New City College (NCC) is a large college of

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 ...

with campuses in

east London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

and

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

. The college was formed in 2016 with the amalgamation of separate colleges, beginning with the merger between Tower Hamlets College and Hackney Community College, followed by the gradual additions of Redbridge College, Epping Forest College, and both

Havering College of Further and Higher Education Havering College of Further and Higher Education is a college founded in 1947 in the London Borough of Havering that provides part-time and full-time education to students aged 14+. History Following the introduction of the Education Act 1944, ...

, Havering Sixth Form College and Hackney Sixth Form (formally BSix Sixth Form College). It is the second largest provider of post-16 education in the country since 2019.

Courses

Various vocational and academic programmes are offered across New City Colleges such as

A levels 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 a ...

, T Levels , BTECs, ESOL programmes and Higher Education courses.

History and sites

The college has 9 buildings and 5 campuses around London and Essex: Redbridge (Ilford and Chadwell Heath), Tower Hamlets (Poplar and Arbour Square), Hackney, Epping Forest (Debden) and Havering (Ardleigh Green, Rainham and Hornchurch). All of these were inherited from its predecessors. The college is partnered with Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, with Tottenham's academy staff providing professional coaching to students of all genders in support of the college's sports courses.

Tower Hamlets

The largest building of the

Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a borough in London, England. Situated on the north bank of the River Thames and immediately east of the City of London, the borough spans much of the traditional East End of London and includes much of ...

campus is on

Poplar High Street Poplar High Street is a street in Poplar, London, Poplar, located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Although the street became less used after 1860, it had previously been the principal street in the Metropolitan Borough of Poplar. Notab ...

, about 700 m north of

Canary Wharf Canary Wharf is a financial area of London, England, located in the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The Greater London Authority defines it as part of London's central business district, alongside Central London. Alongside ...

; the others are at Arbour Square,

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the common la ...

and the TowerSkills on East India Dock Road. The college is housed in the former building of the School of Marine Engineering and Navigation established by the

London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...

opened in 1906. This later evolved into Poplar Technical College, which retained a maritime focus. Tower Hamlets College (THC) was established in 1990. The College faced increasing competition at sixth form provision from local schools in Tower Hamlets and underwent an OFSTED inspection in December 2013 which awarded the College good college status (Ofsted, December 2013) As of 2009/10 the college had 18,986 enrolments, of which 66% were adults age 19 and over. The College launched the Attlee A Level Academy in 2019 at its Arbour Square Centre in Stepney. This is a specific A Level centre dedicated to high achievement and university progression. It is named after the UK's post-war prime minister

Clement Attlee Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British statesman who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. At ...

who was committed to positive social change and opportunity for all. It was opened by Attlee's great grandson and the college continues to have strong links with the Attlee Foundation which has the mission 'opportunity for all'.

Hackney (Hoxton)

Its campus is in Falkirk Street in

Hoxton Hoxton is an area in the London Borough of Hackney, England. It was Historic counties of England, historically in the county of Middlesex until 1889. Hoxton lies north-east of the City of London, is considered to be a part of London's East End ...

, backing onto Hoxton Street. When the campus opened in 1996, it was Britain's largest capital further education building project. The college was originally named Hackney College when it was formed in 1974 by the amalgamation of Hackney and Stoke Newington College of Further Education with those sites of Poplar Technical College that had been established in Hackney. It was initially run by

Inner London Education Authority The Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) was the local education authority for the City of London and the 12 Inner London boroughs from 1965 until its abolition in 1990. From 1965 to 1986 it was an ad hoc committee of the Greater London Co ...

(ILEA) and, following that, by

Hackney Council Hackney London Borough Council, also known as Hackney Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Hackney, in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour majority c ...

, when it was renamed. For a few years it was known as The Community College Shoreditch, but later reverted to the name Hackney Community College (dating from the process known as "incorporation" in 1993 when it was formed from the merger of Hackney College, Hackney Sixth Form Centre and Hackney Adult Education Institute, as a result of the

Further and Higher Education Act 1992 The Further and Higher Education Act 1992 made changes in the funding and administration of further education and higher education within England and Wales, with consequential effects on associated matters in Scotland which had previously been g ...

). In August 2016, Hackney Community College merged with Tower Hamlets to create a larger organisation, named New City College. It is home to the Tech City Apprenticeship, the London Technical Fashion Academy, the London City Hospitality Centre and its training restaurant, Open Kitchen. HCC's SPACe (Sport and Performing Arts Centre) was funded by

Sport England Sport England is a non-departmental public body under the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Its role is to build the foundations of a community sport system by working with national governing bodies of sport, and other funded partners, ...

as a centre of excellence in cricket and basketball. SPACe was home to London United Basketball. It is now branded New City Fitness and is still the base for the

Hackney Community College Basketball Academy The Hackney Community College's Basketball Academy is a basketball programme located in the London Borough of Hackney in the United Kingdom. It was originally designed to engage young people vulnerable to exclusion from education to gain qualificat ...

, as well as academies in other sports and is open to the public as a commercial gym. The impressive sports centre was used as a training camp for basketball during the

London 2012 The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Hackney (Clapton)

In August 2024 BSix Sixth Form College in Clapton joined New City College as a new site. Before September 2002, this was one of the sites of the Hackney College. From 2002 to 2024 the site was operated as an independent sixth form college.

Previous Hackney institutions

The modern version of the term should also be distinguished from previous Hackney Colleges: * One name for the dissenting academy set up by

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

s in

Homerton Homerton ( ) is an area in London, England, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is bordered to the west by Hackney Central, to the north by Lower Clapton, in the east by Hackney Wick, Leyton and by South Hackney to the south. In 2019, it had ...

(in the parish of Hackney) in 1786, also known in various accounts as Homerton Academy, or Homerton College. In these years it attracted some notable students, including

William Hazlitt William Hazlitt (10 April 177818 September 1830) was an English essayist, drama and literary criticism, literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher. He is now considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history ...

. In 1850 it split into two parts. The teacher training component moved to Cambridge, where it is still known as

Homerton College Homerton College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Its first premises were acquired in Homerton, London in 1768, by an informal gathering of English Dissenters, Protestant dissente ...

; the theological functions stayed in London as part of the three-college merger that created

New College London New College London (1850–1980) (sometimes known as New College, St John's Wood St John's Wood is a district in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden and the City of Westminster, London, England, about 2.5 miles (4 ...

. * One name for the

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

co-founded by George Collison (b. 1772 – d. 1847). It was also known as Hackney Academy or Hackney Theological Seminary, or Hackney Itineracy, but became best known as the Hackney College after 1871, a name which stuck even after its 1887 move to

Finchley Road Finchley Road is a designated arterial road in north-west London, England. The Finchley Road starts in St John's Wood near central London as part of the A41 road, A41; its southern half is a major dual carriageway with high traffic levels oft ...

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

, North London. Its principal at about this time was Peter Taylor Forsyth. Both of these merged in 1900, becoming the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

's first Faculty of Theology. This became, by the } ( 14 & 15 Geo. 5. c. xliii), a constituent college known as , the two names by which its disparate buildings throughout

north London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames and the City of London. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshi ...

were commonly known. In 1934 new premises were planned. In 1936, the name of the college was simplified to New College London, harking back to the Congregationalist merger of 1850.

Redbridge

The Redbridge Campus has two sites in

Ilford Ilford is a large List of areas of London, town in East London, England, northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Redbridge, Ilford is within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. It had a po ...

, one in the town centre and another next to King George Hospital. Redbridge College began life as Redbridge Technical College on 2 June 1970. It offered vocational courses in a range of subjects. It was once a major centre for deaf students or those with learning difficulties. The college merged into New City College in 2017.

Epping Forest

The Epping Forest campus is located in Borders Lane in Debden, a suburb of

Loughton Loughton () is a suburban town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. The town borders Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell, Chingford, and Buckhurst Hill, and lies north-east of Charing Cross. For statistical purposes ...

. Epping Forest College was founded in 1989 as a tertiary college after the re-organisation of post-16 education in south-west Essex. It was created from the Loughton College of Further Education and the sixth forms from seven local secondary schools. Due to financial and quality issues, the college merged with New City College in 2018, a move that was protested by

Epping Forest District Epping Forest District is a local government district in Essex, England. It is named after the ancient woodland of Epping Forest, a large part of which lies within the district. The district covers northeastern parts of the urban area of London ...

council fearing it would lose community focus.

Havering Sixth Form College

Havering Sixth Form College, part of the New City College Group, is a high achieving sixth form college in Wingletye Lane, Hornchurch in the London Borough of Havering, east London, England. Built on the site of Dury Falls Secondary School, it opened in September 1991, and educates full-time students from the ages of 16 to 19. The college offers a wide range of subjects, in A-level, BTEC and diploma formats, amongst others.

Havering College

Havering College is part of New City College since it merged with the NCC Group in 2019. The main campus is on Ardleigh Green Road. It is also linked to the New City College Rainham campus which was significantly re-built and re-opened in 2020.

Notable alumni

* Kate Osamor – Labour Party politician (Hackney College) * Darius Defoe –

Newcastle Eagles The Newcastle Eagles are a professional basketball club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. They play in Super League Basketball, the top-tier professional basketball league in Britain for men and women, and the European North Basketball Leag ...

player (Hackney College) *

Dire Straits Dire Straits were a British rock band formed in London in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (lead vocals, lead guitar), David Knopfler (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), John Illsley (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Pick Withers (drums, percussion). Th ...

guitarist and singer

Mark Knopfler Mark Freuder Knopfler OBE (born 12 August 1949) is a British musician. He was the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of the rock band Dire Straits from 1977 to 1995, and he is the one of the two members who stayed during the band's existence ...

lectured at the Epping Forest site when it was known as Loughton College * Micheal Ward – actor (Epping Forest College)

References

External links

official website
{{Authority control Educational institutions established in 2016 2016 establishments in England Further education colleges in London Further education colleges in Essex Education in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Education in the London Borough of Hackney Education in the London Borough of Redbridge Education in the London Borough of Havering Learning and Skills Beacons Loughton