Exciting times ahead at Strode College in Street as investment will see new facilities and courses

As an education provider that has been rated Outstanding by Ofsted, Strode College in Street is at the forefront of high quality learning and training for the local community.

Principal Katy Quinn is spearheading the college's quest to provide the best possible Sixth Form and Higher Education offering, alongside adult courses and work-based training such as apprenticeships and professional qualifications.

The college's ethos is to encourage all students to be ambitious and believe they can succeed - backed up by the fact that Strode is one of the best performing colleges nationally for delivering outstanding student progress.

Therefore, Street Nub News is delighted to welcome Strode College as a sponsor of our site, which supports us in bringing our online good news newspaper to our loyal readers.

We caught up with Katy and asked her what makes Strode stand out from other Sixth Form and adult education providers in Somerset.

"We believe that every individual, no matter what their starting point, has the potential to achieve great things," she said.

"We encourage all our students to realise their potential, maximise results and achieve success. Our staff are absolutely committed to ensuring all our students are given the very best opportunities to excel and succeed.

"We offer a wide range of high quality education and training to the local community. Our Sixth Form offer includes one of the largest A Level programmes in Somerset and we were one of the first colleges to offer the new national, industry focused, T Level qualifications.

"We have an outstanding reputation nationally for the exceptional progress that our students make.

"Their outstanding progress and achievements mean they are well prepared for future success, and we are incredibly proud of what our students go on to do after Strode College.

"To sum up Strode College, it's an amazing place to learn, with exceptional staff who are 100 per cent committed to ensuring students achieve fantastic results.

"Partnering with the Nub News community helps us spread the word of what's happening here at Strode College and what opportunities we have to offer to everyone in Somerset."

As well as being a forward thinking college, highlighted by its embrace of the new T Levels which started being rolled out last year, Strode is proud of its history and location in Street, having originally been built in the 1960s.

Strode College has occupied its present site in Street since 1962. The history of technical and leisure education in the village goes back to 1900, when the Strode Technical Institute was established.

In 1973 Strode College became one of the first tertiary colleges in England, with responsibility for the provision of post-16 education for four designated partner schools.

The college has been working on a 2020-2025 college wide property vision for development of their curriculum and campus, considering existing and future needs.

They are currently investing into the campus with T Levels and an allocation from the Department for Education's (DfE) FE Capital Transformation Fund.

This investment will see the oldest, and original building on campus being replaced and will incorporate exciting new facilities including a new main entrance leading to a front of house training restaurant, commercial hair and beauty salons, and reception area for Strode Theatre.

Strode are committed to ensuring their students of now and the future, have modern, up to date, digitally enabled and industry standards facilities within which to learn.

Working closely with businesses, a growing part of the Strode College offering is Employer Engagement, to help skill-up the local workforce.

The college's dedicated Employer Engagement team works with local firms to support them to meet their workforce development needs, translating this into a comprehensive training programme and also helping to source new apprentices.

The Employer Engagement Team are happy to meet with employers and individuals to explore potential learning and development needs and how these might be best met.

They can carry out a Training Needs Analysis to identify areas for performance improvement and any gaps between the skills the business needs and those the employees have.

For more information on all the different qualifications available at Strode, from A Levels to University Level courses, you can visit the college website here.