Celebrating 50 years of excellent education at New College Stamford
What a year 1967 was! The Beatles released the iconic Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club album; the first issue of Rolling Stone magazine was released - and New College Stamford first opened its doors in Drift Road.
New College Stamford has come a long way over the last 50 years staff were joined by Stamford mayor Tony Story, local councillors and college governors celebrated the milestone by opening its latest refurbishment - The Refectory, a space for students to meet up with friends, grab some food and relax before their next lesson starts.
Janet Meenaghan, principal of New College Stamford said: “The college has a great reputation and so much potential. My job is to harness that potential and take the college on to even greater things – securing the college as an outstanding provider of education in Lincolnshire.”
Stamford Technical School was formed in 1895 and at that time courses included Latin, French, shorthand, typing, cookery and dressmaking.
It wasn’t until 1947 that The Education Committee recommended establishing a Technical Institute and sought to purchase 15 acres of land adjacent to Drift Road and Melbourne Road. It took a further 10 years before the land was acquired. Building work was completed in 1966, and the new Technical College opened to students later that year. The official opening was in 1967.
The original college campus was 4,500sqm and in 1979, computer courses began following the purchase of two computers costing £5,000 each. Today the college boasts 15,734sqm of facilities, including an IT department with 1,500 computers and 200 Mac computers, as well as iPads.
In 1978, the number of students attending full-time courses was 645. Today, the college has 4,500 students enrolled on full and part-time courses.
The last decade has been the most significant in the college’s growth. In 2012, a new extension opened including a new reception area and this was followed by the opening of Inspire Hair and Beauty Salons the same year.
Borderville Sports Centre, also home to Stamford AFC, officially opened in 2014, boasting state-of-the-art facilities for sports, football academy and public service students.
In 2016, the £3.7m construction and automotive skills centre was opened to replicate trade workshops and offer professional tools and equipment found in industry.
After successfully providing Higher Education qualifications such as Foundation Degrees, HNCs and HNDs for over 20 years, the college opened its dedicated university centre, University Centre Stamford.
After undergoing a £210,000 refurbishment during the summer of 2016, the library opened in November and Starbucks opened in the Bistro.