About Cirencester College

Cirencester College is a specialist sixth form college in a rural setting on the outskirts of Cirencester, Gloucestershire.  One of only three designated specialist Sixth Form Colleges in the South West, Cirencester College is one of the top ranking Sixth Form Colleges in the country.

Cirencester College T-Level Building

The College provides a bridge between school and university, apprenticeships or employment.  Students experience the academic challenge, pastoral support and enrichment expected at the best sixth form but with a more adult ethos, based on mutual respect, to prepare you to be a successful, independent person.

The College offers an unrivalled choice of subjects from the Upgrade Programme to Level 3 A-levels, T-levels and Vocational courses.  The great choice of courses and professional apprenticeships is a major reason why so many students make us their first choice.

Cirencester College ensures that students achieve their full potential through individual student tutorials. Cirencester Sixth Form College’s reputation for excellent teaching, learning, innovation and student support produces consistently high value added scores and achievement rates.

Our Campus

Our Campus adjoins the early Eighteenth century Cirencester Park and is a 15-minute walk from town. The playing field out front and the surrounding trees create a green-campus feel which our staff and students find attractive.

Cirencester college New Buildings

Our campus is currently being transformed both in terms of buildings and biodiversity. Early in 2022, the College opened the new Gloucestershire Digital Skills Centre. Digital skills are a significant part of all that we do and this building, with all its cutting edge technology, will develop the skills of all our learners, not just those taking IT related courses.

Our new £5 million T-level building opened in Spring 2023, providing sector specialist accommodation for our T-levels in Engineering, Health, Construction, Finance, Early Years, Accounting and Business. There are three large engineering workshops, a small training hospital and an early years classroom. T-levels are designed to prepare students to succeed in modern working environments. As well as this, our new ‘Art Lofts’ opened in September 2023 ready for the new Craft and Design T-level starting in September 2024. The investment continues, we will be opening a new, bigger pastoral hub, additional refectory and social space and more T-level classrooms in 2024.

The second transformation of our campus is about encouraging biodiversity and making more of our outdoor space. We have been developing our ‘green campus plans’ for many years but our efforts have been boosted by being part of the Wild Campus Cirencester Project with 2 neighbouring institutions which is about providing better habitats for bats and other endangered species. We have undertaken a great deal of planting of trees, native hedging, bulbs and wildflowers while a small group of staff have converted one part of our site to a kind of ‘forest school area’ with ponds and wildlife areas. They are currently building a roundhouse there. Our ambitions include developing more interesting outside spaces between the buildings and around the green parts of our campus. We hope it is somewhere you will also enjoy.

History of the Campus

Cirencester College opened on 1 September 1991 on the site of the old Cirencester Sixth Form. After incorporation in April 1993 the College has gone from strength to strength and grown an extensive and comprehensive curriculum that offers young people the biggest choice of courses in the area. The College initially opened with around 450 full-time students and now 30 years later has over 2,300 full-time students attending the College.

During World War II Cirencester College was the site of an US Army Hospital.   To find out more about the part Cirencester played in World War II click through to the World War II US Medical Research Centre

Our Mission & Values

THE specialist Sixth Form College for Swindon, North Wilts and Gloucestershire.

Our purpose

‘Ensure every student has the skills, knowledge and qualifications to prepare for their place in a changing world’.

The Cirencester way is:

  • Being ambitious for all our students and challenging all to excel
  • Respecting and nurturing individuals
  • Developing independent, resilient and employable citizens
  • Being a learning community which is large enough to offer unrivalled choice but small enough to care
  • Providing THE stepping stone from School to University, Apprenticeships or Work
  • Empowering great staff to deliver great student experiences.