College Charter
Print this pageOur commitment to you:
Chesterfield College aims to offer you the best possible service and therefore will seek to treat you fairly, efficiently and in accordance with published arrangements.
Before you become a student at Chesterfield College
We aim to offer you:
• A fair and efficient system for handling your enquiry and application. We will seek to acknowledge the receipt of your application and request for information from the Advice and Guidance Centre within 5 working days.
• Advice and information on the learning programmes and qualifications offered at the College, including how to apply for the learning programme of your choice in further and higher education. We will seek to ensure that your request for information from the Advice and Guidance Centre will be dealt with within 5 working days.
• Advice and information on the cost of your learning programme. We will seek to ensure that information is available to allow you to calculate the full cost of your learning programme before you enrol.
• Details of our teaching and learning facilities.
• Information about how your learning will be managed.
• Help and advice on accommodation where appropriate.
• The opportunity to make your views on the College known.
• Additional help and advice if you have any learning difficulties, disabilities or intend to study with us as an overseas student. We will seek to ensure that there is the opportunity for you to discuss your additional learning requirements before enrolment. We will seek to make available the College’s Disability Statement on request to the Advice and Guidance Centre.
• Information of the College’s previous performance. This will include examination results and the destinations of full-time students when they leave the College. We will seek to ensure that a copy of the College’s ‘Publication of Information about Student Achievements’ is available to you on request to the Advice and Guidance Centre.
• Details on how the College seeks to promote equal opportunities. We will seek to ensure that a copy of the College’s Equal Opportunities Statement is available to you on request to the Advice and Guidance Centre.
• The opportunity to look round the College and its facilities. We will seek to ensure that a conducted tour of the relevant College areas will be provided if you pre-book through the Advice and Guidance Centre.
• Information on all the above is available from the College’s Advice and Guidance Centre. Some written information is also available in the College Library.
When you apply to study full-time at Chesterfield College
We aim to offer you:
• An acknowledgment of your application form. We will seek to provide an acknowledgment within 5 working days from the receipt of your form in Central Admissions.
• A speedy notification of the date of your interview. We will seek to ensure that you receive notification of a date for your interview within 15 working days from the receipt of your form in Central Admissions.
Whilst studying at Chesterfield College We aim to offer you:
• A free student handbook outlining the main policies and procedures relevant to you. We will seek to make available a student handbook to you on request to the Advice and Guidance Centre.
• An induction to the College and your learning programme.
• A working environment which is striving to achieve the highest standards of health and safety for students and staff. We will seek to ensure that you will receive health and safety information at the beginning of your course so that you are aware of the standard to expect and the relevant health and safety practices relating to your learning programme.
• An enquiry service based in the Advice and Guidance Centre.
• Regular reports on your progress and help to plan what to do next. We will seek to ensure that you will receive feedback on your assessed work within the time specified when the work is set, if handed in by the agreed time. The time specified will normally be within 10 working days. The feedback will include advice on how to improve your performance.
• Help with personal difficulties that may be affecting your studies. We will seek to ensure you are offered a counselling appointment within 2 working days if you wish to be seen urgently, or within 10 working days for other appointments.
• Advice and information on jobs/careers including further study on completion of your learning programme at Chesterfield College. We will seek to provide a career’s interview within 10 working days when you request one at Student Services.
• Advice on alternative learning programmes if required. We will seek to provide advice on alternative learning programmes offered by the College within 5 working days of you making a request to the Advice and Guidance Centre.
• Information on the facilities available to you. We will seek to make available a student handbook to you on request to the Advice and Guidance Centre.
• The opportunity to gain nationally recognised qualifications. We will seek to provide a wide range of nationally recognised qualifications from pre-entry to HNC level.
• Details on how the College seeks to promote equal opportunities. We will seek to make available a student handbook to you on request to the Advice and Guidance Centre. We will seek to make every reasonable effort to meet your individual needs. We will seek to ensure that diagnostic screening is available to determine your need for learning support.
• A non-smoking environment.
• The option of joining a Student Union.
• The opportunity for a quality learning experience. We will seek to provide you with clear information about your programme of studies, how you will be assessed and the range of qualifications available.
• As assessment of your achievements on your learning programme. We will seek to ensure that each term you will have the opportunity to discuss your progress with a tutor. We will provide the opportunity for you to appeal against an internally set assessment should you feel dissatisfied with the result or the way in which the assessment was conducted. We will seek to make available a Personal Tutor to guide and support you in all aspects of your studies - this may be as a timetabled weekly session or as an early evening session, depending on your study programme. Where appropriate we will seek to accredit the tutorial programme.
• Work experience placements where appropriate. We will seek to provide, where appropriate, programmes that enable you to participate in work experience, organised in accordance with the College’s work experience policy.
• Opportunities to make your views or, if appropriate, your employer’s views known through the College Quality Review Process. We will seek to ensure that there are opportunities for student representation on each programme and that you will be given the opportunity to respond to questionnaire surveys three times per year. We will seek to ensure that the survey results will be analysed and that feedback will be provided to students after each survey.
• Libraries and Resource Based Learning Centres. We will seek to ensure that your request for information will be responded to within 5 working days. We will seek to provide an efficient service and materials that are returned will be available for loan within 2 working days unless reserved or in need of repair. We will seek to ensure that your request for loan material not in stock will be processed within 7 working days.
• The opportunity to develop key skills. We will seek to ensure that you will be given the opportunity to develop and receive accreditation for key skills where appropriate.
• Advice on Additional Learner Support. We will seek to provide appropriate learner support for you if you have learning difficulties or disabilities to maximise your opportunities to achieve your learning goal.
• Childcare provision. We will seek to offer childcare provision in the Day Nursery for your children, aged 2-5 years, when you are studying at the College. A number of places will also be offered to the children of staff and the general public.
On completion of your time at Chesterfield College We aim to offer you:
• References for employment and further study, when requested, which will include what you know, understand and are able to do. We will seek to ensure that request for reference for you received in Student Services will be responded to within 10 working days. References will normally be provided for up to 3 years after leaving College.
• Advice to help prepare you for your future needs whether study, employment or training. We will seek to provide you with the opportunity to receive careers information, advice and guidance.
• Opportunities for credit transfer where appropriate.
If you are an employer
We aim to offer you:
• Clear accurate information on the College’s learning programmes.
• Information on the possible implications for you and your employees in terms of cost, time commitment to study and the qualifications awarded for each learning programme. We will seek to ensure that your request for information on College learning programmes made to the Advice and Guidance Centre or Employer Liaision Unit will be dealt with within 5 working days.
• The opportunity to make your views known about any service provided by the College.
If you are a member of the local community
We aim to offer you:
• Information on the College’s learning programmes and the educational and recreational facilities, which are available for your use. We will seek to ensure that your request for information from the Advice and Guidance Centre will be dealt within 5 working days.
• The opportunity to make known your views on any service provided by the College and we will endeavour to take these views into account when planning our provision.
In return we expect you to:
• Treat other students, the staff and College property with respect.
• Take responsibility, together with everyone else in the building, for health and safety.
• Report things that are wrong or that may cause a hazard.
• Attend regularly and on time and to complete work required on time.
• Take responsibility for your learning and seek help and support as soon as you think you may be in difficulty.
• Observe all rules and codes of the College.
• Be aware of the student Disciplinary Procedures and your right of appeal against formal disciplinary action.
If things go wrong
Whilst we endeavour to provide the best possible service, there may be occasions when you feel you wish to lodge a complaint. Every effort will be made to resolve your problem/query where and when it occurs.
However, if you feel this has not happened, please state your concerns to the appropriate Director in writing. We will seek to ensure that all written complaints will be acknowledged within 3 working days and to provide a full response within 10 working days.
