All about: Hugh Baird college

Hugh Baird College is a further education institution situated in Bootle on Merseyside. The college is viewed as one of the finest in England, having finished top of government league tables for each year from 2009 until 2011. The college also boasts about its success rate online for its sixth form programme which is 13% higher than the national average. This article details all about Hugh Baird college.

History and location

According to the most recently available figures, Hugh Baird College consists of three main buildings on its single campus which offers courses to approximately 7000 students. These buildings are the Balliol, the Pembroke Centre and the Sixth Form Academy. The college can trace its origins to 1891 when Bootle Technical College was opened thanks to grants from the government exchequer. Its original intake of students was 807 with courses offered in 25 subjects. The popularity of the college continued to grow and it expanded throughout the 20th Century until it merged with Bootle College of Art to become the Bootle College for Further Education in 1967. By 1974, the college was known as the Hugh Baird College of Further Education, a name that it received in recognition of a local mayor and of a college governor's contribution to education in the Bootle area.
Facilities Since then, the college has continued to grow and has expanded its range of facilities with the most recent addition to its buildings being a comprehensive extension of the Pembroke Centre. The latter now houses brand new workshops for subject areas such as construction, motor vehicle courses and electrical installation. The three buildings of the college are located along Balliol Road, Bootle near Liverpool though Hugh Baird is not part of any city of Liverpool college.

Learning and lifestyle

The Balliol Centre is the college's main building and it is the place where many of the main subject areas at the college are based. These range from Art and Design right through to Business Administration. The centre is also where the college's main libraries and reception are based. The Sixth Form Academy was opened in 2002 and it is where the 'A' Level and BTEC courses are located. The main exam hall and the Cafe 6 refectory are situated here. The third college building, the Pembroke Centre, was built in 1997 and it received a comprehensive upgrade of its facilities in 2009. This centre is the base for subject areas such as construction, engineering, motor vehicle and health and social care.