Reigate College

Reigate College is a state sixth form college in Reigate, Surrey, for 16-19 year old students. The College is situated very near to both the town centre and the train station. There are about 1600 students currently studying here.

Academics

Recruiting from over 100 state and independent schools, the College also serves as the sixth form for its partner schools: Oakwood School, Reigate School, The Warwick School, de Stafford School and The Royal Alexandra and Albert School.

Reigate College is the only specialist sixth form college in South East Surrey and has been oversubscribed every year since 1987.

GCE AS/A level, BTEC, GNVQ and GCSE courses are offered over one or two years and such courses provide progression to higher education, professional training and employment. The College works through these programmes in partnership with parents and has a strong tutorial and guidance system to help and encourage students. Progress is monitored and evaluated on an ongoing basis, with additional support and specialist help offered to those who need it.

Facilities

The College has undergone an extensive building programme and in the last few years has opened a business centre, a visual arts block, a media and performing arts centre, classroom block and a purpose built dance studio.

The College also invests highly into IT solutions and uses open source software such as moodle as well as other software solutions including Ranger; each student is issued with a College E-mail address. The College has also recently commissioned a redesign of their website and the contract has gone to Jarrett & Lam Consulting. Addendum: the new Reigate College is complete and is available from [1]

Both PC's and Macs are available for Student use, in the Independent Learning Centres (ILCs) and in classrooms.

Sport

All students are encouraged to participate in sport and recreation. Even if students have not chosen to study PE or Sport, there are plenty of opportunities to take part in competitive sport or individual or group activities.

The College has excellent sporting facilities, including

- a purpose built Sports Hall - playing fields catering for hockey, rugby, football and athletics - tennis and netball courts

The College use local facilities for swimming, squash and tennis. Hockey takes place at East Grinstead Sports Club, which has state-of-the-art facilities. Athletics usually takes place at Crawley Leisure Centre.

Reigate College has achieved a high standard of performance in a wide variety of sports. College teams play in local, county and national competitions in:

• football
• basketball
• rugby
• hockey
• netball
• swimming
• tennis
• table tennis
• athletics

Reigate College now belongs to British Colleges Sport. This association organises tournaments, leagues and fixtures for Sixth Form and Tertiary Colleges, and gives students the opportunity to play for the South East Colleges and British Colleges in competitions.

The College activities programme caters for those who prefer recreational sport. Students can take part in self defence, badminton, trampolining, archery and outdoor pursuits.

Arts

Performing Arts

The Performing Arts play a very important part in college life. The College has excellent facilities for music, dance and drama. These include two fully equipped performance spaces capable of housing a large audience.

There are at least two major productions a year. Recent full-scale productions have included:

- The Bells and The Corsican Brothers (drama) - Hot Feet (dance)

In addition there is an annual Music Festival in the summer, and Performing Arts students regularly devise, produce and perform their own shows.

Visual Arts

The College's Visual Arts Centre came into use in September 2002 and was formally opened by Dame Judi Dench in May 2003. It provides accommodation for Art, Photography, Graphic Design and Art History.

Students enjoy excellent facilities, including studios, darkrooms, and IT suites, and are able to develop and share ideas across subject boundaries in a purpose-built environment.

Information Technology

The computer facilities are amongst the best in the county. All students have the opportunity to make frequent use of information technology, even if not studying ICT or Computing.

The College encourages everyone to develop IT skills. Courses are available for all students who wish to take a formal qualification and there are specialist support staff available in the Independent Learning Centre to give individual help and guidance.

There are approximately 800 computers - both PCs and Apple Macs - available for student use. About 180 are located in Independent Learning Centres and other free access areas.

College students have their own user area on the college network and can use industry standard software such as Microsoft Word, Access and Excel, Adobe CS3 suite, as well as (filtered) access to the world wide web and a wide range of independent learning materials.

The Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) provides interactive learning materials for use during lessons or for independent study. Students can also access the VLE from anywhere via the internet. The VLE includes assessments and independent learning activities, all of which have been designed and developed by college teachers. Information from Careers, the College Counselling service and the Independent Learning Centres is also available.

In November 2008, the College was selected as one of only 30 further education institutions to take part in a MoLeNET (Mobile Learning Network) project. MoLeNET projects specialise in the implementation and evaluation of mobile technology e.g. mp3/4 players, netbooks etc in education. Reigate College's bid surrounds the use of podcasting and vodcasting to improve student participation in revision. Project Managed by the Head of ILT Development, Nick Clark, the College is in the process of implementing a College-wide wireless network access that will enable students to use their own mobile devices within the campus. The college currently has a large deployment of wireless access points to the network, how ever these are encrypted. The keys for which are not made known to the student body.

Independent Learning Centres (ILCs)

All students at Reigate College are expected to carry out individual study to build on what they have learned in lessons. There are two Independent Learning Centres (ILCs) and they exist to encourage and help develop independent learning skills.

The main Langham ILC is located on the first floor of the Langham Building, with wheelchair access by lift. It contains the Library as well as a computer suite with 66 computers.

The Langham ILC is open from 08.15 to 17.00 everyday during the term for borrowing, browsing or private study, and during the College holidays at times that are advertised in advance in the student bulletin as well as on College notice-boards.

ILC2, a computer suite of 42 computers, is situated in Room B17 on the ground floor of the Business Centre. It is open from 09.00 to 13.10 and from 13.50 to 16.10.

The ILC Library is a Silent Study Area. It is equipped with individual study booths, providing a working space close to relevant materials. It holds approximately 16,000 books (fiction, non-fiction and reference).

Students can find books using the ALICE online library catalogue, which also tells students whether the book is available or out on loan. The ALICE Inquiry Computer is located in the silent study area. Some books are restricted for use in the library only to make sure that all students have access to relevant information when they need it. The Library stocks a variety of daily newspapers, weekly and monthly magazines, including periodicals in specific subject areas published for further education students.

College departments can arrange for you to buy relevant magazines at a discounted rate through institutional membership schemes.

In addition to the ILCs in Langham and the Business Centre, there are a number of 'Satellite' learning centres providing Information Technology facilities around the College.

Notable Alumni

Past students have begun successful careers in the arts by taking part in College productions. Ex-students include:

• Fat Boy Slim
• Beautiful South
• a Stage Manager for a Royal National Youth Theatre production
• a House Manager at the Cottesloe Theatre
• Michael Greco, actor
• a professional acrobat at the Globe Theatre;
• the founders of the Mirage Dance Company.
• Robert Taylor, GB Fisherman and underwear model

Activities

Students could:

- sing with the vocal ensemble, or even perform a solo - dance in revues - play with the orchestra, in jazz concerts or the Battle of the Bands - take part in lunchtime concerts and the regular charity concerts - go to the theatre and to workshops to learn how other people perform

In addition students can take part in the Christmas Concert and in regular mini-productions throughout the year as well as devising pieces for Open Evenings.

The Activities Programme offers courses in stage management, improvisation and play reading as well as dance. To give students a wide range of professional works and ideas there is an extensive programme of theatre trips and workshops.

All productions are open to students from any subject discipline. All that's needed is enthusiasm and commitment.

The building also houses the History and Classical Civilisation departments, as well as offices for Senior Tutors and Heads of Faculty.

A lift gives wheelchair access to the first floor, and to the Independent Learning Centre in Langham Building.

Trips and Visits

Most departments arrange conferences and visits throughout the year to support students' learning.

During the last academic year:

- the Travel and Tourism students arranged and accompanied a trip to New York for the Performing Arts students; - the History students went to Berlin; - the English students visited the Battlefields of France; - there were field trips for Biology ( the West Country ) and Geography ( Yorkshire ); - ICT students went to Disneyland Paris; - Design students visited the Eden Project; - GNVQ Business students spent a study day in Brighton. - The College organised a highly successful ski trip to Austria.

The Language department runs a varied programme enabling students to discover European culture and a different way of life. This includes the opportunity to do work experience in Europe in July. The College Fund provides financial support for students who might otherwise not be able to take part in educational visits.

External links

• School Website.