Section Manager - Additional Learning Support

The city of Canterbury has an enviable heritage which includes Canterbury Cathedral, the mother church of the Church of England and the most visited tourist site outside of London. The city is experiencing somewhat of a renaissance with its numerous housing and shopping centre developments each having an historic twist and character. The city is a thriving centre of education with its three university campuses, foreign language schools and respected local schools. Canterbury and its surrounding district has the perfect blend of city, coast and countryside not to mention being at the gateway to Europe. 

Canterbury College is a thriving general further education (FE) college which provides academic and vocational education and training. The mission of the college is “to be the very best in teaching and learning”. The college is responsive to employers and local needs, has gained Action for Business status and is a key provider of Train to Gain. In recent years the college has increasingly planned and met for growth against national and local targets.

The college has 15,800 students with courses provided from foundation to degree level. Some 5,300 of students attend the college on a full-time basis, of whom 73% are aged 16 to 18. Growth in 16-18 provision is expected to increase by 20% over the next few years. 

Kent has a selective education system and the college has a significant amount of A level provision. Some 90% of the 16 to 18 year old students at the college come from 20 non-selective feeder schools, all but one of which have sixth forms. 

The college has a thriving higher education faculty with some 750 students and has courses validated with the University of Greenwich, the University of Kent and Canterbury Christchurch University. 

The college is a leading member of several Kent schools partnerships and has a sizable 14-16 student population in its own right. This is a significant area for the college and ten-fold growth in provision is planned over the next ten years. 

Students are drawn from across East Kent, mostly from Canterbury, Whitstable, Herne Bay, Sandwich, Deal, Faversham, Sittingbourne and Sheppey. In addition to the main site at Canterbury, the college operates a satellite college at Sheppey together with a number of outreach centres. 

Our staff and managers are empowered and we were recently re-accredited with the Investors in People award. At all levels, our staff recognise their part in the life and purpose of the college and have an unwavering commitment to our students. The student union is recognised as an exemplar in the further education sector. 

The college campus is being transformed through a phased redevelopment project, which will see a major milestone in January 2008, with the opening of 10,132m² of new buildings to complement those already brought into use over the past year or so (representing some 12,000 m²).