Abingdon & Witney College: Abingdon Campus - Abingdon

Tia O.

Honestly this college was a waste of 2 years,I joined in January 2023 due to dropping out because of anxiety,depression and mourning, some days i couldnt get myself in due to how hard it was but when I came into colly I was told that I needed to come in more and that ,"teachers have anxiety too and they still come in." the lessons were dull and not advanced at all(they consisted of colouring most lessons)I got told by a gateway staff member that I wouldn't pass my gcses due to my attendance(not going to the lessons where we had to colour for an hour, only gcse lessons.)which led me to low self esteem and even less motivation, ended up getting a 3 and reapplied for the course just for another gateway staff member to tell me I couldn't do another year because they "only expect their pupils to get a 2 anyway" and that's the most they can do.
When my little sister joined,I went to take her to her interview and when she came back she said they solely made it about me and then the same teacher came up to me and started talking about how bad of a student I was due to my attendance,TO MY FACE.
A member of gateway staff also held up her pinky to me and said "you're not exactly skinny are you" whilst I had dropped 3 stone over the summer,I reported her to staff and she was removed from my lessons..for a week before she permanently returned.
SO...If you want your child to succeed and you prioritise their mental wellbeing, send them somewhere they can thrive,because they will not at this college.
Given that,most of the staff were lovely,just mainly some of the gateway staff that weren't. 🙂

Britasha

I’m Arch I was a student here for a long time. A teacher here definitely can guess my full name. I apologise for my writing being flawed.

My troubles:

They forgot to put me in some lessons, so I ended up missing out on very important stuff. Things you could learn in 5 minutes somehow took longer than a hour like most schools. They also screwed up on some stuff so I was forced to redo things I already completed without fail more than once. Sometimes the computers glitched and correct answers were called wrong etc… They lied about what I was allowed to do, I didn’t really have creative freedom & they let me know that, so I quit. I thought I could have some fun with my creativity I was wrong.

Some teachers were obviously better than others, can’t deny that some deserved better, some were really nice, generally wanted to help students, some even learnt from students: 1 was a virtue signaller with some form of superiority complex, managed to help that teacher realise not everything you think offends/helps, actually helps/offends.

Some not so much: 1 teacher told me to leave college - it was more meaner than that. Funny that you hire teachers that basically tell their students to stop learning? No I wont say the teachers name, I believe the teacher learnt a valuable lesson not to do that again.

College refused to send back my posters, so they stole those, they refused to send them back to me. Overall this college for me: sucked, I hadn’t improved in anyway sadly.

The politics of the place:

Yes there’s no doubt this college has a political bias, “progressive” or is it regressive? “Racial” or whatever the “pride” flag is and all, yes the 1 with a triangle is political, IMO all flags are stupid, they segregate people, they don’t help them, it creates irrational attachments to people/things you have nothing to do with & they make people think of stereotypes more. Some self proclaimed “feminists” paid to make students learn about intersectionality, which i’m pretty sure is connected to Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw. so yeah that’s political brainwashing, I know who Antonio Gramsci is, I know why our entertainment & culture is becoming worse & I wish they’d stop damaging escapist art. They also tried doing CRT without saying it was CRT before… I think they were stopped because it discriminates & is probably illegal.

I wanted to pretend this college didn’t have a bias so badly because some teachers were much more open minded, probably even more than me, so don’t assume all teachers won’t give you a chance to speak, they may even agree with you… Some clearly would rather just be in a echochamber. - As humans are.

I wont deny I use to be political: called myself centrist, LOL, not anymore… I absolutely hate all politics now, it’s just depressing BS most of us can’t control. I’ll never vote or look at news/upsetting things ever again I promise, unlike many of you I will actually be comfy & happy even though I can’t afford anything.

I hope the artists, writers etc of this college will have more creative freedom & supplies, I don’t want them to be afraid to create what they want even if it’s risky. I want them to be able to make new fun escapist fantasy products, not remakes, not remasters, not for a “global, wider whatever audience” just make something you think would be fun, that way if it fails atleast it was still fun.

No idea if anyone will ever read this.

Ekaterina M.

Teachers are fantastic, but office staff is hopeless, they fail to answer simplest query, had horrible experience with MIS team, it is more than a month of chasing and several emails from me, as an adult learner and unpaid carer I am under great pressure, and such unprofessionalism does affect my academic results

R W.

God knows how this has been voted a top college!!!!? Cancelled my first booked and paid for course a few weeks before it started. Tried to contact the tutor, who ignored my voicemail and emails. Now the rebooked course in January has now been cancelled. Checked to see availability of similar courses, but nothing. Useless

Jade H.

I’m autistic, and the way I got treated in this college was unacceptable!! I got severely bullied by most pupils! The staff could see it and done nothing!! Until my mum rang up and complained plus was going to take this further! They then kicked me out!! Just because they couldn’t be asked to sort out the bullying! I’m sorry but this is unacceptable behaviour!! You need better staff who understands autistic children and learning difficulties!! Some of the staff was pure rude in future pathway!

Pip

My son went to Witney college last year. Although it was during lockdown, the staff were excellent and handled everything with care and kindness. They care about their students and the teaching is to a really great standard.

My son enjoyed the year and learnt a lot. It was such a difficult and strange year 2020 for so many of the students, but I felt we chose a great college as they handled everything with care and sensitivity. The online learning was straight forward and easy to log on and they got the students into college again as soon as they felt it was safe to do so.

Thank you to the staff and the college, you have been brilliant!

peter78

Decent college with good facilities, large seated area with a onsite Costa Coffee. I was here for a maths exam, it was an experience made better by the comfortable, spacious college seating area and the coffee!

Friendly staff, automatic opening doors, a decent car park and facilities all helped to make my visit pleasant.

Banksyymademoiselle

The staff at the reception are absolutely awful. Rude and unhelpful.