Northampton College launches Digital Academy at SEMLEP funded Daventry campus

Principal, Pat Brennan-Barrett

A Digital Academy set to teach students software and coding, web development, games design and social media is being unveiled this week. The Digital Academy will welcome its first students as part of the launch of Northampton College’s state of the art Daventry Campus this autumn.

Northampton College was awarded a £6.5m Local Growth Fund by SEMLEP to fund this purpose built campus in Daventry town centre and the Digital Academy will form a key part of the campus’s technical and professional curriculum, providing students with cutting edge facilities and training from digital experts and local employers from the creative and digital sector.

Students signing up to a Digital Academy course will also benefit from work placements within digital companies to help them gain the skills and qualifications needed to secure jobs in this fast moving sector.

Principal Pat Brennan-Barrett said: “Our new curriculum, with a focus on preparing students for the world of work, will help prepare students for the fast-paced world of the creative media and digital sectors. We have designed the Digital Academy with the young people of Daventry in mind and are delighted to be able to offer them a fresh opportunity in brand new, state of the art facilities. Our ambition is to make sure that Daventry Campus students are well equipped to win the best jobs after they have successfully achieved their qualifications”.

The range of courses on offer as part of the Digital Academy will include skills for careers in:

• Multi-media design
• Website development
• Computer programming and coding
• Digital games design and product development
• Video, film and photography
• Digital art and animation
• TV and radio advertising.

The new, multi-million pound Badby Road West campus continues to take shape and, in addition to the Digital Academy, facilities will include industry-standard workshops for motor vehicle engineering, state of the art library facilities, contemporary hairdressing and beauty therapy salons, ICT and Mac suites, teaching space for healthcare and childcare plus dedicated provision for students with learning difficulties and disabilities. In addition, there are growing numbers of vacancies in the Daventry area for Apprenticeships that enable students to ‘earn while they learn’.

The curriculum includes a range of study programmes that consist of technical and professional qualifications plus maths and English and employability skills.

Read all about the new campus and see the construction underway via the College's live digital feed HERE.