Former names | King's Lynn Technical School Norfolk College of Arts and Technology Cambridgeshire College of Agriculture and Horticulture Isle College |
---|---|
Motto | Changing lives through learning |
Established | 1894 |
Principal | David Pomfret |
Students | 7,400 |
Location | , |
Website | cwa.ac.uk |
The College of West Anglia (often abbreviated to CoWA or CWA) is a four-campus college of further and higher education in Cambridgeshire and Norfolk, England. The college has three campuses, located in King's Lynn, Milton and Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, as well as a sports campus at Alive Lynnsport in King's Lynn. The college has approximately 7,400 students and 750 staff. [1] [2]
The college is the result of mergers of smaller colleges. King's Lynn Technical School (founded in 1894), King's Lynn, Norfolk. A merger with the Cambridgeshire College of Agriculture and Horticulture to form the College of West Anglia in 1998. A merger with the Isle College, Wisbech (founded Isle of Ely, 1955), Cambridgeshire in 2006, retaining the College of West Anglia name. [3]
The College of West Anglia educates over 10,000 full-time and part-time students each academic year, across a wide range of vocational and academic fields. In addition to full-time and part-time courses, the college also offers bespoke training for local businesses, apprenticeships and higher education courses, run in partnership with Anglia Ruskin University. The college has around 750 members of staff working across the three main campuses, and its other premises.
Under the previous Ofsted inspection criteria, the college was rated outstanding (grade 1) in 2007-2008. The most recent Ofsted inspection in 2019 ranked the college as good (grade 2). [4]
In 2009, building work commenced on the existing sites in King's Lynn, Milton and Wisbech at a cost of over £35 million. [5] The work includes two new technology centres at King's Lynn and Wisbech, both of which opened in 2013, a renovation of the tower block at King's Lynn and redevelopment at the Milton campus, including a bespoke higher education area.
In 2012, the college moved its sport provision to Lynnsport and Leisure Centre, in collaboration with King's Lynn and West Norfolk borough council. In association with Freebridge Community Housing and the Benjamin Foundation, the college's foundation studies is provision is located at separate premises in King's Lynn. [6] The college received a £1.75m grant from the government in 2012 to develop a creative arts centre specialising in TV, film and performing arts at the King's Lynn campus. [7]
In the same year, the college also announced plans to begin a £10 million refurbishment project on its "Tower Block" building within the King's Lynn campus. The plan includes the replacement of all the windows within the building, re-cladding the exterior and building an extension to the ground floor for a new student restaurant and social area. [8]
The college was founded in 1894 as the King's Lynn Technical School. In 1973 it was renamed The Norfolk College of Arts and Technology, commonly abbreviated to "Norcat". In 1998, Norcat merged with the Cambridgeshire College of Agriculture & Horticulture, which added a land-based provision in Cambridgeshire. The revised institution adopted the name, College of West Anglia. In April 2006, Isle College in Wisbech was added in a further merger, to form the current, enlarged College of West Anglia. [9]
The college's principal is David Pomfret. Pomfret joined the college in 2005, having previously been principal of Boston College. He has a background in education and training, having worked as a lecturer in business studies. Pomfret represents the college on a wide variety of professional and educational boards within Norfolk and Cambridgeshire. [10]
Cambridgeshire or the County of Cambridge is a ceremonial county and historic county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west. The largest settlement is the city of Peterborough, and the city of Cambridge is the county town.
East Anglia is an area in the East of England. It comprises the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, with Cambridgeshire and Essex also included in some definitions. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in what is now Northern Germany.
Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is a public university in East Anglia, United Kingdom. Its origins are in the Cambridge School of Art (CSA), founded by William John Beamont, a Fellow of Trinity College at University of Cambridge, in 1858. It became a university in 1992, and was renamed after John Ruskin, the Oxford University professor and author, in 2005. Ruskin gave the inauguration speech of the Cambridge School of Art in 1858. It is one of the "post-1992 universities". The motto of the university is in Latin Excellentia per societatem, in English Excellence through partnership. Anglia Ruskin University was named University of the Year 2023 by Times Higher Education.
King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located 98 miles (158 km) north of London, 36 miles (58 km) north-east of Peterborough, 44 miles (71 km) north-north-east of Cambridge and 44 miles (71 km) west of Norwich.
Wisbech is a market town, inland port and civil parish in the Fenland district in Cambridgeshire, England. In 2011 it had a population of 31,573. The town lies in the far north-east of Cambridgeshire, bordering Norfolk and only 5 miles (8 km) south of Lincolnshire. The tidal River Nene running through the town is spanned by two road bridges. Wisbech is in the Isle of Ely and has been described as "the Capital of The Fens".
The A10 is a major road in England which runs between The City of London and King's Lynn in Norfolk.
Downham Market, sometimes simply referred to as Downham, is a market town and civil parish in Norfolk, England. It lies on the edge of the Fens, on the River Great Ouse, approximately 11 miles south of King's Lynn, 39 miles west of Norwich and 30 miles north of Cambridge.
Bradford College is a further and higher education college in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, with approximately 25,000 students. The college offers a range of full and part-time courses from introductory level through to postgraduate level and caters for a variety of students, including school leavers, adults wanting to return to education, degree-level students and those seeking professional qualifications.
Wisbech Grammar School is an 11–18 mixed, Church of England, private day school and sixth form in Wisbech, Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. Founded by the Guild of the Holy Trinity in 1379, it is one of the oldest schools in the country.
Furness College is a college of further education in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. It provides a wide range of A levels, vocational education and skills training to over 16s, notably working with BAE Systems to train apprentices for their shipyard in Barrow. The college also offers courses for adults, and runs HNDs and other higher education programmes including foundation degrees, degrees and master's degrees, for which it achieved Teaching Excellence Framework silver status in June 2017. It is the only college in Barrow and the largest further education college in Cumbria. On 1 August 2016, Furness College merged with Barrow Sixth Form College.
City College Norwich is a college of further and higher education in Norfolk, England. It is one of the largest colleges in the country. The College has expanded in recent years following mergers with Easton College in 2020 and Paston College in North Walsham in 2017.
King's Lynn Academy is a 11-16 mixed secondary school in the West Norfolk town of King's Lynn. It is situated on Queen Mary Road in Gaywood; and is one of four schools serving the town and adjacent villages.
King Edward VII Academy is a large, mixed comprehensive secondary school in Gaywood Road (A148), King's Lynn, Norfolk, England with around 1,300 pupils, including about 300 in sixth form education. Prior to the school year beginning in September 1979, KES was an all-boys state grammar school.
Barrow Sixth Form College, part of Furness College, is in the outskirts of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. Barrow Sixth Form College was established in 1979 to fulfil the role of the main A level provider in Barrow following the merger of the two Barrow Grammar Schools and their change to deliver education to only 11 to 16 year-olds. It is the only sixth form college in Cumbria. A levels and Cambridge Technical qualifications are taught in buildings that have been specially designed for students over the age of sixteen. It includes facilities for physically disabled students and is a satellite campus for Beaumont. The college primarily educates students within the age range of 16–18 years, as well as courses for adult learners.
Hull College is a Further Education and Higher Education establishment based in Kingston upon Hull, England.
Walsoken is a settlement and civil parish in Norfolk, England, which is conjoined as a suburb at the northeast of the town of Wisbech, Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire.
Springwood High School is a secondary school with academy status in the town of King's Lynn in Norfolk, England. It was formed by the merger of several schools when the government began to abolish the tripartite system in the mid-1960s. Springwood has over 1700 pupils, including a Sixth Form with over 300 pupils and has been designated a Specialist Performing Arts College.
Eastern Multi-academy Trust was formed by resolution 9 May 2017, when the College of West Anglia withdrew its membership from the CWA Academy Trust.
New City College (NCC) is a large college of further education with campuses in East London and Essex. The college was formed in 2016 with the amalgamation of separate colleges, beginning with the merger between Tower Hamlets College and Hackney Community College, followed by the gradual additions of Redbridge College, Epping Forest College, and both Havering College of Further and Higher Education and Havering Sixth Form College. It is the second largest provider of post-16 education in the country since 2019.
The Isle College, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, opened in 1956 as the Isle of Ely Further Education College and Horticultural Institute. In 1983, it became a tertiary education college. In 1987, its horticultural institute separated to become part of the Cambridgeshire College of Agriculture and Horticulture. In 2006, the Isle College was dissolved and merged with The College of West Anglia to become the expanded college's "Isle Campus".