Bringing the college and the schools sectors closer together was one of the key aims of the government’s youth employment strategy.

And now, Fife College has taken this quite literally, by opening the first brand new joint college and school campus in Scotland. The campus, which is made up of a new branch of the college built on the same site as the new Levenmouth Academy, will offer a direct route from school to college for learners. It also offers opportunities for school pupils to attend college courses alongside their more academic school subjects.

“The joint campus at Levenmouth is ground-breaking,” said Fife College principal Hugh Logan. “It is different in that it places an FE vision right in front of those school pupils every time they go through the door at the school. We want them to understand what FE is,” he said.

Although the new campus opened only a few weeks ago, initial feedback was positive, said Janet McCauslin, director of projects at Fife College, which planned the new campus with Fife Council. “It is going so well,” she said. “The staff love it as a learning environment, and the students really enjoy it.

“We have school pupils who are in and out all day and full-time college students, and, importantly, we have the opportunity for school teachers to pop over and see how their classes are doing.”

Considering college

The close proximity to the new school was already having an effect, she said. “The school is also brand new, so a lot of pupils have gone back to experience that, and they are only now starting to consider college as an option. And that will grow.”

In the last week, she said, there had already been groups of school pupils coming to the college spontaneously to use its facilities, for example, to work on their CVs. Pupils have also said they think that college might be a better option for them when they leave school.

And learners were being introduced to the college before they even entered high school, said Ms McCauslin.

‘The project places an FE vision right in front of pupils’

Every visit to Levenmouth Academy by pupils about to transition from any of the 10 feeder primary schools now includes a visit to the campus and taster and enrichment sessions in a number of subjects. The college’s MathsLab, a space focused on practical applications for maths and numeracy, also supports the transition from primary to secondary school, and offers enrichment for high-school pupils.

The campus had the potential to host around 350 full-time learners, as well as around the same number of part-time students, Ms McCauslin said. “We have not recruited to that number yet,” she added.

The building was predominantly funded by the Scottish Funding Council, as well as through investment from Fife College itself. John Kemp, interim chief executive of the SFC, said: “A campus that combines school and college learning, provides a fantastic environment for students and says something new about the pathways between school and college is really exciting. I’m delighted that the Scottish Funding Council has been part of such a good news story for Fife.”

@JBelgutay