Banbury and Bicester College

refuses to allow anyone over 18 to join level 2 courses. completely blocking any adult from starts a path in education. even thought there is no mention of this on their webpage for the level 2 courses and they even show the prices for adults on the page. disgusting

Had an excellent experience with this college and the organisation. Would highly recommend. I'm looking to study more

Do NOT go to this college if you want to pass anything or if you want the tutor/faculty coordinator/admission team to get back to you. They never get back to you and there is little to no communication at all. Though they may get in touch now after reading this :) Banbury college/activate learning do not care about their students!! My son waited for calls and he waited to get help to link to the classes online and no one got in touch. We couldn't get onto the online classes so something was wrong with the system and no one got in touch (Yes I repeated "no one got in touch" again because I'm still flummoxed by the lack of concern from anyone at the college). When my son was "interviewed" on the phone for the course, it lasted for less than 2 minutes. When he was interviewed at a different college, it lasted over 20 minutes (on the phone) and the lady asked him lots of questions. When I called reception last week to ask who I needed to speak to, they put me on hold for over 5 minutes to find out. They still didn't have the answer then - No one knew! When my son asked 3 different teachers about logging on, none of them had the answers either. The timetable was changed multiple times and with little or no notice. Whow I could go on and on. I have never experienced anything like this dire college and my children have attended schools and colleges over the years. We've enrolled our son at a different college now. The difference is already obvious. It's an efficient college! It's been a complete waste of time these last 3 weeks and I wish we'd never heard of Banbury and Bicester college! A poor excuse of a college. They should turn it into a cinema!

Easy to park for their open morning today. Loved looking around the campus. Excellent talk by hair and beauty leader. Then the best tour of animal husbandry. All lovely staff.

Discriminatory, placed all the adults wanting to do a certain course on a separate adult course, saying it would be better for them, then cancelled the adult course at the last minute, not offering any adults a single place on the course, as they gave away all the original course places to younger people. Let my sister enrol, gave her a lanyard, gave her a schedule and told her to turn up 10 minutes early for her first day, only to cancel her course at the last minute. Discriminatory practices clearly, offering places based on age, then cancelling courses for all older students

Update: Not only is AL Admissions utterly incompetent and chaotic, the courses at B&B and the general lazy and uninterested attitude of tutors and support staff are APPALLING! There is little direction, no proper set work, staff can't be bothered to attend formal meetings, any home work is never marked with tutors relying on online quizzes for the serious exams. Timetables are scant, muddled, riddled with errors and don't get sorted out until several weeks into term. Substantial student bursaries are mysteriously absorbed by the college, while students must apply for reimbursement for every pencil and notepad. There are no set textbooks or bibliographies. There is rarely any feedback from tutors or sense of personal student direction, even when requested. I can't believe OFSTED ever step foot in this college because, from two years of personal evidence, the institution has proven really substandard.

Lack of any input from tutors, The course itself was falsified upon the second year.. My course was advertised as art, however most of the three year process has been typing day after day and copying text from Wikipedia without a blind eye noticing.. I have been told multiple times to NOT draw in class when it is my main medium for work and I found it odd that they'd even question it. Furthermore.. The course has taught me nothing that I didn't already know and has not been beneficial to me in the carrier path I want to head towards.. Plus, when I've even asked for help, most of the comments back are to use Google or to use books.. There have been no art tips, techniques or nothing that I was shown during open day present during these past three years, the closet thing to anything I was shown is mono-printing, but after a while that gets extremely old.. I am sick and tired of typing day after day about artists when I could be painting or sculpting.. I was even judged for bringing in my sculpting equipment because figure making to the 'professionals' was not artistic.. And my final complaint is the lack of enjoyment in this course that I get from working at home.. Every day has been an anxious, depressing struggle for me to even attend, Apparently mental health is not classified as a valid reason to 'skip' college.. In no way has this course been 'Art and Design', More like 'Boring and Disappointing.'

Don't expect to be able to park, and communication from staff isn't a certainty. Similarly, safeguarding for students isn't guaranteed without direct outside interference.