Pride of our Town - Barnsley College

Who would believe that after Barnsley College’s tumultuous past, which included being the hot topic in the House of Commons, to meeting the past and present Prime Ministers in the fight to secure funding for College new builds...Barnsley College has now been recognised as one of the best General Further Education (GFE) Colleges in the Country? 

The national education standard; Ofsted’s Common Inspection Framework (CIF) which came to force in 2009, awarded the overall grade of Outstanding to Barnsley College....only the fourth GFE College in the country to achieve the overall Outstanding grade.  This is all in a landscape where the number of Outstanding Colleges has fallen by two thirds over the past year; standards have been raised, criteria more robust and the necessity for transparency.  But most impressively Barnsley College was awarded 20 Outstanding grades out of a possible 22, and 2 Good grades, which is by a distance the best GFE College grade profile in the Country to date.

This exceptional result illustrates Barnsley College’s rapid improvement since 2007, when the College was only recognised as satisfactory.  And this has all been achieved prior to the new build opening its doors in summer 2011. 

Colin Booth, Principal said: “I have often said that outstanding teaching and learning does not depend on bricks and mortar but on excellent and committed staff and students.  We have smashed all recruitment targets with around 5,000 16-18 year olds and 2,000 adults currently studying at the College.  But our focus and priority is always about quality, and we work tirelessly to ensure every one of our learners reach, and regularly surpass their potential.  Ofsted stated in their report that ‘The college provides an inspirational resource for the Barnsley community and a transformational one for many learners’ , ‘Learners make outstanding progress at the college, and for many, the period they spend at the college represents a life-transforming journey’ and ‘teaching is often inspirational’. Our students’ achievements and commitment speak for themselves and they are at the heart of everything we do.  The fact we are a Tertiary College enables us to be so successful.

Barnsley College has been Yorkshire’s best kept secret for too long...people no longer come to Barnsley College as it is convenient...people now aspire to come to Barnsley College, as they know they will receive first-class learning, opportunities and experiences with the added confidence that Ofsted graded us Outstanding across almost every aspect of our work. 

We are very excited to open the doors of our state-of-the-art new building next summer, as this will further inspire people through excellent facilities that match our staff and students’ energy, vision and aspirations.  During the week long inspection between 1-5 November we had our first Open Evening of the year.  6,000 people attended the event which was more than all three Open Evenings last year; this shows that our reputation for quality was already recognised and now this superb national accolade will encourage even more people to come to Barnsley College; to access some of the best possible learning, opportunities and prospects available in the country.”

Frank Johnston, Chair of Governors said: “I am highly delighted that our staff and students have achieved this well-deserved outcome.  It is the result of great energy and drive from exceptionally skilled and dedicated staff who work with, and for the benefit of, our hard-working and often inspirational students.  I am very proud of Barnsley College and the extraordinary service it provides to our young people, adults, businesses and communities.”