| Type | Further education college |
|---|---|
| Principal | Stephen M Davies |
| Location | West Street, Moulton Northampton Northamptonshire NN3 7RR England |
| Local authority | Northamptonshire County Council |
| DfE URN | 130772 |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Gender | Mixed |
| Ages | 15+ |
| Website | official website |
Moulton College is a primarily agricultural college in Northamptonshire, England, although it has in the last decade introduced sports qualifications courses. There are satellite colleges in Northamptonshire, such as Daventry, Silverstone and Higham Ferrers.. Moulton College is thought to be unique in British Further Education in that it is the only land-based College to deliver courses from entry level through to doctorate level. Moulton College's Higher Education courses are validated through the University of Northampton.
Moulton College runs a number of commercial ventures from its campus in Moulton. This includes a working farm, a sports centre, an equestrian centre, garden centre, two veternary surgeries, a florists, pet shop and a number of coffee shops. The sports facilties at the College are available for use by the general public and are used by many local sports team, with Northampton Town FC and England women's national field hockey team both regularly training on the campus. The College campus also includes an arboretum, which was planted at the turn of the millennium.
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Moulton College, Northamptonshire - A Brief Introduction
Moulton College, formerly the Northamptonshire College of Agriculture, was established on its present site in 1921, to provide agricultural education and training for the farming community. From its foundation until the late 1980s the College continued to offer a fairly narrow curriculum based around agriculture, horticulture and rural home economics.
In 1992 the College became independent of the local authority. To meet the challenges associated with independence, it has expanded rapidly to meet student demand and now has 3,200 full-time students and more than 4,000 part-time students (including 500 Apprentices) and some 750 Higher Education students.
Since independence, nearly £45 million has been invested in buildings and other teaching resources to ensure that learners now benefit from an unrivalled learning environment. Work on a further £15 million of capital development is currently underway with the building of a Leisure and Welfare Centre for staff and students, a state of the art Sports Therapy and Injury Rehabilitation Centre with a 25 metre swimming pool, further teaching classrooms and Registry Services. These facilities are all due to be complete during 2001/12.
Moulton’s mission is to be ‘a Centre of Excellence for Education and Training for the Natural, Built and Recreational Environment by providing relevant and cost-effective vocational opportunities for everyone who will benefit from them’.
To achieve this mission, the College now employs over 800 staff and offers a wide range of courses ranging from pre-entry further education to higher education doctorate level.
The main college estate is located in the semi-rural setting of Moulton village, 5 miles from the centre of Northampton town. In 1997 a satellite horticultural education centre was established in the precincts of Peterborough Cathedral, and in January 1999 the college assumed the management of a community training centre in the Great Billing area of Northampton. In 2001 a schools centre offering environment-based courses for school groups at key stages 1, 2 and 3 was opened on the Holdenby Estate, some 6 miles north of Moulton. To enhance access to Moulton’s courses by non-resident students a Vocational Skills Academy serving South Northants (Silverstone) opened in January 2004, and further academies opened in East Northants (Higham Ferrers) and Daventry during 2006/07.
The main campus extends to 500 hectares and comprises college buildings, gardens and associated facilities, together with commercial enterprises including the farm, equestrian unit, garden centre and nursery with florist and pet shop, sports complex, small animal and equestrian therapy units and veterinary practices. In addition the College rents a further 170 hectares of farmland to allow its enterprises to operate on a fully commercial scale. The college farm includes 250 dairy cows plus followers, 1000 breeding ewes, a demonstration beef unit and a range of arable crops. All enterprises operate to commercial standards and provide a wide range of learning and teaching opportunities.
An Information Technology network linking all parts of the Moulton campus was initially installed in 1998, and has been upgraded to provide high speed links across the main campus sites and to the Vocational Skills Academies.
Residential accommodation is available on site for 182 students. Most of this accommodation comprises modern ensuite rooms grouped within halls for 10-12 students. Self-catering accommodation for 36 Higher Education students, together with supervised accommodation for students with severe learning difficulties and/or disabilities opened in November, 2005.
The Lodge Farm Management Centre specialises in courses in waste management, mechanical handling and information technology. It provides for a wide range of commercial clients both from Northamptonshire and further afield. Purpose built Business Incubator Units, that the College rents to new enterprises on a subsidised basis are available at the East Northants Vocational Skills Academy at Higham Ferrers.
A number of education, training and countryside businesses rent offices on the college estate. The symbiotic relationships that exist between the college and its tenants both extend educational opportunity and strengthen links with local organisations.
During 2011/12 the College will generate a total income approaching £30 million and the College has enjoyed ‘Grade A’ outstanding financial status throughout the last decade.
The college operates a managing agency and brokerage for up to 600 trainees under contract to the Skills Funding Agency, and provides off the job training for both its own Apprentices and for those from other agencies.
Higher Education is delivered in partnership with the University of Northampton and includes a wide range of Higher National, Foundation, Honours and Higher Degree programmes. Moulton has received direct funding from the Higher Education Funding Council since August 2007.
Both full-time and part-time programmes are offered for students with learning difficulties and / or disabilities, and an extensive support network provides for learners who need help in developing their study skills.
A wide range of vocational link courses is offered to over 800 pupils from around 50 secondary schools and this includes courses leading to NPTC, NVQ and Diploma qualifications.
Several of the neighbouring counties to the south and east offer a limited range of specialist land-based provision and Moulton actively markets its provision in those counties. The college operates an extensive network of subsidised buses, and 28 coaches currently transport students to and from their homes daily.
In 2001, the Learning and Skills Council awarded the College ‘Centre of Vocational Excellence’ status for its Construction programmes. The College also holds ‘Investor in People’, Careermark, Matrix, ‘Basic Skills Agency Quality Mark’ and ‘Positive about Disabled People’ accreditation.
In October 2004, following an ‘Outstanding’ inspection by Ofsted, Moulton was awarded DfES (now LSIS) ‘Beacon’ status.
During 2008, the College was inspected by Ofsted who judged Moulton to be ‘Outstanding’ under each of the 5 key questions and to provide ‘Outstanding Value for Money’.
In November 2009, Ofsted carried out a Residential Care Standards inspection, when they judged residential provision and support for 16-18 students to be ‘outstanding’ under every category and to be ‘outstanding’ overall.
In March 2010, the College received ‘Best Companies’ accreditation, and was placed in the top half of the Sunday Times ‘75 Best Places to Work in the Public Sector’ list. This was followed in 2011 by the College being awarded ‘2* accreditation’ by Best Companies and was placed within the top 40 of the ‘Sunday Times Best 100 Places to Work in the Public and Third Sector’ list.
90 years after establishment in its permanent home in Moulton village, the College still seeks to pursue excellence, whilst continuing to offer opportunity to those who have not previously tasted success or achieved formal qualifications.
Stephen M Davies
Principal