Funding pitch nets £4m grant bonanza

A raft of successful funding bids will transform the learning experience for hundreds of students at Bishop Auckland College this year.


Capital projects portrait

Principal and Chief Executive Natalie Davison-Terranova (front left) and Vice-Principal Curriculum & Quality Judith Layfield (front right) celebrate the successful bids with staff and students.

A £4m capital investment programme will see new state-of-the-art facilities developed across the wide-ranging curriculum in Education & Early Years, Health & Science, Sports, Performing Arts, Hair & Beauty, Motor Vehicle and Engineering & Manufacturing.

Aside from the capital works, the college has also secured £100,000 from the Turing Fund for a number of educational visits abroad. Students will be visiting Tanzania, Italy, France and Portugal next year.

Judith Layfield, Vice Principal Curriculum & Quality, said: “We are delighted to have been successful in a number of funding bids, enabling a major capital investment programme over the next year at our main Woodhouse Lane campus and The McIntyre Centre.

“The new facilities and equipment will transform the learning experience and expand educational opportunities for both our students and the wider community. For example, the demands of the new T Level technical qualification are considerable and we needed advanced teaching facilities and equipment to match.

“We look forward to the completion of the works and the huge benefits they will bring.”

The successful funding bids were:

The college was also awarded £2m from the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) in capital funding for investment in facilities to improve the quality of education and for building improvements.