Health, Education & Science Centre Formally Opens at Yeovil College
Released On 21st Jan 2022
Yeovil College is delighted to formally open its newest asset to its ever-growing estate, the UK-leading, state-of-the-art Health, Education and Science Centre (HESC). Yesterday (Thursday 20th January 2022), Yeovil College welcomed MP Marcus Fysh and Mayor of the Yeovil Cllr Evie Potts-Jones to formally open the significant and ambitious centre.
Both Marcus and Evie, together with an invited formal opening party, took the opportunity to tour the innovative facilities, witness current students engaged in their learning and meet a number of the students who were already benefiting from the new centre.
The dedicated centre provides those students studying T Levels, A Levels, further education courses and higher education qualifications with unrivalled facilities in the region, from an imposing hospital ward, birthing station, nursing station, community care setting, therapy rooms, early years settings and primary settings, to multiple science laboratories and state-of-the-art, flexible and agile learning environments.
The Health, Education and Science Centre has been co-funded through T Level Capital Fund and the Institute of Technology (IoT), of which Yeovil College was one of the first IoT partnerships in the UK, leading the way in digital, technical and higher skills. Yeovil College has also financially contributed to the centre to establish a significant investment fund of almost £3 million.
Within each area of the new centre, care has been taken to ensure that the learning environments represents a truly reflective, industry-standard workspace. The real-life, working environments will enable students to gain practical and high-quality experiences in space which reflect the settings in which they will begin their careers. They will receive a real sense of understanding about what skills and behaviours they need to be successful in their future careers.
Mark Bolton, CEO & Principal of Yeovil College, said: "The opening of the Health, Education and Science Centre is as significant milestone in building the Yeovil College 21st Century campus of the future, and this is the first of many grand openings as we deliver and realise the extent of our full ambition for our community and students.
"The building you see before you has received an investment of around £3 million, making it one of the largest and most prestigious Health, Education and Science centres in both our great region and indeed, in the UK.
"Learning environments are changing, the expectations of learners and teachers are shifting, and for the benefit of our community, we need to shift further still. An environment which underpins higher ambition and expectation is critically important to our business and wider community. Everyone here today deserves more from their post-16 educational provider. And we are leading the way with this agenda.
“Ensuring that the time in ‘taught sessions’ is as effective as possible requires the time students spend outside of taught sessions to be considered even more. Our ambition is to ensure every learner fulfils their potential; to do this we need to support our learners to continue their journey in their own time.
" I am incredible proud of all that Yeovil College has achieved for ourselves, our students and our community; my staff truly deliver an exceptional experience."
Yeovil MP, Marcus Fysh said: "What makes me most proud is how well you as an institution are capitalising upon the investment in skills development, which is such an important part of the government's programme. It is a tremendous facility, which is second to none, and this is exactly the sort of aspiration we should have for our town and for the whole of the South West.
"It is incredible to see Yeovil College going from strength-to-strength and really leading the way both academically and aspirationally."
Yeovil College has been selected as one of only 16 colleges in the UK to receive their share of the Government's FE capital transformation fund, which is worth £1.5 billion and was introduced to rebuild college estates and create modern, fit-for-purpose spaces to meet the needs of students and the communities they serve
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