To: Gill McClelland
Submission date: 9th November 2012
Physical and Technological Resources
Section 1 – Introduction:
Brockenhurst College is based in the heart of the New Forest National Park. The college is a sixth form offering adult learning and employee training as well as a college for 16-19 year old students. There are 55 courses available at Brockenhurst, with a wide range of subjects to choose from. Brock College offers 7 different types of courses to suite all types of people. These consist of A levels, Apprenticeships, Foundation learning, GCSE’s, International Baccalaureate, Vocational advanced and Vocational intermediate. Currently, there are 3,000 Sixth form and International students and 8,000 adult learners studying with Brockenhurst College.
Section 2 – Physical Resources:
The college provides various facilities in order for it to run successfully and provide the best environment for students. As shown above, there are 5 main buildings of importance. There is the Learning Resources Centre (LRC), the Beacon Technology Block, the Hard Brock Café, the Sports Centre and Gym and Mj’s Restaurant.
Learning Resource Centre:
There are 2 floors to the learning resource centre. With a library downstairs with around 23,00 books, more than 100 journal titles, as well as CD’s and DVD’s relevant to courses whether it be a play for drama students or a tutorial for learning a language. Students and staff can use any books they wish whether it be whilst studying in the LRC or if they wish to study at home they can loan a book for a set amount of time. With internet connected computers available on both the ground floor and the first floor, there are 14 open access computers on the ground floor, 4-6 group study rooms, a silent study room and 70 individual study spaces for quiet working. There is also a photocopier, a TV/Video and DVD player and various multimedia CD-ROMs all available for self-use. Stationery can also be purchased within the LRC at fair prices. The Information and Learning Technology (ILT) Centre is situated on the first floor of the LRC building. Here there are another 70 study spaces as well as 65 bookable computers which can be used throughout the day as well as before and after college times on most days. The LRC has a wireless connectivity and there are 35 laptops available to use. There is Staff present at all times to assist if needed. There are colour printers, black and white printers, scanners and CD copiers all available in the ILT Centre.
Beacon Technology Block:
With just under 40 rooms, the Beacon Block is a £3.5m Beacon Technology Centre containing state-of-the-art facilities for IT, Technology, Media and Photography including the largest Intel Chip Mac Installation in the UK (for 80 Applemac Computers), a high-tech crane enabling the filming of low and high shots, the latest in vision mixer technology and Canon XL2 High Definition digital media cameras. There are also dark rooms for publishing photos as well as filming rooms equipped with necessary facilities for the media and photography courses.
Hard Brock Café:
The Hard Brock has been recently refurbished and offers a two storey social area where students can relax and socialise with friends. The Café serves a wide range of food and drink. They provide hot and cold meals, snacks, hot and cold drinks and desserts. The ground floor consists of surrounding TV’s playing MTV (Music channels) and a wide variety of hot meals including vegetarian and healthy options. Some of the many fast foods they do consist of hot dogs, baps, chips, burgers and pasta. There is also a coffee bar located next to the food bar where hot drinks such as Cappuccino, Latte, Hot Chocolate, Mocha and iced drinks are available. They also sell cold drinks; water, juice, fizzy drinks, milkshakes and smoothies. The second floor offers cold lunch meals such as sandwiches and wraps and meal deals. There are vending machines on both