South Essex College of Further and Higher Education, also known as South Essex College, is a

further education college Further education (often abbreviated FE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland is education in addition to that received at secondary school, that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. It ...

located over three main sites in

Basildon Basildon ( ) is the largest town in the borough of Basildon, within the county of Essex, England. It has a population of 107,123. In 1931 the parish had a population of 1159. It lies east of Central London, south of the city of Chelmsford and ...

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

and Grays in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The college provides courses for students of all ages, from 14 to 19-year-olds to undergraduates, adults and businesses.About Us
. Southessex.ac.uk (28 April 2003). Retrieved on 21 April 2011.

History

The college was founded in 1899 as an

art school An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, including fine art – especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. Art schools can offer elementary, secondary, post-seco ...

and was renamed later as the Junior Day Technical School, then being restructured to include in its teaching commercial and industrial skills for education in courses like plumbing.South East Essex College – A-Z Unis & Colleges, Getting Into University
''The Independent'' (5 August 2010). Retrieved on 21 April 2011. The college became South East Essex College of Arts and Technology (SEECAT) in 1991. In 2004, the college relocated to a £52 million campus in the centre of

Southend Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

, close to main public transport routes and right next to the High Street and mainline railway station. The college formally merged with

Thurrock and Basildon College Thurrock and Basildon College was a further education college in Grays, Essex, England (Woodview Campus) and Basildon, Essex, England (Nethermayne Campus). It was formed by the merger of Thurrock Technical College and Basildon College. The colle ...

on 1 January 2010 and was renamed South Essex College. In 2013 The Forum Southend-on-Sea opened which has a dedicated South Essex College area on the third floor. In 2014 the Thurrock campus relocated to a £45 million building in the centre of Grays. The college is seeking to relocate its Basildon campus to the town centre in the future. In June 2018 it was announced that South Essex College would merge with PROCAT, a specialist engineering and construction provider based in

Canvey Island Canvey Island is a town, civil parishes in England, civil parish and reclaimed island in the Thames estuary, near Southend-on-Sea, in the Castle Point district, in the county of Essex, England. It has an area of and a population of 38,170.Office ...

and Ilford. The new Stephenson Road campus of South Essex College was opened under the PROCAT brand. In December 2021 it was announced that South Essex College had won Institute of Technology status in wave two in part of a government education plan to improve higher technical training in subjects such as advanced manufacturing, digital and cyber security, aerospace and healthcare.

Courses

South Essex College's Further Education provision includes a wide range of

A-levels The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

and vocational courses such as BTECs and

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners ...

s. The college offers a range of higher education course including degrees, HNCs and HNDs. Programmes are validated by

University of the Arts London University of the Arts London is a collegiate university in London, England, specialising in arts, design, fashion and the performing arts. It is a federation of six arts colleges: Camberwell College of Arts, Central Saint Martins, Chelsea Coll ...

and

Pearson Pearson may refer to: Organizations Education *Lester B. Pearson College, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada *Pearson College (UK), London, owned by Pearson PLC *Lester B. Pearson High School (disambiguation) Companies *Pearson PLC, a UK-based int ...

. The college also offers services to businesses through its Business Development Team and offers apprenticeship training. South Essex College offers Paediatric First Aid Qualifications vi
Omnia Training Solutions
This partnership was set up to ensure Students hold Qualifications to meet requirements under th
Early years foundation stage statutory framework (EYFS)
an
OFSTED
when entering the workplace.

Campuses

Southend Campus

The Southend Campus is located in the heart of Southend-on-Sea town centre, next to

Southend Central railway station Southend Central railway station is on the London, Tilbury and Southend line and is one of two primary stations serving the city of Southend-on-Sea, Essex. The city's other main station is called which is the terminus of a branch line off the ...

. The college’s building in Southend was featured in the

Learning and Skills Council The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) was a non-departmental public body jointly sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) in England. It closed on 31 Marc ...

publication 'World Class Buildings – Design Quality in Further Education' in March 2005 and ‘Better Buildings, Better Design, Better Education’ published by the Department for Education and Skills in 2007. It won a

British Constructional Steelwork Association BCSA Ltd is a trade association for the structural steel industry in the UK and Ireland. It lobbies on behalf of its members, and provides them with education and technical services. A subsidiary, Steel Construction Certification Scheme Ltd, r ...

Structural Steel Award and was a finalist in the

RIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

/LSC Further Education Awards in 2006. It has of space with an atrium accommodating a 250-seat auditorium within the ‘Performance Pod’, dining decks, viewing balconies and social, meeting and event areas. Beauty Therapy students are taught at the Beauty Academy in Queens Road, a few minutes' walk from the main campus. It also offers treatments to the general public. The College also offers purpose-built sports facilities at Wellstead Gardens in

Westcliff-on-Sea Westcliff-on-Sea (often abbreviated to Westcliff) is an inner city area of the city of Southend-on-Sea, in the City of Southend-on-Sea, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It is on the north shore of the lower Thames Estuary, about 34 m ...

, with a gym and playing fields for team sports. The Southend Campus also played host to a world record attempt in 2014 where two students (Alex Holland-Martin & Simon Turp) tried to break the longest radio show broadcast record. The pair were on air for 88 hours.

Basildon Campus

The Basildon Campus is situated just outside Basildon Town Centre. It specialises in vocational courses ranging from science, hairdressing, health and social care, public services and sport. The Campus offers realistic work environments such as motor vehicle workshops. For those studying animal care, an animal-management centre is on-campus.

Thurrock Campus

In 2014 the Thurrock Campus relocated to a £45 million building in the centre of Grays. The campus offers specialist workshops linked to courses for construction, engineering, media and creative arts in addition to facilities for logistics, childcare, health and social care and courses. There is an outdoor amphitheatre.

The Forum Southend-on-Sea

The Forum Southend-on-Sea is a £27 million modern library and learning zone located opposite the Southend Campus. South Essex College is a partner in this venture with the University of Essex and Southend Council. The Forum houses a library collection on the first floor and a dedicated South Essex College area on the third floor. As well as hosting most of Higher Education resources, The Forum supports the delivery of the college's HE courses. Students have access to a large range of books and resources as well as around 100 computers and

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...

access. Other areas in the Forum include a University of Essex floor, the Focal Point Art Gallery, a 200-seat lecture theatre and refreshment facilities.

Notable alumni

Walé Adeyemi Walé Adeyemi MBE is a British-Nigerian fashion designer. He has worked as head designer at B-side, former creative director at New Era, an entrepreneur, industry spokesperson, music promoter, ambassador for The Prince's Trust and stylist to nume ...

, British-Nigerian fashion designer *

James Bourne James Elliot Bourne (born 13 September 1983) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He is known as the co-founder of pop punk bands Busted and Son of Dork, and he also created his own electronic project: Future Boy. From 2013 to 2015 ...

, singer in Busted/McBusted *

Dave Gahan Dave may refer to: Film, television, and theater * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film * Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...

, singer, composer and vocalist from

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depeche ...

Toby Gard Toby is a popular, usually male, name in many English speaking countries. The name is from the Middle English vernacular form of Tobias. Tobias itself is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew טוביה ''Toviah'', which translates to ''Good i ...

, creator of

Lara Croft Lara Croft is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the video game franchise ''Tomb Raider''. She is presented as a highly intelligent and athletic British archaeologist who ventures into ancient tombs and hazardous ruins around th ...

Ross Kemp Ross James Kemp (born 21 July 1964) is an English actor, author, and television presenter. He rose to prominence in the role of Grant Mitchell in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. He is also known for his other roles as Graham Lodsworth in ' ...

, BAFTA award-winning actor * Spencer Livermore, Labour peer and former Director of Strategy to Prime Minister

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...

Alison Moyet Geneviève Alison Jane Ballard ( ; born 18 June 1961) is an English singer noted for her powerful bluesy contralto voice. She came to prominence as half of the duo Yazoo (also known as Yaz), but has since mainly worked as a solo artist. Her ...

, singer * Ethan Payne (Behzinga), YouTuber, co-founding member of the

Sidemen A sideman is a musician who performs live with a band of which they are not a permanent member. Sideman or Sidemen may also refer to: * Sidemen, Bali, a district in the Karangasem Regency of Bali * Sideman (bishop), a 10th-century Bishop of Cred ...

Maisie Smith Maisie Louise Collender Smith (born 9 July 2001) is an English actress and singer. She appeared in the feature film ''The Other Boleyn Girl'' (2008) and played the regular role of Tiffany Butcher in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' from 2008 ...

, ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...

'' actress *

Ricky Champ Ricky Champ (born 1 July 1980) is an English actor. He is known for his roles as Paul Parker in the BBC Three sitcom ''Him & Her'', and Stuart Highway in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. Champ has also appeared in ''Crims'', ''Plebs'', and th ...

, ''

'' actor

References

External links

South Essex College website
{{Coord, 51.5378, 0.7111, type:edu_region:GB-SOS, display=title Educational institutions established in 1899 Education in Southend-on-Sea Further education colleges in Essex University of Essex Art schools in England Defunct art schools Education in Thurrock 1899 establishments in England Buildings and structures in Southend-on-Sea Further education colleges in the Collab Group