Bury College

Bury College

Established	1987
Type	Further Education College
Religion	Non-denominational
Principal	Charlie Deane
Location	Market Street Bury Greater Manchester BL9 0BG England
Local authority	Bury
DfE number	???/8000
DfE URN	130498 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Gender	Coeducational
Ages	14+
Website	Official Website

Bury College is an institute of higher learning for the borough of Bury, England.

Overview

Bury College is a further education college that provides qualifications for school leavers pursuing A Levels, vocational qualifications and apprenticeships.

In addition, Bury College provides a range of courses for adults which include a range of university qualifications run in partnership with the University of Bolton. These courses provide local higher education, with a focus on employability skills. The college is also one of the colleges in the North West for undergraduates with over 900 students progressing to university each year.

The employer arm of the college, Bury College Business Solutions supports over 1000s employers annually across a wide range of workforce training courses ranging from nationally recognised qualifications, to individually tailored training programmes. Each year the college supports over 1450 apprentices.

In 2007 the college was awarded outstanding in all areas by Ofsted, receiving a set of grade 1s (the highest grades possible) across all areas.^{citation needed}

History

Bury College opened as a tertiary college on 1st September, 1987, as a result of Bury MBC’s decision to develop a tertiary education system for Bury. The college was formed by the merger of the then Bury College of Further Education with premises in Bury and Radcliffe; Peel Sixth Form College; Stand Sixth Form College and a number of Youth Training Scheme units location in various parts of the borough. Each of the main constitutions had very different origins and histories.

Bury College of Further Education started life as Bury Technical College. From May 1940 to May 1946 Bury Technical College was occupied by the Royal Military College of Science (Fire Control Wing) to provide specialist courses in the use of fire control instruments during the war. Following Local Government reorganisation in 1974, the college merged with Radcliffe Technical College to form the Bury Metropolitan College of Further Education.

In 1979 reorganisation of Secondary Education in Bury established Stand Sixth Form College, which became part of Bury College in 1987.

April 1st 1993, Bury College was incorporated under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 and governors commenced on developing provision in Bury.

Facilities

Bury College has spent over £40 million in recent years on new facilities and buildings for students. The college now has new facilities for construction and engineering, IT and MAC suites and computer aided design studios. The new Woodbury developments provide a new learning resource centre and library, industry standard art studios, a new outdoor courtyard to increase social space and classrooms.

Sites

• Millennium Centre - This building provides a learning environment equipped with studios, laboratories, IT suites, Learning Resource Centres and classrooms. Student facilities are with indoor and outdoor social areas.
• Beacon Centre - provides facilities for Performance Arts, Humanities, Languages, Health and Social Care, Childcare and Uniformed Services. A theatre, dance and rehearsal studios, together with a recording studio, language laboratory and coffee bar are situated here.
• Woodbury Centre - houses facilities for hair, beauty and complementary therapy salons, catering facilities including the Three Seasons Restaurant and Bistro and art studios with Apple MAC technology.
• Venture Centre - In 2012 a new development on the Woodbury site opened providing a new learning resource centre, landscaped courtyard, IT facilities and classrooms.
• Prospects Centre - this is the electrical engineering centre of the college. It has specialist laboratories, workshops and IT suites to accommodate a wide range of technology based subjects.
• The Innovation Centre - supports students studying Engineering and Technology courses, including the new Diploma in Engineering. The building incorporates an Engineering Workshop, IT suites, Computer-Aided Design Studio and Classrooms equipped with information and communications technologies.
• The Aspire Centre - provides sports facilities for students, including exercise and fitness studios with sprung floors. In addition, the building houses the College’s assessment centre for examinations and on-line testing, providing specialist facilities for examinations candidates.
• The Construction Skills Centre - is equipped with tools, equipment and machinery. It supports the college’s existing applied engineering and technology centres and provides further investment to develop and offer vital training to the construction industry.
• Enterprise Centre - houses classrooms and IT facilities.
• Bury College Nursery - a fifty-place nursery which opened in September 2004 and provides places for students with young children, and the local community.

Academic performance

Bury College results are consistently above the national average and in 2012 the College achieved an exceptional pass rate of 99% for Advanced Level courses. The college saw exceptional results for Vocational A Level and National Diploma courses with 100% pass rates in many courses.^{citation needed}

Alumni

Whitefield Stand Grammar School

• Geoffrey Bullough, Professor of English Language and Literature from 1946 to 1968 at King's College London (1912–19)
• Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, who became Lord Clive of Palassey. Major General Clive was a soldier who helped the British military and political supremacy in India in the 18th century.
• Barry Dixon CBE, Chief Executive from 2002–09 of the Greater Manchester County Fire Service (1962–67)
• Jack Howlett CBE, computer scientist and Director from 1961 to 1975 of the Atlas Computer Laboratory (produced many computer software innovations) (1923–30)
• Paul Hughes, Director of Finance from 1971 to 1984 at the BBC (1928–33)
• Howard Jacobson, author (1953–60)
• Martin Kelner, radio broadcaster (1960–67)
• Prof William Kershaw CMG, Professor of Biology from 1966 to 1976 at the University of Salford (1922–29)
• Henry Livings, playwright (1941–48)
• Lawrence McGinty, medical and science correspondent (since 1989) for ITN (1959–66)
• Al Read, radio comedian
• Audrey Slaughter (née Smith), journalist and former wife of Evening Standard editor Charles Wintour
• John Spencer, snooker player
• Julie Stevens, actress (1948–53)
• Leslie Turnberg, Baron Turnberg, Professor of Medicine from 1973 to 1997 at the University of Manchester (1945–52)

Stand Sixth-Form College

• Ivan Lewis, Labour MP since 1997 for Bury South

External links

• Bury College

News items

• Former grammar school knocked down in 2001