Following East Kent Colleges Group’s acquisition of this College in 2020, the Group grew learner numbers substantially with the existing building needing additional capacity within just a few years of the takeover. The Group proposed a Phase 2 development that increased the inspirational learning environments available substantially, ensuring it was fit for the growing student numbers in building services, engineering and business-related subjects.
Help shape our Group’s Outstanding future
We are now coming to the end of our current Strategic Plan’s period and beginning to develop our new goals objectives for 2025 to 2029. As part of our work to develop these we want your help in defining our pathway forward for the future.
To help you understand what we have achieved over the past plan period, we have created a document that outlines our key successes. You can also see the details of some of the exciting projects we’re currently delivering below.
EKC Ashford College Phase 2
EKC Canterbury Spring Lane
When East Kent Colleges Group took on the Spring Lane campus in 2020, parts of it were in extremely poor repair. Portacabin type buildings were still being used for teaching, whilst other spaces were not optimal for provision. The Group has now delivered a radical transformation, with a new build that has sustainability baked in including a green roof and air source heat pump, offering learning environments that connect horticulture, land and animal management students to the natural world they are studying in a low environmental impact way.
EKC Sheppey College Extension
East Kent Colleges Group’s provision on the Isle of Sheppey has always been constrained by its geographical location, and the size of the building. In spite of a clear need for larger provision and the scope for growth, until this project it has not been possible for the College to deliver training to more students. As part of Swale Borough Council’s Levelling Up Fund bid, EKC Sheppey College is now primed for growth, with an expanded campus that will be able to house more students in engineering, logistics and creative subjects, delivering Ofsted Outstanding learning opportunities for the community we serve on the Island.
Margate Digital
Leveraging the importance of the creative and digital economies to spearhead urban regeneration through high skilled job creation, East Kent Colleges Group is working in partnership with Thanet District Council to deliver Margate Digital. This innovative new provision is set to transform Margate town’s high street, bringing a new space to deliver digital creative skills to underpin the area’s continued growth.
Dover Beacon
East Kent Colleges Group is working in close partnership with Dover District Council to deliver an exciting new development that will act as a cultural regeneration anchor for the town. The project will see the redevelopment of an area of Bench Street, Dover, with a new education campus that provides high quality training opportunities in the creative industries alongside creative business start-up spaces and draw other cultural anchor organisations to the town. It is anticipated that the overall project will deliver more than £90m of economic benefit to the local area.
We are also adding our new draft Strategic Goals and Objectives for your consideration. It is important to look at this from an East Kent perspective, as this will be a holistic plan that reflects work to be delivered across the whole Group.
We are a group of six community-based colleges
