South Downs College
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| Type | Further Education College |
|---|---|
| Principal | Lyn Surgeon |
| Location |
College Road Waterlooville Hampshire PO7 8AA  England Coordinates: 50°51′42″N 1°01′16″W / 50.86159°N 1.02111°W |
| Local authority | Hampshire |
| DfE number | 850/8008 |
| DfE URN | 130695 Tables |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Ages | 16+ |
| Website | www.southdowns.ac.uk |
South Downs College is a further education college located in Waterlooville, to the north of Portsmouth, England.
The College occupies a single site, purpose-built campus on Portsdown Hill, within the Borough of Havant.
The majority of the College's students are drawn from Havant and Portsmouth, an area with a combined population of over 300,000.[citation needed]
It currently offers 45 A-Level subjects and 40 vocational subjects to full-time students as well as over 600 courses for part-time students.[citation needed]
Some of the College's part-time provision is based off-campus mostly within schools and community centres to meet more localised needs. The College actively supports lifelong learning within the community and aims to expand its provision in local centres opening, in October 2000, the Leigh Park Learning Centre in the Greywell shopping precinct in Leigh Park.[citation needed]
South Downs College is continually improving its facilities with twelve new building programmes in as many years. Major developments include: new teaching areas, theatre and allied performing arts provision; a large modern training salon in the Hair and Beauty Department; a Fitness Centre containing state of the art facilities and equipment, including a large area with both CV machines and free weights; a new purpose built music building, featuring recital room, practice rooms and a recording studio; a refurbished fully licensed restaurant; enhanced laboratories; media studio; networked information technology facilities and a new purpose built animal building for handling and care courses.[citation needed]
As a result the college has become increasingly popular and currently has around 5,000 full-time students and 7,000 part-time students.[citation needed]
The College's exam results are consistently above the national average. In 2009 students achieved a 99.6% A Level pass rate out of 1,698 entries, the highest in the College's history and improving on the 99.5% achieved in 2008.
Of the 44 subjects sat, 41 achieved a 100% pass rate and 81% of students achieved an A-C grade with 50% achieving an A or B grade. Art & Design, Critical Thinking and Latin all achieved 100% A-C profile.[citation needed]
In 2005 the South Downs College was judged to be an 'outstanding college' by Ofsted. In October 2007 Ofsted again judged the College as 'outstanding'.[1]
In 2009 the College Restaurant and Café Bar was declared regional winner for the South for the third time in four years and overall UK winner of the College Restaurant of the Year competition.
References
External links
- Official Website
- Independent news article
- Ofsted inspection report (2004)
- Portsmouth Today, article on college restaurant
- Portsmouth News, Restaurant Review
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