Type | Further Education College |
---|---|
Principal | Karen Spencer |
Location |
Velizy Avenue Harlow Essex CM20 3EZ England 51°46′14″N 0°05′57″E / 51.77047°N 0.09918°ECoordinates: 51°46′14″N 0°05′57″E / 51.77047°N 0.09918°E |
Local authority | Essex |
DfE URN | 130676 |
Gender | Co-educational |
Ages | 16+ |
Website | http://www.harlow-college.ac.uk |
Harlow College (formerly Harlow Technical College) is a Further Education college in Harlow, Essex, England. Harlow College's Principal and Chief Executive is Karen Spencer.
The college is distinguished by its success rates and its Journalism Centre, which it has operated since 1964.
Formed in 1964, Harlow College's Journalism Centre is a journalism training centre, with courses accredited through the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) and the Periodical Training Council (PTC). The centre boasts strong links with Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, through a BA Hons Journalism degree.
The journalism students studying at BTEC level are now able to use the new £9m University Centre Harlow facilities, which is part of Anglia Ruskin University.
The current college was predated by a boys' boarding school of the same name, originally dating from 1862, which was situated in Old Harlow.
The college has three divisions:
In 2006/06, the college enrolled about 2,070 learners aged 16–18 and about 3,040 adult learners, with an income of around £20m.
In September 2010, five students created the college's first student paper - The Harlow Harrier. It gives news on student issues, jobs in journalism, sports news, and local politics. The Founding Editor is Talal Musa - a former News of the World trainee sub-editor who worked on the sports desk at the Daily Mail. Musa now covers gaming and technology for The Sun.
The Harlow College of today was preceded by a boys' school (boarding and day), originally known as St. Mary's College, but later as Harlow College. The college was opened by the Reverend Charles Miller on 29 May 1862, in Old Harlow. It was founded with the aim "to provide a superior education for the sons of gentlemen and (when sufficient amounts have been obtained) to train at low charge, the sons of missionaries abroad, of clergymen similarly engaged at home, as well as orphan sons of gentlemen who have been reduced in circumstances".
The original buildings were built by the architect R. J. Withers. The design forming a quadrangle, the front being lower by two stories than the rest. At the eastern end a chapel was planned, in similar style and architecture, for the sole use of students". When the school opened in May 1862, the eastern wing had been built, together with half the northern annexe, however, the projected front and chapel were never built, robbing the architect of his cloistered vision. The nearby church of St. John the Baptist was used as the school's chapel.