Barnet and Southgate College - Southgate Campus

One big rip-off. All they care about is money. Avoid.

I signed up to a "Computer Repair and Maintenence" course (which was actually a Comptia A+ course that wasn't mentioned in the prospectus). This was to go hand-in-hand whilst working voluntarily in a computer repair shop to build a career in IT. The course itself was about £500.

It was only in our first lesson that we learned there was an exam at the end of the course which we had to pay for. Plus, the text book was very expensive. At this point it was already too late for a refund and I wish I knew this information prior to applying for the course. But since I was there to learn I took the plunge.

The course was poorly organised, as it took place on Monday evenings, the bank holidays made our course finish a month late. Surely these things would be taken into account before advertising and sort out the timetable accordingly. But of course they don't care.

Sure, the practical sessions were fun. But all the teachers ever did was read out what was in textbooks and presentations. They seemed to lack actual knowledge and experience in what they are meant to be teaching.

But the real insults were the exams and the dishonesty by teachers. First we were told the exam was £25, then we were told it was £50, only to learn the exam was £150. We had to take it not once but twice. So you have to pay £150 for part one and another £150 for part two in order to get a certificate. A total of £300. This certificate expires after 3 years which means you have to take these exams all over again. Not worth it.

None of the teachers or the head of the faculty knew what was in the exams. They just kept saying "I don't know". If you are made to take an exam that costs £150 each, it is the teachers's responsiblity to make sure their students are given all the information and tools they need in order to pass.

Part two of these exams were deliberately set to fail. The simulations in the exam was not responsive and they didn't functioned like a real-life computer. They said you should speak to Pearsons (the exam board) to deal with this problem. So I messaged them and I didn't get a reply. Rudeness all around.

I passed the first exam easily as I studied hard. But the second exam had things that were not included in any of our materials. None of the teachers knew what was in the exams as they were all done online.

After retaking the exam for part two and failing it again, I was barred from doing the exam for 3 months.

None of this information was included in the prospectus. It goes to show how desperate they are to get every penny they can out of you.
I never imagined I'd be treated so unfairly by an institution that's meant to prepare people for their careers. I am never going to get my money back. This is the biggest rip-off I have ever had to deal with.

Save your money. Avoid this college. It's not worth it.

I did the Community Link course for 3 years which was probably a mistake as I really didn't find it to be a very good course. Not only did I often feel that the teachers were quite narrow minded and insisted on putting people with mental illness into boxes and judging them in a simplistic and patronising way, but I also found that they seemed turn a blind eye to bullying or even encouraged it to some degree. I had classes with Helen McKeith throughout the whole course and she also became my tutor in final year, but I really didn't find her to be a very good teacher at all and only seemed to be interested getting the students to meet the curriculum targets that would make her appear to be good at her job and would often put pressure on people to do this or use manipulation tactics and emotional trickery to get what she wanted, or to pretend that she actually cared about people more than she did (which in my view is really not a very good approach to people who are affected by such problems) and even seemed to be somewhat uncomfortable in the work that she was supposed to be doing. So I really would not recommend this course at all as I see it as being nothing more than a sad reflection of the state of the mental health services at the moment disguised in a phoney pretence of care and consideration. But if you do decide to do it you may still get something out of it, my advice though would be to just not take it to seriously at all as some of the people who are running it appear to have issues of they're own and don't always know what they are talking about, and in fact probably shouldn't even be doing this type of job in the first place anyway.

This is not college!!! Just now I was waiting in queue for 2 hours exactly to finish my registration for next level then other people was coming from out straight away, we have to fight with each-others, because the teachers don’t care about the situation 🙄🙄🙄, it was a mess nothing else, I left my work many times just to finish my registration and I didn’t.
Avoid this college. Waste of time. They just don’t care about learning. Just want your money.

NO HELP FOR STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DIFFICULTIES AVOID IF YOUR CHILD HAS SEN THEY ARE SET TO FAIL!!!!!!

Absolute waste of time.
All they want is your money.

Poor and scarce equipment.
Some helpless teachers who would rather sit and chat rubbish than teach you what you're paying for.

Went elsewhere (thankfully) after completing 1 year

One of the good college in north London.
Very good staffs .

I went yesterday for an interview and from when I went in no one was there to help ,and the lady who took me for "interview"( because it wasn't an interview ,they were looking like "why u interrupted us from holidays "😒) she didn't even explain how it works and when I asked questions the answer was that they can't tell the price of what I was interested to study . And she sent me to another lady to talk and she was worse ,she said that she can't tell me the price if I don't register ,how can I register if I don't know how it works and how much I need to pay . If I can afford it or not. Why they sent me emails to rush and book interview appointments when they don't even care . DISAPPOINTING... building is nice ,and look good inside but that's all . I just wasted one hour of my life for nothing. Unprofessional

I love Barnet and Southgate College. I have been studying there the last two years , and I really enjoyed my course.Great teachers, great selection of courses and I learned a lot .I would strongly recommend going there.