Three Shropshire Colleges set to create £30m+ group

Shrewsbury College is welcoming Shrewsbury Sixth Form College into the federation plans that have already started with New College Telford.

The three colleges partnering would enable all the colleges to capitalise on their strengths and prevent the need for curriculum duplication at a time when colleges are facing significant funding pressures and a reducing school population.

The move should see the Sixth Form Colleges increasingly specialise in the delivery of high quality A level provision in the Telford and Shrewsbury areas, with Shrewsbury College delivering a strong set of vocational courses, Apprenticeships and Higher Education. Shrewsbury school leavers will be able to choose from a wider range of curriculum options and each college will retain its existing entry criteria and ethos.

All three colleges are now in a period of discussion, students who start at any of the colleges in September 2015 or 2016 are guaranteed to begin and end their studies at the college they have applied to.

It is hoped that the federation will become a mechanism for more partnerships in the future ideally with other colleges, training providers and perhaps schools.

Each federation member is expected to remain at its own location, and retain its own independence and operational control over its curriculum as well as its identity and branding.

If all goes to plan, the federation between the three colleges will be in place by the end of 2015. It would become the largest education group in the county providing education and training for all of Shropshire and beyond.