Keighley College is a

further education Further education (often abbreviated FE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland is additional education to that received at secondary school that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. It ...

college in

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford, n ...

, West Yorkshire, England. It traces its origins to Keighley Mechanics' Institute, founded in 1825. IFrom 2006 to 2017 it was part of

Park Lane College Leeds Park Lane College Leeds was the largest further education college in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, and provided further, higher and adult education to over 45,000 students. It operated out of over 40 sites across Leeds. On 1 April 2009 Park L ...

and

Leeds City College Leeds City College is the largest further education establishment in the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England with around 26,000 students, 2,300 staff, with an annual turnover of £78 million.

, branded as their Keighley Campus, but is now once more a freestanding college, within the Luminate Education Group.

History

Keighley

Mechanics' Institute Mechanics' institutes, also known as mechanics' institutions, sometimes simply known as institutes, and also called schools of arts (especially in the Australian colonies), were educational establishments originally formed to provide adult edu ...

was founded in 1825 as "a society for mutual instruction, and to establish a library for that purpose".

Patrick Brontë Patrick Brontë (, commonly ; born Patrick Brunty; 17 March 1777 – 7 June 1861) was an Irish Anglican minister and author who spent most of his adult life in England. He was the father of the writers Charlotte Brontë, Charlotte, Emily Bront ...

, father of the literary sisters, became a member in 1833, and his daughters attended a lecture there by his curate William Weighton in 1840. The institute opened a new building in 1834, holding a concert with professional musicians to celebrate. This original building, on the corner of North Street and Bow Street, was outgrown by the 1869s and a new building was built at the junction of North Street and Cavendish Street. The foundation stone was laid by

Isaac Holden Sir Isaac Holden, 1st Baronet (7 May 1807 – 13 August 1897) was an inventor and manufacturer, who is known both for his work in developing the Square Motion wool-combing machine and as a Radical Liberal Member of Parliament. Life Holden was ...

on 12 December 1868 and it was opened by the

Duke of Devonshire Duke of Devonshire is a title in the Peerage of England held by members of the Cavendish family. This (now the senior) branch of the Cavendish family has been one of the wealthiest British aristocratic families since the 16th century and has b ...

on 30 September 1870. Keighley Trade School and Art School was established there in 1871. A report in '' The Builder'' in 1871 describes Keighley Trade School, and declares that it "inaugurates a new era in the educational history of the neighbourhood", with activities including science lectures and art classes.

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (195 ...

described the building as "By Lockwood & Mawson, 1868, N. extension 1887. Gothic with a tower. The dominating building of Keighley", but notes in the Addenda that the building was damaged by fire in 1962 and that in 1964 "plans ... were being discussed to replace the building with an extension to the Technical College". The building was demolished in 1967, despite local protest. A new building for Keighley Technical College was built in 1955–1956, described by Pevsner as "By

Hubert Bennett Sir Hubert Bennett, FRIBA (4 September 1909 – 13 December 2000) was a British architect. Bennett was born in Lancashire, where his father was surveyor and architect to the Duke of Bridgewater's estate. He qualified at Manchester School of Ar ...

, the then County Architect. Next to the Mechanics' Institute. A building of moderate size and wholly up-to-date style. Stone and glass, of pleasing composition." It was linked by a corridor footbridge across Lord Street to the older building. In 2007, the college merged with

to become Park Lane College Leeds and Keighley, which then merged into

in 2009. The Keighley site was known as the Keighley Campus. In 2010, the college opened a new £30 million campus, near

Keighley railway station Keighley railway station serves the market town of Keighley in West Yorkshire, England. The station is located on the Airedale line, north-west of Leeds. It provides electric services to , and , operated by Northern, along with longer distan ...

, moving away from the former site on Cavendish Street, which was in need of repair and has since been demolished.

The college today

The college provides courses for

A-level The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational ...

s. T-Levels,

vocational qualification Vocational education is education that prepares people for a skilled craft. Vocational education can also be seen as that type of education given to an individual to prepare that individual to be gainfully employed or self employed with req ...

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...

adult education Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained educating activities in order to gain new knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. Merriam, Sharan B. & Brockett, Ralph G. ''The Pr ...

, and

special education Special education (also known as special-needs education, aided education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, and SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates their individual di ...

. The college includes an Industrial Centre of Excellence and a nationally acclaimed Star Centre facility, designed to encourage more young people to study

STEM Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word respon ...

subjects (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). This features a mock

mission control centre A mission control center (MCC, sometimes called a flight control center or operations center) is a facility that manages space flights, usually from the point of launch until landing or the end of the mission. It is part of the ground segment ...

, a

planetarium A planetarium (: planetariums or planetaria) is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation. A dominant feature of most planetariums is ...

, a simulated rocky

planet A planet is a large, Hydrostatic equilibrium, rounded Astronomical object, astronomical body that is generally required to be in orbit around a star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf, and is not one itself. The Solar System has eight planets b ...

surface and many other

space Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...

-related items. The

Minister of State for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education The minister of state for Skills, formerly Minister of State for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education and previously Minister of State for Universities, is a mid-level position in the Department for Education in the British government. ...

Robert Halfon Robert Henry Halfon (; born 22 March 1969) is a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician and was the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Harlow (UK Parliament constituency), Harlow from 2010 ...

, visited the college in October 2023 as part of the "Love Our Colleges" campaign.

References

External links

* {{coord, 53.8683, -1.9007, type:edu_region:GB, display=title Further education colleges in West Yorkshire Education in the City of Bradford