Plumpton College has a rich heritage of delivering agriculture and horticulture training across the South East for over ninety years and an enviable reputation for providing the supply chain for these industries and others throughout times of real change and innovation. Following successful diversification in the eighties and nineties, we also have one of the best resourced land-based curriculum offers in the south of England, ensuring a solid foundation on which to build our future.
We have had an opportunity to conduct a comprehensive review of our offer and more so, our impact on the rural industry, economy and most importantly people’s lives. Through this, we identified an overwhelming need to build on the success of previous years, and in doing so recognise the opportunities that exist for future growth and development aligned to the changes taking place across the industries that we serve.
As a result, the college has spent the past two years focusing heavily on quality and professional standards, whilst taking the time to truly understand the opportunities that are likely to exist for our future graduates. This extensive strategic review included broad consultation with employers about skills and attributes of future employees as well as a perception survey of the college and the sector. The latter highlighted an industry in huge demand, not only in numbers of new entrants but in the higher technical skills requirements, which align with the reality that jobs are increasingly skilled, well paid and offer progression routes.
With high expectations, a strong focus on recruiting staff with the right attitudes and values and a clear priority to raise standards in all aspects of college operations, there has certainly been a lot of change and I am delighted in the impact this has had on our student experience and results. There has been an 8% improvement in the achievement rates of students at Plumpton College over the past two years, and the number of students finishing with triple star distinction grades (equivalent to 3 As at A-level) has risen to over 60% on a number of our flagship courses.
With a strong recent Ofsted inspection now behind us, we’re excited about driving standards even further in the next two to three years as we seek to establish our reputation as one of the leading land-based colleges in the country.
Jeremy Kerswell, Principal
AoCJobs, part of the Association of Colleges, connects teachers and support staff with schools and colleges for online job opportunities.
