Something for everyone

David Floyd talks to Barnet and Southgate College CEO Neil Coker

A man in a suit leaning on a banister in a college — CEO Neil Coker – (Credit – Barnet and Southgate College)

It is a tough time for young people in the UK, with recent government figures showing over 1million 16-24-year-olds not in education or employment for the first time since 2013.

Barnet and Southgate College is working hard to change that. When Barnet Post visited the college’s Barnet campus in Wood Street, CEO Neil Coker gave a tour of state of the art facilities, designed to prepare students for the job market in industries from architecture to podcasting.

Neil, who joined in 2019 before taking on the CEO role two and half years ago, explains that the college has gone from being an institution that Ofsted inspectors said “requires improvement” to one which is rated as “good” while also achieving an “outstanding” rating for both apprenticeships and its financial situation.

Now, Neil says: “Having built a strong foundation in terms of the quality of education that we provide we’ve been able to invest in the college quite a bit.”

Given the need to find employment in a difficult jobs market: “There’s that real sense that what we’re focused on is our students’ future. So what they’re doing now is a stepping stone to something else.

“Many of our students use that to go on to higher education, to university degrees and do very, very well in that. And many of them go directly into employment or on to paid apprenticeships.”

This means a particular focus on partnerships. Neil says: “We know that on our own, we can do great things – but with the right partners operating together, we can do really exceptional things for the benefit of current and future students.”

A group of college students standing around a video camera — Students studying film and tv production – (Credit – Barnet and Southgate College)

He mentions the Screen London Barnet partnership with Middlesex University, Barnet Council and Troubadour Studios, set up last year to help young people prepare for jobs in film and TV production.

“We’ve got industry connections in there as well as local authority and two of the anchor institutions in terms of further and higher education working together to really create strong pathways through education and learning into employment.”

This focus also applies to the staff the college employs: “We pride ourselves on having highly qualified industry specialists teaching in all of our curriculum areas and continually looking to really think about how we use emerging and current technologies in learning.”

It’s notable that, when compared to a school sixth form, Barnet and Southgate College is a huge institution. It employs around 650 staff across three campuses (in High Barnet, Colindale and Southgate) working with “anything between 10,000 and 13,000 adults and young people each year”.

Around 3,300 of these are 16 to 19-year-olds studying full time courses, alongside older adults studying part-time on courses including access to higher education and professional skills training.

Neil says this mix works well: “Our campuses are full of young people and adults operating together in one environment. I think what that creates is a more grown up feel for our young people

“There’s always a sense of the college being busy. In between lessons, our students have free access to all of the facilities that we have on offer.”

This includes students being free to sit and chat on stairways. Neil says: “Our campuses belong to our students and they’re free to use those as they see fit. What we expect from our students is that they’re consistently ready to learn.”

While a small proportion of students do A-Levels, the majority study something with a specific career focus, whether its health and social care, engineering or creative skills.

Neil says: “We’ve got something for everyone at the college, an environment which really supports the individual student and enables them to achieve their very best in their own context, and that’s something that’s important to us.”

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