31st January 2025
UWE donation provides open access resources for St Brendan’s Sixth Form College
In 2024, St Brendan’s received new computer stock that made key upgrades to student learning experience possible.
The partnership with UWE and StBrn’s commitment to teaching excellence
As part of St Brendan’s strategic plan; maintenance, repair, refresh and renovation of college facilities is being prioritised in order to build on the teaching and learning environment for students.
The college has a commitment to become the post 16 provider of choice for Bristol and surrounding areas, with St Brendan’s connection to local Universities, Authorities and employers providing mutually beneficial opportunities.
One example that was put in place for the start of the 2024/2025 academic year, came directly from Higher Education provider UWE. The University engaged with St Brendan’s following the development of UWE's Circular Economy Plan, a key part of this is building partnerships to maximise value from IT stock that is no longer required.
"Supporting St Brendan's with IT kit builds on UWE's Circular Economy Plan and ensures that equipment UWE no longer requires is being reused locally to support other education institutes."
Jo Dainton, Head of Circular Economy and Responsible Consumption, UWE
The donation and how it was used
St Brendan’s had identified some key areas of the college that had out of date computer stock, and were looking for cost effective solutions to improve digital services for students. Marian Curran, Principal at St Brendan’s commented;
“We’re delighted at this step forward in our relationship with UWE Bristol. As the only Sixth form college Provider specialising in 16-19 education, it’s so important to be able to offer our community resources that they wouldn’t be able to receive elsewhere.”
The tech donation of circa 150 devices was put to good use across the campus including;
Learning resources centre
New devices were set up in the central LRC for the college, a space that provides quiet and comfort for students to manage learning. Over 100 computers were installed modernising and improving the LRC offering and creating a new student open IT access area.
Media studies classrooms
18 hi spec video editing computers were also installed within a designated media classroom. With over 100 students studying A level media studies in the 6th form college, the improved computer stock has made a big impact to student’s ability to build skills and use video processing tools.
Reflecting on the value to students as the College moves into its third academic term for 2024/2025 Marian highlighted her hope that the partnership with UWE will continue:
“IT donations like this one have a direct positive impact on day-to-day life for students and mean we can continue to deliver on investing in both our teaching and curriculum and more importantly the digital skills of our students.
We are excited to be working with UWE and are looking at how we can further develop this partnership moving into the future.”
St Brendan’s Sixth Form College campus sits in South Bristol, and welcomes students across Bristol, Bath and surrounding areas. With over 2,000 students studying A-levels, Applied Generals/AAQs and mixed programmes we pride ourselves on providing a welcoming and transformative atmosphere where every member of our community flourishes and achieves their full potential.
