Suffolk New College offers a curriculum that enables students and apprentices to:-

Discover and develop their talents

Fulfil their potential and achieve success

Be inspired and be ready for the opportunities and next steps in further study, higher education, employment or career advancement, or in contributing to society.

Our curriculum is designed to provide challenge and support so that all students and apprentices can achieve their potential. We review our curriculum annually to meet the needs of students, employers and the wider community. This means providing opportunities to develop as independent and resilient learners, and as responsible citizens.

The areas of study at Suffolk New College align to the region's key sectors and industrial priorities and contribute towards the skilled workforce of the future. In recent years, investments have been made with employer input in science and technology areas, to provide excellent facilities aligned to employer needs. Of course, many of our students may be preparing to enter a global job market, and as such, our offer goes beyond just meeting local employer requirements.

Developing 'work ready' skills is a fundamental aim of our study programmes and students will develop key employability skills as part of their courses, through realistic work environments and projects, as well as through work experience or industrial placements. This is in addition to the practical skills and knowledge acquisition that is directly related to their vocational programmes. Employers and college Ambassadors (recruited from local organisations) to advise on the skills and knowledge that they want to see in their new employees.

Our programmes contain transferable skills such as communication, IT and customer service -important elements that help students to remain employable in the flexible job market of today.

The offer for adults is designed to promote the skills needed to access employment, HE or develop their career paths. This includes a range of English programmes for speakers of other languages.

We review and introduce new courses according to local need and government priorities. For example, we are a 2020 provider for T Levels and have been approved to roll-out all the available lines from 2021. We have grown our apprenticeship offer in the last few years and engaged many new organisations in apprenticeship provision. Our higher education provision is being expanded, working with the University of Suffolk to put on new and niche HE programmes. This partnership enables local access, raising aspiration particularly in Ipswich, an area that has been recognised by the government as an 'Opportunity Area', to help promote social mobility. To help us achieve this part of our mission, we work with a small number of local partners such as Inspire Suffolk.