Supporting Your Studies

Guidance and Counselling

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.

Students with Disabilities

We welcome students with learning difficulties or disabilities. Potential applicants are encouraged to contact Kim Askew, the college’s Learning Support Coordinator for advice. Before you take up your place at the college, Mrs Askew will discuss your individual needs with you and the college will make all reasonable attempts to provide any specialist support and/or facilities that you may require. We will continue to meet with you at regular intervals to ensure your needs are being met.

For further information contact Kim Askew or the Vice Principal (Guidance), Sue Creamer. You may also wish to refer to the College’s Disability Statement and our general application procedure for further details.

Financial Matters

There are no fees for tuition. If field trips are an essential part of your course of study, then the college will pay the travel and tuition fees involved but ask you to pay for your board and lodging.

In special circumstances or difficulties a student may apply for financial assistance to the College Access Fund Panel. See your personal tutor for details.

At the moment, the college asks students to provide their own stationery but does not charge for text-books or examination entry fees, for example. You are, however, expected to pay examination fees for any examination you choose to re-take.

Details of discounted travel passes are sent to students before enrolment in September.

If your family is on a low income, you may be eligible for an Educational Maintenance Award. Information is available from the College’s Student Registration Officer.

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.

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 15,000 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 the CD-ROM facilities and the Internet and Intranet 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 audio-cassettes, video tapes, 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.

The Study Centre

The study centre is designed to complement the Library and is a drop in centre for anyone. There is always a member of staff there who can offer help with assignments, research, homework and general queries on a drop-in basis. It has something to offer all students from help with particular aspects of study such as organisation and essay planning to extension work for those who are ambitious and want to get the highest possible grades.

ICT facilities

The college regards Information Technology as very important for all students and is therefore determined to make ICT facilities widely available both for individual use and for teaching/ learning.

The college operates a PC computer network using industry standard software including Microsoft Office. There are over 300 computers for student use across college. In addition to the Applied ICT courses, the IT skills department offers enrichment courses.

All departments now have their own computer facilities enabling students to exploit new teaching and learning strategies, using Moodle (our VLE) and the Internet, in lesson time and during private study. There are several interactive white boards across college and many LCD data projectors in classrooms for the integrated use of ICT in lessons.

The college has a link to the Internet via the university network JANET, which can handle a large number of simultaneous users. We also have aVirtual Learning Envieonment on which departments publish their own material. All students have access to e-mail facilities and the network both from within college and from home.