encouraged and prospective students can contact Mrs Kim Askew, Director of Inclusive Learning, prior to enrolment to discuss individual requests before the start of term. Our aim is to create a positive and inclusive atmosphere where there is a shared commitment to value diversity, empower students and facilitate successful progression.
For further information contact Kim Askew. You may also wish to refer to the College’s Disability Statement and our general application procedure for further details.
Financial Matters
The college will not charge fees for tuition or examination entry (except for resits or where attendance is unsatisfactory or coursework uncompleted). There are no charges for course materials, although special clothing (e.g. lab coats) and stationery will have to be provided by the student and some departments sell text books. In the case of field trips, a contribution from the student to cover board and lodging, but excluding tuition and travel, will be expected. Some optional activities (e.g. enrichment, theatre trips, exchange visits, etc.) may have an associated cost: this will be notified in advance of the event.
Some applicants might not be supported by government funding for education (eg non-UK or EU passport holders recently arrived in the area): in these cases we do reserve the right to charge full fees for the course.
Details of discounted travel passes are sent to students before enrolment in September.
If your family is on a low income or you encounter any financial difficulties in special circumstances, you may be eligible for financial assistance from the college's Student Bursary Fund. This is replacing the current Educational Maintenance Award. Information is available from the College’s Student Registration Manager.
Careers
A purpose-built pastoral and careers suite houses large rooms for informal
group discussions, tutors' offices for individual interviews and a careers
department which has received recognition for its professionalism and quality
standards from the local Careers Service Partnership.
Your tutor will encourage you to begin planning ahead in good time and to make use of all the facilities available in the careers library. There you will find information about career qualifications and opportunities, courses in higher and further education, sponsorships, bursaries and so on as well as local jobs and training.
Our Careers Advisers, together with Calderdale and Kirklees Careers, are on hand to give you individual help where necessary; we also collect students' accounts of interviews and the university offers they have received which forms an up-to-date resource bank on which you can draw.
Visits to universities, colleges and careers conventions are organised plus an annual conference 'whats ahead' at the end of year one, with outside speakers/professionals.
During the autumn term of the second year we organise mock interviews for students applying to competitive university courses.
- Click here for a list of careers events in this academic year.
- Follow this link to view the destinations of the students who left us last summer. (updated in January)
"The ambience within the college is friendly and supportive and reflects the college's philosophy that each student is an individual who is to be valued. Students comment favourably on the approachability of staff and on teachers' willingness to provide help and support when required." Inspection Report
Library and Resource Area
The Library and Resource Area occupies a central place in the college
in more ways than one. It acts as an impressive educational support service
for all members of the college, whatever subject they are studying. The
book stock stands at 14,000 volumes, with magazines and newspapers providing
up-to-date information. Computerised technology has streamlined cataloguing
and book-issuing, and enables students to identify relevant material more
easily. Books may also be borrowed from the University and Kirklees libraries as the need arises. Utilising
and the Internet and Moodle connections, students
can tap into a vast and readily accessible fund of ideas and information
to help them carry out a wide variety of course and project work.
As a multi-media resource, the Library has built up a large stock of DVDs and CDs, all of which are available for students to use in the college or at home.
Our qualified librarian, Mrs Ros Moors, together with her assistant, Mrs Jean Cliffe, is always willing to show students how to use the Library to their best advantage and runs introduction sessions for all new students each autumn term.
Finally, the Library and Resource Area, which is open from 8.00 am to 5.30 pm daily, provides a quiet and comfortable working environment, with 150 study spaces.
ICT facilities
The college regards Information Technology as very important for all students and is therefore committed to making IT facilities widely available both for individual use and for teaching and learning.
There are, for example, four IT rooms close together on the ground floor of the main building containing a total of eighty-six computers. These are both teaching rooms and open access areas for students where, in addition to teaching staff, technicians are available to provide help and support. There are also two fully equipped rooms for A/AS teaching in Computing and for Extended Project workshops.
The majority of departments have their own computer facilities enabling students to exploit new teaching and learning strategies in lesson time and during private study.
The college has a link to the Internet which can handle a large number of simultaneous users. We also have an extensive Virtual Learning Environment (Moodle) on which departments publish their own material and which is accessible from home. All students have access to college e-mail facilities, and wireless connections in the Library and the Reading Room enable students to use their own lap-tops.
