West London College (further and higher education)

West London College (also formally known as "Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College" and "Ealing Tertiary College") is a further and higher education college based across four campuses located in Park Royal, Ealing, Hammersmith and Southall districts of London, England. The college provides training and development for over 20,000 students from entry level to postgraduate, and is a member of the Collab Group of high performing colleges.[1] The main campus of the college is situated on the north side of the busy A4 dual-carriageway, between Hammersmith and Earls Court.

West London College
Address
Gliddon Road

Hammersmith
,
London
,
W14 9BL

England
Coordinates51.4915°N 0.2145°W / 51.4915; -0.2145
Information
TypeFurther and Higher Education College
Department for Education URN130408 Tables
OfstedReports
CEO & PrincipalKaren Redhead OBE
GenderMixed
Age14+
Websitehttp://www.wlc.ac.uk/

Achievements and Awards
Buttle UK Quality Mark

In its most recent inspection, Ofsted rated the college as "Good" for overall effectiveness.[2] The college is a Beacon Status College, awarded by the Quality Improvement Agency. In 2008, the International Centre at the college was awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise: International Trade. In 2012, West London College (then Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College) became the first Further Education college in London to receive the 'AoC Charter for International Excellence’. The charter is awarded to FE colleges that show a strong commitment to quality assurance and implement an ethical approach to all aspects of their international activities. In 2017, the college won the Times Educational Supplement FE Award for Outstanding use of Technology for Teaching, Learning and Assessment.[3]

History
The College Front Ealing, Hammersmith & West London College.

In 1881, Hammersmith School of Art was established in Brook Green. There was also the Hammersmith College of Art and Building located in Lime Grove, Shepherds Bush. This college ran an Architecture course accredited by the RIBA and an Interior Design course. There were also facilities and studios in which were taught textile design, ceramics, sculpture and print-making. The 'building' side of the college included workshops in which the traditional building trades were taught, including plumbing, welding, plastering and brick-laying. The 'cross-discipline' opportunities that the close proximity that these departments afforded students was deliberate. That the sculpture students could learn from the welding classes (both instructors and apprentices) and the interior design students from the textile design students and the architecture students from the building trades apprentices was a recognized benefit of the graduates of the Hammersmith College of Art and Building. In 1970 the Architecture department of Hammersmith College of Art and Building merged with Woolwich Polytechnic to form Thames Polytechnic, which in 1993 became the University of Greenwich. The architectural teaching staff included Arthur Korn. Ealing Grammar School for Boys was opened in 1913 as Ealing County School and expanded in 1936, also known as Ealing County Grammar School. It had the Ealonian Hall. In 1974, Ealing borough adopted the comprehensive education system and the school became Ealing Green High School, a boys' school. In 1992, the school was taken over by the new Ealing Tertiary College. In January 2002, Hammersmith and West London College merged with Ealing Tertiary College to form Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College.

Hammersmith Campus
View to Hammersmith campus in spring 2013

Hammersmith is the largest campus, with over 10,000 students. The College offers a large number of full-time and part-time courses across a broad range of subjects for students of different ages, abilities and needs.

The College was designed by the Greater London Council Architects’ Department, under the supervision of Bob Giles, the project architect, in a Brutalist style inspired by Alvar Aalto's Säynätsalo Town Hall.[4] The construction was completed in 1980.[4]

In May, 2018, the Hammersmith campus, facing financial shortages,[4] applied for permission to demolish the existing campus and redevelop as a luxury residence block, with a new facility within the redeveloped block to house the college.[5] The local community, led by architect Giles himself, valuing the architectural heritage of the existing structures, organized to oppose the development.[4] As of January 2020, the matter remained unresolved.[4]

Park Royal Campus

The Park Royal campus specialises in Construction Crafts, Carpentry & Joinery, Plumbing and Electrical installation and offers various construction courses which are delivered in purpose-built workshops. The Carpentry section has been hugely successful in skill build competitions over the years.

Ealing Campus
Side front View Ealing, Hammersmith & West London College.
Park View Ealing, Hammersmith & West London College.

Offers a range of full-time post-GCSE, academic and vocational courses, as well as tuition in ESOL and English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Recent refurbishments have significantly improved the Sixth Form Centre and a new £11.5m specialist centre, the Ealing Institute of Media, was launched in December 2005. It is situated in the former Ealing Green High School.

The Institute of Media at Ealing Campus

Opened in 2006 by former BBC Director-General Greg Dyke, The Ealing Institute of Media is a Centre of Vocational Excellence in Media. It is also part of the Skillset Screen Academy group. It was established to provide tailor-made courses that offer both vocational experience and education, along with the adequate amount of theory to provide students with what they need to have a successful career within the media industry.

Courses include the new Actor Prepares Bollywood acting school, standalone subjects such as Animation, Photography, and other areas at GCSE or Advanced Level. The college also offers BTEC qualifications that allow students to learn a wide variety of industry specific skills rather than just a small area.

The Ealing Institute of Media includes EIM Productions, a professional production company offering film and photography services to the college and external clients.

Southall Campus

Students also have access to the Southall Sports Centre run by the London Borough of Ealing, the Sixth Form Centre, and separate facilities for adult learning and a vocational centre.

Former teachers
  • Prof David Blake, composer (taught music at the boys' grammar school from 1961-2)
  • David Tanner (taught history and Head of Sixth Form at Ealing Green)
  • Arthur Korn (architect)
  • Chris Tooke & Peter Brett (authors) Carpentry & Joinery publications
  • Geoffrey Bocking, Keith Critchlow, Roland Whiteside, Harold Bartram, Henry Stephenson, Robin Baker, Anthony Sully - all taught Interior Design at Hammersmith College of Art and Building.
  • Robyn Denny, Dick Smith, Bernard Cohen, Tom Simmons (Art), Mike Caddy(Ceramics), Keith Godwin, Henry Thornton (Sculpture), Paul Copplestone (Art History) all taught at Hammersmith College of Art and Building.

Alumni

Former Students of The Ealing Grammar School for Boys


Ealing Green High School
gollark: Oh, I see.
gollark: If you got a WAV file from the original artist or something, maybe. If you got a WAV file from an MP3 file, no, it will not sound better than that MP3.
gollark: Yes, it is distorted and gets noise added when you run it through the annoying analog world too.
gollark: What I am saying is that converting from an existing (lossy) MP3 to a WAV does not magically add back information.
gollark: I am not saying that a WAV file is indistinguishable from a MP3 file *if they are both from a lossless source*.

References
  1. "Collab Group". Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  2. https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/files/2679691/urn/130408.pdf
  3. TES. "TES FE Awards: TES FE Awards 2017". www.tesfeawards.co.uk. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  4. West London Today, 15th January 2020: http://westlondontoday.co.uk/news/behind-the-story/west-london-college-campaigners-allege-demolition-driven-by-8-5m-black-hole-and-heritage-vandalism/
  5. "London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham Planning Application Portal application". reference number: 2018_01554_SCOEIA
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 5 October 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Kenneth Robinson". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
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