Burton & South Derbyshire College

Poor standard of teaching and terrible organisation around the whole college.

The equipment and facilities provided were well below what would be expected at this level including a lack of suitable hardware for IT courses as well as other general issues such as the limited amount of seating around the college.

Everyone is treated like a child regardless of their behaviour including compulsory 'employability skills' lessons for all students which were planned on the spot and completely not helpful whatsoever.

All students are expected to complete multiple basic English and Maths tests a year regardless of their previous achievements at GCSE level.

To top it all off, my class' results were not ready on results day and, after leaving the college and being left in the dark about our final grades, we were asked to return later in the afternoon to collect our results.

This college is excellent to learn new skills and/or to develop the skills that you may already have.

The college, unlike high school, actually has a reason to treat you like a worker as this is the final stage of education in most people's lives, therefore, when you study to become a cook, waiter or hairdresser they will treat you like an adult and talk to you as if they were your employer.

Some say that even after getting a degree here, that they have a hard time finding a job, this isn't the college's fault but rather your own as YOU are the one to get a job for yourself. Even if you have difficulty finding a job, the college, as long as you're a student can help you out and outsiders can come in and visit the employment hub which can help you out in finding a job.

The college makes sure that the students have a pleasant time while being here, therefore they want to make sure that everyone is at a good mental state, and those who have a negative mental state (whether it's for medical reasons or mental reason) can ask their Progress Coach for help and/ guidance. Many complain that they didn't get help, but that's only because they didn't reach out.

There is however a common problem, as I heard from fellow friends that sometimes their teachers may not even arrive on time or arrive at all because of some mysterious illness (same happened to me) therefore their time learning is suffered because of the teacher's lack of punctuality.

Overall, the college ain't bad but it still has some small holes that it needs to improve on, but that's just how life is.

Spa day. Absolutely lovely day. Food 1st class, as good as any of the best restaurants, hair.... Perfect, treatments, massage and facial, so relaxing , and again 1st class, can't fault the day. Thank you so much to all the students , thoroughly enjoyed the day. Will definitely do this again 🥰

transport nearby is good and people are generally okay

The Mulberry Restaurant is a lovely place to take a well presented, well served lunch.

I am currently doing my third year at BSDC and it has been very hard to day the least, not just because of the pandemic and the online learning hardships, but for me it has been hard because I am disabled. This college is great.

They have fantastic facilities in the college that students can use. I cannot comment outside of the art and design side of things however. The teachers are really nice and supportive and my progress coach has been really understanding with me. I’ve had a lot of appointments at the dentist these past few weeks and they have been really nice to me and supportive.

Awful college. The motor vehicle block is appalling, they have laptops that dont charge so you cant use them when all the computers are taken, the computers are very outdated and slow, most of them dont even have working keyboards and the plug sockets crackle and pop and you turn them on. The cars in the workshop are horrible to work on, most of the cars parts are missing and for the 5 months i was on the course all we did was take off and refit the suspension and take out then refit the radiator, most of the cars didnt even have coolant or oil in them... would not recommend coming here.

Great college and more prestigious than Derby College during my time there. I studied there from 2013-2017, doing L1 and L2 Art & Design and L3 Design Craft. With my passion for art and design, I enjoyed the courses that I wanted to do. Better than school it was.