Thursday, May 7, 2020

News: Dinnington campus to close in July

By

The Dinnington campus of the Rotherham College will close this summer, the RNN Group has confirmed.

The land at Doe Quarry Lane is likely to be put up for sale.

Courses, and the majority of staff, will move to town centre campus in Rotherham, North Notts College in Worksop and Dearne Valley College in Wath-upon-Dearne from September 2020.

This week, the Group has written to Dinnington Campus staff, learners and parents and carers, informing them that the campus will close by the end of July 2020, and advising that it will do everything it can to support them with the transition and move.

The Group's governing body made the decision on April 29th 2020 following the conclusion of a formal consultation process with staff and the recognised trade unions.

The process involved 122 staff at the Dinnington Campus – equivalent to 96 full time equivalent (FTE) jobs. 26 staff remain at risk, equivalent to 19 FTE jobs.

Advertisement

Jason Austin, chief executive officer and principal at the RNN Group, said: "We understand the strength of feeling for the Dinnington Campus. However, we have had to take difficult decisions to ensure that the RNN Group is on a secure and sustainable financial footing and well positioned for the future.

"We will do everything we can to support our learners and staff with the transition and move. Although the number of staff at risk is significantly less than anticipated, any job losses are regrettable – especially during this challenging time with Covid-19. We are involved in early discussions about the future utilisation of the Dinnington buildings, which could potentially save some of the roles that remain at risk."

The decision to close the Dinnington Campus follows a wider review of the Group's entire estate, which aims to release funding from the sale of land and property to re-invest in the development of some new curriculum and facilities at other campuses.

The estate review found that the Dinnington campus is under-utilised: 30% is mothballed, which is costly to maintain.

The Group is advising learners opportunities at its other college campuses and will provide more details on curriculum timetables and individual support plans regarding travel arrangements soon. Another 40 students are studying short courses.

Curriculum currently offered at the Dinnington Campus includes animal care and management, construction, countryside management and horticulture, foundation learning, health science, motor vehicle and access to higher education courses.

RNN Group website

Images: RNN Group

3 comments:

Martyn Benson,  May 7, 2020 at 12:17 PM  

It seems to me that it's a very great pity that RCAT (incl. the Dinnington campus) 'got into bed with' RNN. Local facilities seem to have been sacrificed for the alleged 'greater good'. It's easy to run down facilities and then claim they are under-utilised.

Unknown May 8, 2020 at 1:53 PM  

An absolute disgrace this will destroy dinnington altogether that beautiful has stood there for almost 100 years and not only serves and has served a lot of students but is recognised for miles around I deeply object to this decision it brings a lot of business to dinnington this is going to be a ghost town.

Unknown May 8, 2020 at 8:06 PM  

I went to secondary school there when it was Dinnington Tech. Happy Days

Members:
Supported by:
More news...

  © Blogger template Newspaper III by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP