National Star College

Last updated

Ullenwood National Star College Ullenwood National Star College - geograph.org.uk - 524806.jpg
Ullenwood National Star College

The National Star College (previously known as the Star Centre) is an independent specialist further education college for people with physical disabilities, acquired brain injuries and associated learning difficulties. It is based at Ullenwood Manor in the village of Ullenwood, near the spa town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

Contents

It is constituted as a company and registered charity under English law, using the official name National Star Centre for Disabled Youth. [1]

In June 2012, the National Star College received an 'Outstanding' rating from Ofsted. [2] The outstanding rating was continued in the 2018 inspection. [3]

History

On 10 May 1967, the Star Centre, as it was then known, opened its doors for the first time with 10 students and 26 members of staff.

The first headmaster was Geoffrey Tudor, deputy, Mr. John Sheeran, and the bursar, Mr. Bill Rosters. Tewkesbury Register - Friday 19 May 1967.

The Star Centre was originally established as a charity to offer support and education to children whose lives had been affected by thalidomide - a drug that was used to treat morning sickness in pregnant women but which in numerous cases caused serious side effects for the foetus.

During the 1960s, opportunities for further education and vocational training did not exist for school leavers with learning disabilities, so it was decided that the College would be solely for over-16s; which has continued through to today. [4]

In 1970, the Star Centre became the National Star Centre for Disabled Youth to reflect the fact that students came from all over the UK and then in 2002, it received its present name, the National Star College.

Services today and rationale

The college is a further education college focussing on literacy, numeracy, communication and ICT for disabled people. [5] Courses are provided both as residential and as day courses.

Advances in medical care over the last 45 years have meant an increase in the survival of premature babies, and more children surviving major illness and accidents, which often causes lifelong severe disabilities. There has also been improved integration of students with less severe disabilities into mainstream educational provision, meaning National Star College has moved towards even more specialist provision.

Most of the students at National Star College today require very high levels of personal support, 80% are wheelchair users, over 50% require speech and language therapy, 20% use a communication aid, and 13% have a life-limiting condition.

The changing and more complex needs of the students meant that the College needed to change and grow. A development plan to expand and improve all of the College’s facilities through a combination of new buildings, conversion, and refurbishment was put into place and in 2007 the College launched the £15.4million ‘Star Appeal’ round of fundraising. The appeal was successful and building work commenced in 2010, [6] with the first phase completed in June 2011.

June 2012 Ofsted Inspection [2]
SectionResult
Overall Effectiveness of ProvisionGrade 1 (Outstanding)
Capacity to make and sustain improvementGrade 1 (Outstanding)
Outcomes for learnersGrade 1 (Outstanding)
The quality of provisionGrade 1 (Outstanding)
Leadership and ManagementGrade 1 (Outstanding)

Estate and grounds

Ullenwood Manor was built around 1850 as a private residence, [7] and subsequently used as preparatory school for boys. It is located in a secluded woodland location in the hills above Leckhampton, Cheltenham.

Modern college grounds include a private 18-hole golf course used by Ullenwood Manor Golfing Society. [8] The manor building also provides conference facilities available for use by the general public. [7]

New Facility

Sky Garden green roof installers putting the finishing touches to the sedum roof. Sky Garden National Star Green Roof.JPG
Sky Garden green roof installers putting the finishing touches to the sedum roof.

The new £6m development in Pittville features student accommodation and a learning and activities centre to replace the outdated accommodation in an ideal location. Located close enough to the Cheltenham's centre but on the edge of the prestigious Pittville Park, the students will get a healthy mix of town and green space. [9]

Local building contractor Speller Metcalfe completed the works on the project, whilst making every effort to preserve the existing ecology of the landscape and adding to it with extra planting and landscaping. Another local company, Sky Garden, added four green roofs to the buildings to increase the biodiversity of the site. The sedum roof will not only help with wildlife but also insulate the buildings and reduce heating expenses for the residents. The Green roofs were installed on a 15 degree slope and required specialist retention batons to stop the system from sliding off the roof. [10]

Notable pupils

Tributary of the Thames

The River Churn, commonly held to be one of, if not the primary sources of the River Thames, is joined within Coberley by a still longer tributary which has its source in the grounds of the National Star College. [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheltenham</span> Place in England

Cheltenham, also known as Cheltenham Spa, and sometimes called "the Garden Town of England", is a spa town on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is also a local government district with borough status. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the most complete Regency town in Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Gloucestershire</span> Public university in Gloucestershire, England

The University of Gloucestershire is a public university based in Gloucestershire, England. It is located over three campuses, two in Cheltenham and one in Gloucester. In March 2021, the university purchased the former Debenhams store in Gloucester City Centre, with a new campus due to open there in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pate's Grammar School</span> School in Cheltenham, England

Pate's Grammar School is a grammar school with academy status in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. It caters for pupils aged 11 to 18. The school was founded with a fund bestowed to Corpus Christi College, Oxford, by Richard Pate in 1574. The school became co-educational in 1986, when Pate's Grammar School for Girls merged with Cheltenham Grammar School.

Brampton Manor Academy is an 11–19 mixed, secondary school and selective sixth form with academy status in East Ham, London, England. It is the second largest school in the London Borough of Newham. In 2019, 41 of its students were offered Oxbridge places; in 2020 the number was 51 and in 2021 it was 55.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christ's College, Guildford</span> Academy in Guildford, Surrey, England

Christ's College is a grade 11 to 16 secondary school administered by the Church of England that serves the Bellfields neighbourhood of Guildford, Surrey, and England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Aidan's Church of England High School</span> Academy in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England

St Aidan's Church of England High School is a mixed Church of England secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. It currently houses over 2500 students of both lower school and sixth form age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pittville</span>

Pittville is a residential suburb of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, founded in the early 19th century by Joseph Pitt. The population of Pittville Ward at the 2011 Census was 5,327. It contains Pittville Park, with its long gardens, two lakes, boat house, three cafes, tennis courts, menagerie, children's play area, 9-hole pitch and putt golf course, and one of Cheltenham's grandest and most celebrated buildings, the Pump Room.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Castle School, Taunton</span> Academy in Taunton, Somerset, England

The Castle School is a co-educational secondary school in Taunton, Somerset, England. It had 1,189 pupils aged 11 to 16 in 2017, and has had specialist Sports College status since 2003. It has been granted a second specialism in Vocational Education. During the school's Ofsted inspection in 2009, it received an "outstanding" rating in 26 out of 27 criteria. In July 2011, the school became an Academy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pittville Pump Room</span>

Amery Hill School is a coeducational secondary school with academy status set on a hill above the market town of Alton, Hampshire, England. Its head teacher is Mr R. Jeckells.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">City Lit</span> Adult education college in Holborn, London, England

City Lit is an adult education college in Holborn, central London, founded by the London County Council in 1919, which has charitable status. It offers part-time courses across four schools and five "centres of expertise", covering humanities and sciences, languages, performing arts, visual arts, deaf education, family learning, community outreach, learning disabilities education, speech therapy and universal skills.

Chelmer Valley High School (CVHS) is an academy based on a large site on the outskirts of Chelmsford, Essex, England. It has specialisms in engineering, and is assessed as one of the best performing comprehensive schools in Essex; it was given an "outstanding" rating by Ofsted in 2007, and as "good" in 2013. The school also received an Ofsted rating of "good" in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hadlow College</span> FE and HE college in Kent, UK

Hadlow College is a further and higher education college in Hadlow, Kent, England, with a satellite site in Greenwich. The curriculum primarily covers land-based subjects including Agriculture, Horticulture, Conservation and Wildlife Management, Animal Management, Fisheries Management, Equine Studies and Floristry. Additionally, intermediate and advanced apprenticeships are offered in Golf Greenkeeping, Sports Turf, Agriculture, Horticulture and Land-based Engineering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ullenwood</span>

Ullenwood is a village in the Coberley civil parish, near Cheltenham in Gloucestershire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Nicholas Hamond Academy</span> Academy in Swaffham, Norfolk, England

The Nicholas Hamond Academy is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in Swaffham, Norfolk, England. The present-day school was the product of a merger of the local grammar and secondary modern schools in 1977.

Therfield School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Leatherhead, Surrey, England. Therfield School sixth form teaches courses of further education for students between the ages of 16 and 18 and has an arrangement of reciprocated entry criteria with three others in the county: The Ashcombe School, Warlingham School and Oxted School.

Paddington Academy is a non-selective co-educational secondary school and academy located in Maida Vale in the borough of Westminster and the ceremonial county of London, England. Established in September 2006, it is run by United Learning, formerly known as United Church Schools Trust. It was officially opened by The Princess Royal on 19 March 2009 at 9 am.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Knyvett College</span> Secondary academy converter school in Ashford, England

Thomas Knyvett College is a medium sized mixed school with Academy Converter status educating students aged 11–16 in Ashford, Surrey, England. The college is part of the Howard Schools Trust which includes the Howard of Effingham School in Effingham in the county, the schools within which are supported by an Executive Headteacher, the prototype arrangement of its kind in the United Kingdom.

References

  1. ↑ "National Star Centre for Disabled Youth, registered charity no. 220239". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
  2. 1 2 "National Star College Inspection 2012". reports.ofsted.gov.uk. Ofsted. 15 June 2012. Archived from the original on 1 September 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  3. ↑ "National Star College Inspection 2018". Ofsted. Archived from the original on 1 September 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  4. ↑ "National Star College". Government Schools Information. Archived from the original on 1 September 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  5. ↑ "Prospectus" (PDF). National Star College. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 September 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  6. ↑ "Report 2009/2010" (PDF). National Star College. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 September 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  7. 1 2 "National Star College". Choose you venue. Archived from the original on 1 September 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  8. ↑ "Star Golf". Star Golf. Archived from the original on 26 March 2019. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  9. ↑ "National Star's Pittville Project Takes Shape". National Star. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  10. ↑ "Sedum Roof System At National Star College | Gallery | Sky Garden". www.sky-garden.co.uk. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  11. ↑ "Coberley Pages 174-183 A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 7". British History Online. Victoria County History. Archived from the original on 7 April 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2019.

51°50′59″N2°5′01″W / 51.84972°N 2.08361°W / 51.84972; -2.08361

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.