Energy Coast UTC is a

University Technical College A university technical college (UTC) is a type of specialist secondary school in England that is led by a sponsor university and has close ties to local business and industry. These university and industry partners support the curriculum developm ...

(UTC) on the outskirts of

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Loca ...

, Cumbria that opened in September 2014 for students of ages 14–19. The "Energy Coast" is the coastal region between

Silloth Silloth (sometimes known as Silloth-on-Solway) is a port town and civil parish in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. Historically in the county of Cumberland, the town is an example of a Victorian seaside resort in the North of Engl ...

and

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. In 2023 the ...

, it includes the

Sellafield Sellafield is a large multi-function nuclear site close to Seascale on the coast of Cumbria, England. As of August 2022, primary activities are nuclear waste processing and storage and nuclear decommissioning. Former activities included nucle ...

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...

site and

Nuclear Decommissioning Authority The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, formed by the Energy Act 2004. It evolved from the Coal and Nuclear Liabilities Unit of the Department o ...

as well as wind farms at

Walney Island Walney Island, also known as the Isle of Walney, is an island off the west coast of England, at the western end of Morecambe Bay in the Irish Sea. It is part of Barrow-in-Furness, separated from the mainland by Walney Channel, which is spanned b ...

and Robin Rigg.

Description

University technical college A university technical college (UTC) is a type of specialist secondary school in England that is led by a sponsor university and has close ties to local business and industry. These university and industry partners support the curriculum developm ...

s (UTCs) are usually smaller than average-sized schools for 14-to 19-year-olds. They serve

Key Stage 4 Key Stage 4 (KS4) is the legal term for the two years of school education which incorporate GCSEs, and other examinations, in maintained schools in England normally known as Year 10 and Year 11, when pupils are aged between 14 and 16 by August 31. ...

and

Key Stage 5 Key Stage 5 is a label used to describe the two years of education for students aged 16–18, or at sixth form, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, aligning with previous Key Stages as labelled for the National Curriculum. Key Stage 5 is also ...

. They focus heavily, but not exclusively, on

STEM Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...

subjects. All their technical, academic and practical learning is designed to be applied in the workplace. A UTC’s specialism usually reflects the local economy. Energy Coast UTC specialises in engineering. After an early period of high staff turnover, the staffing is now stable.The principal has been in post since September 2016. In September 2017, the UTC extended it Key Stage 4 provision, by enrolling 20 pupils into a new year 9. The college works with two training providers,

Gen2 Gen may refer to: * ''Gen'' (film), 2006 Turkish horror film directed by Togan Gökbakar * Gen (Street Fighter), a video game character from the ''Street Fighter'' series * Gen Fu, a video game character from the ''Dead or Alive'' series * Gen l ...

and the Lakes College, who offer engineering and construction courses. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under th
Open Government Licence v3.0
© Crown copyright

History

The UTC's first Principal, Gary Jones, resigned from his post in November 2015 citing personal reasons. The current Principal, Ms Cherry Tingle, started in September 2016, after a series of Interim Heads.

September 2015 virus scare

On 25 September 2015, Energy Coast UTC was temporarily closed following a suspected viral outbreak on its campus; however it was later discovered that there was no virus. Any symptoms displayed by were found to be unrelated or psychosomatic and there were no lasting effects. As a precaution when the cause was still unknown, the school was closed for two days for a deep clean.

2017 Ofsted

After months of turbulence and two interim principals, Cherry Hinton was appointed as principal in time to front the UTC first Ofsted inspection. Ofsted acknowledged that changes were being implemented, giving an overall judgement of 'Requires improvement' in all five criteria under consideration.

June 2019 Ofsted

Energy Coast UTC had received a 'requires improvement' rating in a 2017 judgement that prompted significant structural changes. In June 2019 it was rated 'outstanding' by Ofsted. Energy Coast is only one of two UTCs to be rated 'outstanding'. It remains under a 'financial notice to improve' from the Department for Education. It was unusual that it 'outsourced' some its teaching to its sponsors without applying

compulsory competitive tendering Best Value was government policy in the United Kingdom affecting the provision of public services in England and Wales. In Wales, Best Value is known as the Wales Programme for Improvement. A statutory duty of Best Value applies in Scotland.Audi ...

procedures.

Curriculum

The UTC specialises in

STEM subjects Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is an umbrella term used to group together the distinct but related technical disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The term is typically used in the context of ...

(science, technology, engineering and mathematics), with an emphasis on Engineering. Secondary Level Education includes several engineering qualifications, including the new, industry approved, "Design Engineer Construct!" course.

References

{{University technical colleges University Technical Colleges Secondary schools in Cumbria Educational institutions established in 2014 2014 establishments in England University of Cumbria