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About Us

A photo of the Ipswich campus.

Our Offer

Suffolk New College (SNC) is based in Suffolk with campuses in Ipswich, ‘On the Coast,’ at Leiston (which was opened in September 2018) and the Rural Campus at Otley, acquired following the dissolution of Easton and Otley College at the end of 2019. In addition, Suffolk New College has assumed responsibility for the Skills Centre in Halesworth, where provision commenced in September 2020.

Suffolk New College has close links with the University of Suffolk as the Ipswich Campus is situated in what is known as the ‘Education Quarter’ of Ipswich and is close to the regenerated waterfront. In the last academic year (2021/22), there were 2861 16 – 18 year-old students, 1472 19+ students, 1000 apprenticeships and 125 Higher Education students. Most students aged 16 to 18 are from the local and surrounding rural areas.

Standards on entry are below the average for the East of England. Around 57.3% of all young people following programmes at the College did not achieve high-grade GCSE qualifications in English and maths. This reflects the locality, where the proportion of people in the area educated to Level 3 and above is lower than in the region and across England.

The College focuses upon providing a curriculum that meets the needs of learners, employers and the wider community. The offer takes into account the needs of providing a skilled workforce for the future. Fourteen (out of a possible fifteen) subject sector areas are providing an extensive range of learning, which are Health, Public Services and Care; Science and Mathematics; Agriculture, Horticulture and Animal Care; Engineering and Manufacturing Technology; Construction and Planning; Information and Communication Technology; Retail and Commercial Enterprise; Leisure, Travel and Tourism; Arts, Media and Publishing; Social Sciences; Languages, Literature and Culture; Education and Training; Preparation for Life and Work and Business Administration and Law (no History, Philosophy and Theology).

The acquisition of the Otley Campus, renamed Suffolk Rural in January 2020, has added Land Based, Animal and Equine Studies to the College’s curriculum offer, to support entry into the local Land Based community.

The Values of Suffolk New College are ‘openness and trust; having a learning culture to support all staff; providing platforms for expressing opinions, concerns and views for all staff at all levels; involvement in decision making; recognising, appreciating and celebrating achievement and success areas; actively encouraging and finding time for continued professional development, creating time to generate new ideas and experiment; and valuing and respecting differences and views of others, promoting diversity’. In the pages that follow, evidence will be described to illustrate these achievements. The strapline for the college is, ‘Exceptional Learner Experience,’ and this will be evidenced by, for example, a range of documented feedback from students.

Strategic Plan

The 2022 – 2027 Strategic Plan for Suffolk New College has been developed in consultation with stakeholders, staff and customers.

The Plan outlines the College’s ambitious goals for the next five years.

Feel free to browse through our Strategic Plan.

A graphic showing the College strategic plan

Impact Review

We are proud to present our impact review document for 2021-22.

Over the last two years, we have grown in geography, taking on the Rural campus at Otley and the Halesworth Skills campus, in a background of disruption through COVID and other factors.

A graphic showing the impact review front cover

Key Facts

Location: Suffolk New College is based in Ipswich, the county town of Suffolk, near the thriving waterfront and town centre.

The College also has campuses at Otley (Suffolk Rural), in Leiston & Halesworth (Suffolk New College On The Coast), and the newly acquired site in Halesworth.

Turnover £29.6 million (20/21)

Total number of staff 

Full-time: Academic 177 Business Support 130 Total 307

Part-time: Academic 112 (55.99 FTE) Business Support 190 (80.78 FTE) Total 302 (135.77 FTE)

Casual: Academic 3 (headcount) Business Support 37 (headcount) Total 40 (headcount)

A learner smiling at the camera at a college showcase event.

Work with us

Suffolk New College is a fantastic place to work, to learn, to have fun and to progress your career. We have a great community spirit and have developed cultural values which define the way we work and the environment we choose to work in.

Public facilities

Suffolk New College has a number of areas throughout the College available for hire. These include Classrooms, IT Rooms, Specialised Workshops, Chefs’ Whites Restaurant, the Atrium, Boardrooms & Ivan Howlett Film Theatre.