Runshaw College Explained

Runshaw College
Address:Langdale Road
Country:England
Postcode:PR25 3DQ
Type:College
Image Alt:Runshaw College Logo
Established:1974
Principal:Clare Russell
Students:8,000
Administrative Staff:600

Runshaw College is a Higher and Further Education college based in Leyland, England.

History

Runshaw College was established in 1974.[1] It initially catered solely for school leavers from Balshaw's High School in Leyland, and Parklands High School in Chorley. In 1983 it became a tertiary college following a reorganisation by Lancashire's education authority.[2]

On 17 January 2023, Runshaw opened a new building called Buttermere. The building is used to house T Level courses.[3] Construction began in February 2022.[4] The new building was built by Collinson Construction and cost £3 million.[5] Buttermere is 2-storeys and has an area of 1,000m2 for 12 classrooms and a study space.

Locations

Runshaw's current campus in Leyland, is a sixth form college primarily catering for students aged 16–19, as well as hosting adult education and apprenticeship courses. The Euxton Lane, Chorley, campus was the centre for adult and higher education.

Leyland Campus

The Leyland Campus has 13 buildings plus a student services centre, three sports courts and a public restaurant alongside the numerous student restaurants.

Runshaw's buildings are named after areas of the Lake District. There are currently 11 educational buildings and two student services and study buildings. Dalehead is also the home to the Foxholes restaurant, which closed in 2018 due to budget cuts.[6]

Chorley Campus

Runshaw operated a campus in Chorley until the end of 2022. This campus used to be where many of the Apprenticeship and Adult Education courses were held. The site also hosted the Runshaw Business Centre, meeting the needs of local small and medium-sized enterprises; and Runshaw Training, offering apprenticeships and vocational training.

On 5 December 2022, Runshaw announced they would sell the campus to Lancashire Constabulary and move the courses that were held there to the main Leyland campus.[7] Lancashire Constabulary plan to turn the old campus into a new training centre and operations centre where Chorley's response team, and other specialist teams will be relocated to from the old town centre police station.[8]

Facilities

The college has a number of specialist labs and facilities including a cabin crew set, media and makeup rooms, photography studios, stage and green rooms, and sports facilities housing a gym and three sports courts.

In addition to education facilities, Runshaw also has a number of rooms that students can use in their free time, such as the Runshaw Radio broadcasting room, which broadcasts across campus and is frequently operated by students.

In May 2022, Runshaw announced that they were beginning Esports as a course,[9] and opened a new Esports centre in 2022 which is fitted with 15 Alienware PCs.[10]

In 2023, Runshaw opened its new educational building Buttermere[11] which is home to the college's Professional Engineering School which will include courses at T Level in Digital and Civil Engineering,[12] as well as a new Architecture Academy opening in March 2023.[13]

Notable students

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Runshaw College guide. The Telegraph. 9 August 2016.
  2. Web site: Tertiary Education - Thursday 23 July 1987 - Hansard - UK Parliament.
  3. Web site: Unsworth . Matt . 2023-01-27 . Buttermere officially opens! . 2023-07-03 . Runshaw College . en-GB.
  4. Web site: Faulkner . Paul . 2022-02-25 . How Runshaw College's new classroom block will look and when work on it will start . Lancashire Evening Post.
  5. Web site: 2022-02-02 . £3m teaching block at Runshaw College to be built by Collinson Construction . 2023-07-03 . pbctoday.
  6. Web site: College's award-winning restaurant set to close . 2023-02-26 . Lancashire Telegraph . en.
  7. Web site: Unsworth . Matt . 2022-12-05 . Runshaw College to sell Euxton Lane campus to Lancashire Constabulary . 2023-02-26 . Runshaw College . en-GB.
  8. Web site: Suffield . Alice . 2022-12-06 . New police station as college campus undergoes transformation . 2023-02-26 . LancsLive . en.
  9. Web site: Unsworth . Matt . 2022-05-25 . E-Sports @ Runshaw . 2023-02-26 . Runshaw College . en-GB.
  10. Web site: Runshaw College - Immersing students in the Esports culture . 2023-02-26 . TOP-TEC . en-GB.
  11. Web site: Unsworth . Matt . 2023-01-27 . Buttermere officially opens! . 2023-02-26 . Runshaw College . en-GB.
  12. Web site: Unsworth . Matt . 2023-01-27 . Buttermere officially opens! . 2023-02-26 . Runshaw College . en-GB.
  13. Web site: Unsworth . Matt . 2023-02-20 . Architecture Academy due to launch in Buttermere . 2023-02-26 . Runshaw College . en-GB.
  14. Web site: David hopes to slay 'em on the Slalom . Baybutt . Geraldine . 30 December 2003 . Lancashire Evening Post. 7 January 2017.
  15. Web site: The Runshaw Ruby. 2 November 2016.