Yale College, Wrexham
| Established | 1950 |
|---|---|
| Type | Further Education College |
| Principal | Paul Croke |
| Location | Wrexham LL12 7AB Wales, UK |
| Gender | Mixed |
| Website | Yale College |
Yale College, Wrexham (Coleg Iâl) is a further education college in Wrexham, northeast Wales. Yale College, Wrexham (Coleg Iâl) is a Young Adult community for people who are 16 years old and over.
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History[edit]
The history of Yale College can be summarised in three phases: Yale Grammar and Technical School, Yale Sixth Form, Yale College. It was founded in 1950 as a state school on a site at Crispin Lane and named after Elihu Yale, best known for being the prime benefactor of Yale University, and whose family name derives from the nearby Welsh commote of Iâl. In 1972[1], as part of the conversion of local schools to the comprehensive system, it was renamed as Yale Sixth Form College and the pupils re-located to other schools. The Crispin Lane site was incorporated into NEWI (now Glyndŵr University) after the development of the Grove Park Campus.
In 1995, work began on Yale's new campus which consisted of a mix of older and very modern, airy buildings in Wrexham town centre. Prior to dereliction, some of the buildings on the campus previously hosted Wrexham & East Denbighshire War Memorial Hospital up until the late 1980s, and another dating back to 1902 was previously Grove Park Grammar School, which again closed in the 1980s. Out of the many buildings on the site, two of the largest were selected for refurbishment, and along with the newer buildings, the campus finally opened in 1998, known as the Grove Park campus which handles various qualifications including GCSEs, National Diplomas and A levels.
In 1999, Yale University sued Wrexham County Borough Council over the use of the name Yale College (which had been the name of Yale University's undergraduate college for 225 years before Yale Wrexham was founded). As a result of the settlement of the trademark infringement suit, the Yale College in Wales must always be legally referred to as Yale College in Wrexham or Yale College Wrexham.[2] The name of the College in Welsh is Coleg Iâl Wrecsam.
In November 2008 the College was announced as the overall winner of the Wales quality Award, which organisations from across Wales compete for each year. 2008 was also the year the College achieved the highest workplace based learning inspection results in Wales, with eleven grade ones.
Current status[edit]
The Grove Park Campus has eight buildings, five of which are named after rivers in North Wales: Alun, Brenig, Clywedog, Dyfrdwy and Elwy. For convenience, these are always referred to as A, B, C, D and E Blocks. The shell of the Memorial Hospital now houses the Art and Multi-Media departments, as well as the College's own Gallery (which hosts visiting artists), and the Regional Print Centre. This is known as MAB (Memorial Arts Building) or more simply, M Block. The old Grove Park school is G Block. There is a two storey Foodcourt, which houses Café Iâl (the College Refectory), a "Lifestyle Bar" (Café) for staff and students, a Student Café, Common Room and the studio of Radio Yale.
Yale has a second campus at Bersham Road, Wrexham (53°02′28″N 3°00′22″W / 53.0412°N 3.0060°W), which handles the vocational courses, such as engineering, plumbing and bricklaying; this recently underwent an extensive redevelopment. Up until 2006, the college also possessed additional capacity in Roxburgh House, Wrexham, however the majority of the building was handed back to the vendor due to lease expiration. Previously the building handled apprenticeships and training.
Culture[edit]
Yale College is, officially, a bilingual college although the predominant language spoken is English.
The College has a glossy student produced magazine, ZED, its own student staffed Radio Station, and is currently (Spring 2009) beginning to produce podcasts involving students taking part in multi-media courses.
References[edit]
External links[edit]
- Official website
- Yale Daily News article about lawsuit
- Yale's Online Media section
- Yale's online student magazine "ZED"
- Yale's "Student Work" section
- Yale's "Media Mouse Radio," which hosts student-produced podcasts
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