Walford and North Shropshire College

Coordinates: 52°51′14″N 3°02′17″W / 52.854°N 3.038°W / 52.854; -3.038

Walford and North Shropshire College

Type	Further education college
Principal	Andrew Tyley
Location	Shrewsbury Road Oswestry Shropshire SY11 4QB England
DfE URN	130797
Ofsted	Reports
Gender	Male & Female
Ages	16+
Telephone	01691 688000
Fax	01691 688001
Email	[e-mail]
Website	www.wnsc.ac.uk

Walford & North Shropshire College is a further education college in Shropshire, England. Walford and Oswestry are where the two main campuses are based, although there are other smaller centres used throughout the county.

Creation

In January 2001 Walford College and North Shropshire college (formerly Oswestry Tertiary College) merged, with Ron Pugh appointed principal of the merged college. After Ron Pugh retired, Andrew Tyley took over as Principal. ^[1]

Oswestry Campus

The King Street Institute was founded in 1921 to meet the demands of the local mining and railway industries. 1n 1958 it moved to a site in College Road and became the Oswestry College of Further Education.

In 1978 Oswestry Tertiary College was created during the Tertiary re-organization. It was renamed The North Shropshire College in 1991. It had three main campuses, College Road and Upper Brook Street in Oswestry and Talbot Campus in Whitchurch. It signed a federated college agreement with Staffordshire University in 1997. At this time the college had a trading subsidiary called 'Mereside' to deal with the college's work with companies and a range of government-sponsored programmes, including coordinating communication for the government's "New Deal" initiative for the colleges in Shropshire.

Oswestry Campus was upgraded in a multi-million pound refit. The Technology block was replaced by a new three story block, and an extra floor was added to the main block. A new £1.3 million Business and IT Centre. including a major upgrade to the teaching kitchen and basic skills area was completed for the start of the autumn term 2008. It is now equipped with banks of wireless laptops with internet access, eight dedicated computing teaching rooms and a graphic design suite with Apple Mac computers.^[2]

Walford Campus

Walford Campus is the Agricultural, Engineering and Horticultural Campus of the College. It also has the Harris Centre, state-of-the-art teaching accommodation for Small Animal Care, Veterinary Medicine and Horticulture. Opened officially by HRH Princess Royal in October 2007^[1], this £2.7 million centre incorporates a range of 'eco-friendly' features, with over £350,000 spent on sustainable technologies, winning it the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors' regional award for Sustainability in May 2007.^[3]

Wem Library and Learning Centre

The centre is operated in partnership with Shropshire Council Library services. It is situated in the centre of Wem, providing local learning opportunities to the people of Wem and the surrounding area.

Shipley Centre

The centre is situated in Gardenlands, Shipley and offers Horticulture and ICT courses.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} A history of Walford
2. ^ Oswestry Campus
3. ^ The Harris centre

External links

• Walford & North Shropshire College
• Wem Library and Learning Centre