Broadwater Campus Update – A Statement from the Principal

Following the announcement made in September 2023, regarding the future of Northbrook College’s Broadwater campus, we wanted to share an update and dispel any concerns.

Helena Thomas, Principal of Northbrook College and Worthing College, said:

We know our announcement, made last year, about the movement of our course provision from our Broadwater campus to other Chichester College Group locations within the local Worthing area has raised some ongoing questions which we wanted to address.

Speaking to parents and prospective students at our open events, we are aware there have also been some misunderstandings – we hope this update will serve to address these, allay concerns, and provide some useful information.

First and foremost – there has been speculation that Northbrook College may be closing. That is absolutely, not true. Northbrook College is not closing – we are here to stay.

So, what is happening?
We are planning to move our current provision from our Broadwater campus to other locations in the local area, and our Broadwater campus will be sold.

The Broadwater campus will remain open, as normal, until summer 2025 and courses will continue to run at that site until the end of the 2024/25 academic year.

From September 2025, courses which were previously offered at Broadwater will be taught at either our West Durrington campus, or from Worthing College (also part of the Chichester College Group).

It is only the Broadwater campus which will be closing. Our other Worthing-based campuses (West Durrington and Worthing College) and our Shoreham campus will be remaining open.

Where will courses be moving to?
We have been considering all options to decide the best locations where courses will be delivered in the future, with priority given to those courses which require specialist facilities. Work is on-going, with some decisions still to be finalised.

We intend to deliver our construction trade courses at our West Durrington campus, and we are looking to build a new Construction Trades Centre to accommodate these – a new building which will provide high-quality training students, which is part of our on-going commitment to providing first class education and training in the best possible facilities.

We will confirm the future location of our other courses as soon as possible and, just to reiterate, the location will either be our West Durrington campus or at Worthing College.

What will happen to students starting at Broadwater in September 2024?
While the first year of their course will be delivered at Broadwater, the course will move to another campus for the second year. We will be providing all affected students with updates to keep them informed.

We understand there may be some concern about moving to a different campus and we will be doing everything we can to minimise any disruption and ensure this transition is as seamless as possible. This will include a carefully managed campus orientation programme, which we will be developing, and this will include visits to their new campus and classroom

Why is this happening?  
Following the merger of Chichester College Group and Greater Brighton Metropolitan College in 2022, the group has three large college sites in Worthing – which is unusual and means a lot of space is under-used.

By removing one of these, we can reduce site operating costs, improve space utilisation, improve student experience, and generate funds which can be invested into improving our facilities for our students to benefit from. 

What next?
We hope this has helped to provide answers to some of our most frequently asked questions.

We will continue to provide updates as soon as we are able to. And of course, please do contact the college if you have additional questions. We will do our best to answer these for you.

If you are thinking about applying to join us this September, we look forward to welcoming you