College says 'goodbye' to A-levels

Derek O’Toole, Principal of Hopwood Hall College

Hopwood Hall College is to cease offering A-levels this September.

The college is working closely with the town’s new Sixth Form College and have agreed to stop offering A-levels to new students; existing students will be completing their second year of a-levels at the Sixth Form College.

This bold move will enable the College to focus on vocational training. The college have a long and flourishing history of preparing local youths for work in skilled trades and professions such as catering, child care, construction, engineering, public service and sport.

Principal, Derek O’Toole explains the rationale behind the college’s new direction: “The College has significantly improved its success rates across all vocational areas. We are delighted to have this opportunity to further develop what we offer including extending our vocational programmes at apprentice and higher education level.

“Working closely with Rochdale Council to identify the training needs of local adults, we are already planning to significantly increase the number of options available to them. Hopwood Hall College is aiming for excellence and is well on its way to achieving it.”

Previous alumni have achieved fantastic things, which they put down to the special experience they had at Hopwood Hall; one of their famous ex-students, Clint Boon said: “Working on the radio and being in a band like the Inspiral Carpets needs a degree of self confidence which, for me, is completely attributable to my experiences at Hopwood Hall. I’m incredibly lucky in that these days I do the things that I love and get paid for them.”

The College has recently seen a surge in applications for certain vocational courses, for example catering courses saw an increase of 50% this year; given that the national press has been reporting that they aren’t enough university places, even for students with good a-level grades, the College expects this trend to continue and hope to be able to accommodate as many local youths as possible.