Education

Schools
Hertfordshire County Council is the education authority for the Borough of Stevenage. Within Stevenage there are 28 primary and 8 secondary schools, as well as schools which offer specialist support to children with special needs. The schools are modern and well equipped with the latest facilities, as well as providing generous sporting facilities.

Several well respected private schools are also within easy reach. For children of pre-school age, there are a number of nursery schools and pre-school playgroups in the town.

Hertfordshire LEA has a good record of achievement both at primary and secondary school levels.

Further Education
Further Education is provided by North Hertfordshire College, situated in Monkswood Way, Stevenage, the campus was opened by Her Majesty in March 2003. The College has an intake of approximately 15,000 students a year, the majority being part-time, but with a full-time population of approximately 2,200.

The range of provision is extensive with programmes offered in most vocational areas, with qualifications including, NVQs, GNVQs, BTECs, GCSEs & A-levels.

The College also delivers a range of programmes each year for unemployed adults in conjunction with Hertfordshire Learning and Skills Council.

Courses at the College range from foundation level right through to degree programmes, offered in association with the University of Hertfordshire, providing the opportunity for students to progress from one level to another.

There is also provision for students with learning difficulties and disabilities.

Higher Education
The University of Hertfordshire based at Hatfield, 7 miles south of Stevenage on the Al (M), has an excellent reputation in research and teaching, offering a wide range of undergraduate and post-graduate degrees, diplomas and other qualifications including linked degree courses with North Hertfordshire College. The University is recognised as a centre of excellence for engineering. It has 10,500 full-time undergraduates and 2,300 post-graduate students.

Ridgemond Park Training Centre
Ridgemond Training Ltd is an independent training company, based in Stevenage which offers a wide range of training packages including Management and Business Development, industrial courses leading to NVQs, PC/software training and pre-retirement courses.

Set in attractive surroundings, Ridgemond Park, the training centre, provides the ideal venue for training courses, conferences and meetings and is open to both companies and individuals. Other services include skills audits, careers guidance and an Open Learning Centre which allows clients to study a range of subjects, at a time and pace to suit themselves.

The Centre will be closed temporarily in mid 2005 for a major renovation. Please watch this space for further details.

Foreign Language Capability
48% of the Stevenage workforce have some ability to speak either French or German.

Information Technology Ability
Almost 85% of the Stevenage workforce have ability in the use of Information Technology.

For more information on education in Hertfordshire, please visit Hertfordshire County Council’s website www.hertsdirect.co.uk