Activate Learning is an education group which combines secondary, further and higher education, apprenticeships and workforce training.

About Activate Learning

The group operates across the Thames Valley, with two colleges in Oxfordshire and one in Berkshire.

Apprenticeships are delivered by Activate Enterprise, which works with 1,000 businesses every year.

Activate Learning’s schools and colleges are inspired by a unique learning philosophy, which understands the important relationship between the brain, emotions and motivation.

At an Activate Learning college you’ll find industry standard facilities, commercial environments and technology enabled learning.

You’ll also find innovative learning companies, where students work and learn within real business operations.

The Activate Learning colleges are rated ‘good’ with outstanding areas by Ofsted and are characterised by strong partnerships with employers and a focus on enterprise.

Find out more about the Activate Learning experience by watching this short film.

Banbury and Bicester College

Banbury and Bicester College is the leading provider of post-16, career-focused education in North Oxfordshire, providing an alternative route to university and employment.

The college provides industry-standard learning facilities from campuses in Banbury and Bicester. The Banbury campus has undergone a £12m investment to create unrivalled workshop, studio and work spaces for creative arts, media production and motor vehicle training. The Bicester campus is a national centre of excellence for motorsport engineering and provides related pathways in mechanical engineering and motor vehicle maintenance.

The college provides higher education programmes backed by leading universities including Oxford Brookes. Higher education specialisms include media production, creative arts and motorsport engineering.

City of Oxford College

City of Oxford College is located in the heart of Oxford, itself an internationally renowned centre of learning.

The city centre campus is home to the flagship £6m Oxford Lifestyle Centre, providing state-of-the-art health and fitness, hair and beauty facilities that enable students to work and learn in a live, commercial setting.

A specialist hub for teaching STEM

The Blackbird Leys campus is being transformed to provide a specialist hub for the teaching of STEM – science, technology, engineering and maths. The Oxford Centre for Technology, Innovation and Skills will also be home to The School of Construction; new full-time provision for those aged 14 plus wanting to follow pathways in construction and the built environment.

Higher education

The college provides higher education programmes in policing, health and social care and business and enterprise and is home to the Rycotewood Furniture Centre, part of highly regarded National School of Furniture.

Reading College enjoys a national reputation for harnessing the potential of leading-edge technologies, including browser-based apps and wearable technology, to support teaching and learning.

The college is home to Reading Studio of Dramatic Art, a pioneering approach to performing arts training in the South East, run in partnership with Reading Rep. The college’s learning company model provides students with experience of real commercial environments. Learning companies at Reading College include Reading Studio of Dramatic Art, The Kitchen, The Salon and Graduate Salon and The Shop.

Reading College provides higher education programmes in engineering and computing, business and enterprise and policing.