South Leicestershire College

Infobox University
name = South Leicestershire College


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established = 1970
type = Public FE
staff = 420+
president =
provost =
principal = Christine Bullock
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chancellor =
vice_chancellor =
dean =
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head =
students = 7,052
undergrad =
postgrad =
city = Leicester
state = Leics.
country = England
campus =
free_label =
free =
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website = www.slcollege.ac.uk
address =
publictransit =
telephone = 0116 2885051
coor =

South Leicestershire College, formerly Wigston College, is a general college of further education, which opened in 1970. Situated on the southern outskirts of Leicester, it draws learners from across Leicestershire, but particularly from South of the county and the Harborough district. The college operates within a budget of £10 million and has a current financial status of Grade A.

Location

The College operates predominantly from two sites at present. The main campus is a single compact site in Wigston which comprises three main blocks.

Wigston

The main central block provides specialist teaching rooms, new workrooms, conference rooms, a Nursery and a central open learner area which includes dining and social areas together with Reception and Learner Guidance Services. The second block consists of the Learning Resources Centre, computer suites, a number of general classrooms and a modern and well-equipped Language Centre. The third block predominantly houses construction, technical workshops and a fitness suite.

Market Harborough

In September 2002, the college opened the South Leicestershire Learning Innovation Centre in Market Harborough. Situated on the Welland Industrial Estate, some 15 miles south of Wigston, the Innovation Centre is housed in a new three storey building. It provides state of the art facilities, including high specification computing suites, a holistic therapies suite, general teaching rooms, a multi media suite and conference facilities on its third floor business centre.

Other locations

The college also has a number of specialist and dedicated off-site venues, these included; the Construction Trades Centre, Ross Walk Media Centre, LETG Training and also has links with many other training venues, including; The Sharma Centre, The Peepul Centre, Soar Valley Music Centre, Leicester Islamic Academy, Studio 79 and many more.

The college has a wide and varied curriculum although it is particularly strong in the following subject areas: Accounting, Business Studies, Complementary Therapies, Computing, Construction, English for Speakers of Other Languages, Health & Community Care, Humanities, Management, Personnel & Professional programmes, Retail, Skills for Life, Teacher Training.

New campus

In April 2007, the college received formal approval for a £38m scheme to relocate and build a brand new campus on the Blaby Road/Canal Street site in South Wigston. The design of the new building, which will replace a disused industrial site, will act as a landmark'gateway' to the town.

This new facility will provide first class training and learning facilities here in the county and will serve as a much-needed catalyst for regeneration in South Wigston itself. It will also enable the college to cater for thousands more learners, expanding the core curriculum areas of accounting, business studies, complementary therapies, computing, construction, English for Speakers of Other Languages, health & community care, humanities, retail, skills for life and teacher training.

The new building, which has been designed by local architects Metz, has been sensitive to the needs of the local environment by adopting a number of green initiatives. The installation of photovoltaic cells and thermal solar panels will enable the college to generate hot water and electricity from the sun, whilst the installation of a biomass boiler will significantly reduce the building's carbon footprint. It will also capture rainwater, which will be recycled throughout the building.

Ofsted inspection results

In 2008 the college became one of only a handful further education colleges in the UK to achieve ‘outstanding’ grades across the board in an Ofsted inspection.Fact|date=August 2008 In June 2007, the college underwent a weeklong inspection that focussed on Ofsted’s five standard measures - effectivenessof provision, capacity to improve, achievement and standards, quality of provision and leadership and management. The college received ‘outstanding’ in each of these areas, and were also awarded an unprecedented sixth outstanding grade for 'Equality of Opportunity'.Fact|date=July 2008

External links

* [http://www.slcollege.ac.uk/ South Leicestershire College official website]
* [http://www.studyinengland.ac.uk Study in England Website]