Strategic Ambitions for 2020-25
We have high aspirations for our community and our vision, and ambitions outline these. We will continually strive to create accessible education opportunities and achieve ambitious goals, stretching and challenging ourselves and inspiring our students to widen their horizons and see beyond the impossible

Our 2020-2025 Strategic Ambitions brochure lays out our overarching aims and ambitions aligned to each of our strategic themes.
OUR STRATEGIC PRIORITY THEMES
STRATEGIC PRIORITY ONE: DELIVER EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE
‘Students first’
- Provide every student with an
excellent education, enabling them
to study a coherent and challenging
curriculum that develops the
knowledge, skills, behaviours and
ambition to be successful in future
learning, employment and to be
confident in life.
- Adopt, utilise and undertake
research into learning sciences,
informing experiments and driving
innovative practice, risk taking and
collaboration across our community
of teaching professionals, resulting
in more students receiving an
exceptional education.
- Pro-actively encourage and nurture
students to deploy effective
behaviours and attitudes, fostering
understanding and preparing them
as professionals at work and as
social contributors in life.
- Put student views, employer voice
and customer satisfaction at the
heart of our service delivery,
continuous improvement and
evolution. Embrace a culture of
compliance and accountability
to improve all aspects of our
customers’ experience.
STRATEGIC
PRIORITY TWO:
CHAMPION SOCIAL
MOBILITY
‘Challenge perceptions,
remove barriers’
- Further develop our breadth of
community provision to engage
with individuals with no or low
qualifications, or those at risk of
social marginalisation, removing
obstacles to further learning and
progression.
- Effectively engage with schools to
ensure smooth transition for young
people, so they can be supported
from day one and are best prepared
for ‘college life’.
- Remove barriers for advancement
to Higher Education by expanding
the range of progression
opportunities to widen participation
and positively impact on students’
life chances and future earning
potential.
- Utilise our excellent relations
and interactive engagement
with employers, sector skills
bodies and wider stakeholders
to raise awareness of industry
opportunities, helping us to tackle
gender stereotyping in career
choices, broadening horizons and
inspiring social progression
STRATEGIC
PRIORITY THREE:
ENABLE ECONOMIC
PROSPERITY
‘Co-creating future talent’
- Utilise and exploit comprehensive
business intelligence to drive
strategic intent and inform a
responsive curriculum plan which
meets the needs of students and
employers, as well as local, regional
and national priorities.
- Co-design our curriculum with
employers, via our Employment
and Skills Boards, to ensure the
talent pool generated is equipped
to effectively transition between
education and industry, and where
appropriate via Higher Education,
supporting exceptional outcomes
and contributing to the productivity
and prosperity of our city, county
and region.
- Co-deliver career pathways with
business, via our Employment and
Skills Academies, to enhance our
students’ exposure to ‘world of
work’ opportunities and essential
life skills, embracing enterprise
and resilience to support positive
destinations to employment,
including business start-up for our
aspiring entrepreneurs.
- Upskill and retrain the adult
workforce to meet the needs of
the economy, provide tailored
programmes for employers and
further develop our commercial
offer to support people and business
to thrive.
‘Creating a happy environment, generating work ready and socially mobile citizens.’
OUR VISION
To create world class, accessible education opportunities that enrich lives and to make bright futures a reality for all.
OUR MISSION
To predict and serve the needs of our business and civic communities by preparing students for the next stage of their lives including:
▶︎ advancement to further study, including preparation for university life
▶︎ success in the world of work, business start-up and career development
▶︎ social progression and positive citizenship
▶︎ independent living