Weston College
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| Motto | "Creating brighter futures" |
|---|---|
| Established | 1845 |
| Principal | Dr Paul Phillips |
| Founder | Henry Law |
| Students | 30,000 (approx.) |
| Undergraduates | 862 |
| Location |
Weston-Super-Mare, North Somerset, United Kingdom 51°21′03″N 2°58′53″W / 51.350896°N 2.981486°WCoordinates: 51°21′03″N 2°58′53″W / 51.350896°N 2.981486°W |
| Website | weston |
Weston College of Further and Higher Education is a general college of further and higher education in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England. It provides education and vocational training from age 14 to adult to learners based across the country. In 2015, the college provided education to approximately 30,000 learners. It is regarded as one of the top FE colleges in the UK.
In an Ofsted inspection in January 2014 it received an overall grade of "outstanding". On 27 February 2015, the college was named "College of the Year" and "Overall FE Provider of the Year" at the Times Educational Supplement Further Education awards. It is a major employer in Weston-super-Mare. On 25 November 2015, the college announced that it was to become a university centre in partnership with the University of the West of England.
The first educational building to be built on the college site was the National School, constructed at the corner of Knightstone Road and Lower Church Road. Its construction was funded by Archdeacon Henry Law, Weston-super-Mare’s rector from 1834 to 1838 and also 1840 to 1862. Archdeacon Law donated approximately £15,000 towards the cost of churches, schools and other public buildings in the Weston area. The National School opened to 320 students on 22 September 1845 - the day George Henry Law (Bishop of Bath and Wells), the archdeacon’s father, died.
In 1897, the boys’ department moved to the newly built Board School in Walliscote Road and the National School became a girls’ school. The school changed its name to St John’s Church School and was closed in 1964 before being demolished in May 1966 to make way for the development of Weston Technical College, a building that is now used as the college's Knightstone Campus.
Following the mid-century reforms of Henry Cole and others, which promoted the creation of schools to develop a pool of skilled technicians and designers necessary to maintain the country’s industrial dominance, the Hans Price-designed School of Science and Art, now known as the Weston College Conference Centre, was built in 1892 and opened the following year. The building was Grade 2 listed on 19 May 1983 and was completely refurbished from a derelict state in 2012. In August 2013, the college's redevelopment of the building was nominated for an English Heritage Angel Award to "recognise the time, effort and determination" of the college for the rescue of the building.
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