Courses to continue at Wellingborough's Tresham campus for another year

The Northants Telegraph reported last month that Tresham had decided not to proceed with its new build campus in Wellingborough and students based at the site would move to the Corby campus.

However, following the announcement that Tresham is to merge with Bedford College, college bosses have now said they will continue to provide courses at the Wellingborough site until July 2018.

Interim principal Ioan Morgan said: “On February 3 it was announced that Tresham’s board of governors had selected Bedford College as its merger partner to move the college forward following a number of factors including to maintain the financial sustainability and to enable growth of further education in the area.

“With this in mind the current provision offered at the Wellingborough campus will be maintained until July 2018 and we are recruiting for new students to start in September 2017 too.”

The colleges have been in discussions since last autumn and a formal decision was made by the board of governors last month.

Following a poor Ofsted inspection and subsequent intervention by the FE Commissioner at Tresham, which also has campuses in Corby and Kettering, it was felt that a merger was the best solution to provide quality learning opportunities to current and new students.

It is hoped the merger, which will hopefully complete this August, will create a larger, more financially sustainable college able to withstand the financial pressures to which FE colleges are exposed.

Students and staff at the colleges will continue as usual and current courses will not be affected.

It is hoped the combined efforts of both management teams and governing bodies will result in rapid improvements in quality and financial management at Tresham to bring significant benefits to the area.

While courses will continue at the Wellingborough campus until July 2018, a large section of the site has been demolished in recent weeks.

Mr Morgan said last month that the site, which they own, would be partially demolished and there will be joint discussions with Bedford College as to what will be developed on site.

He also said they will involve other stakeholders, including Wellingborough Council, in its deliberations.

To read more about the merger plans, click here