Preparing for College
Studying at a college is different to being at school - here is some information that will help you to prepare for studying with us.
Braintree Campus Welcome Video
Due to the college being currently unable to provide tours and open days, the staff at the Braintree Campus have made a short video to show you where you will be studying and how your year will work.
Where to Start
In the first instance, please check the official college website for help and guidance: www.colchester.ac.uk
If you're coming to us from school, there's a whole section on the website for school leavers which includes:
- Course information
- Information about English and Maths
- Careers advice
- Student finance advice
- Information for your parents/guardians
- Information about student support services available at the college
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As well as the information on the college website, we have provided some information below, but as much as this might be informative, you might also be wondering what being at college will feel like. This is harder to answer on a web page, so we encourage you to attend any taster-sessions that we might run before the start of your course. Get involved in as much as you can early on to see if you enjoy it - it is possible to change to another course or to switch to an apprenticeship or other form of training or education even after you start the course at the beginning of September.
Broadly speaking, in our department it should feel more like a job than school - you are part of a hardworking team learning and developing new skills and knowledge. You are expected to be professional and mature in your approach, and have good attendance and a positive attitude towards all elements of your study programme.
Interview Welcome Presentation
Normally you'd apply online and receive an invitation to an interview - this isn't always possible, so we created this video with the key information you need to know about our department.
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Your Course
Studying at a further education college such as Colchester Institute involves joining a study programme. Your study programme is centred around your chosen course - in this case, one of the Digital Media courses.
Other elements of the study programme include English and Maths GCSEs, weekly group tutorial, regular 1:1 tutorials with your course leader, external trips, guest speakers, a day per week of work experience or work-related activity, and a large proportion of self-directed study outside of the classroom.
If you are from a lower-income family, some financial support is available to help you with your studies, including funding towards trips that are deemed essential for your course.
Your Timetable
You'll receive a timetable at the start of your course which will show you when and where you need to be in a taught session and who your tutor for that session will be. Sessions don't take place all day every day - every class has a different timetable - you may find your sessions are spread across 3 days of the week, you may find your sessions take place on 4 days of the week. Some sessions are shorter (e.g. weekly group tutorial is a 1-hour session), other sessions are longer (e.g. a 3-hour session allows for bigger practical skills workshops).
Within a couple of weeks of starting your course, you will be able to lookup the details of when your English and Maths classes will take place, if applicable. If you have a grade 4 or above in English/Maths, then you will not attend a class for English/Maths but your English/Maths skills will still be developed further in your main sessions.
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Some days you'll have an hour's gap between a morning session and an afternoon session - other days you may find you have 2 or 3 hours 'free time' in the middle of the day - food is available from the on-campus refectory. Colchester campus is a large campus and has multiple refectories to choose from.
Your Tutors
You will have a few points of contact whilst you are studying with us at Colchester Institute:
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- Your course leader for the course you are studying, and the other tutors that teach your main lessons.
- Your PDT (progression and destination tutor), who runs your weekly group tutorial and helps with any personal/pastoral support needs you may have.
- Your GCSE English/Maths tutors, if applicable.
- The student services team.
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All staff have an email address that you can use to contact them - the format for all staff emails is firstname.lastname@colchester.ac.uk - for example if you had a tutor called Tony Stark, their email address would be tony.stark@colchester.ac.uk - once you know who your tutors are, you can email them using this format of email address.
PDTs (Progression and Destination Tutors
Each course in our department has a Progression and Destination Tutor assigned to it. This person will be responsible for:
- Supporting all students to progress on their courses.
- Conducting 1:1 meetings at least once a term.
- Working closely with subject tutors and parents.
- Supporting attendance and behaviour issues.
- Conducting weekly group tutorials – 1 hour per week.
- Providing support with Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (e.g. progression/employability, safeguarding, British Values, bullying)