HSDC Alton - Alton

Matthew E.

Alton college tries to pride themselves on having a great health and wellbeing facility and being there for every student, but they very clearly care more about attendance than the reasons behind it.
They also pride themselves on the maths department but after 3 years in this college i can say that the only departments where people can get the best grades are the courses where the teachers are able to understand the students and actually want to help.
Their maths department is extremely sub standard with maths teachers that expect every student to come into the course with the ability to understand every aspect of the course by reading it from a book, they dont teach you the course just give you questions to answer,
Overall i would never recommend enrolling you or your child in this school as the only good part of the college is not having lessons, Alton college, Do Better.

Ryan B.

I took geography, environmental science and criminology at a level at Alton college and I enjoyed my time there. The geography department was good despite there only being 1 teacher who was able to juggle both year 1 and year 2 classes as well as the multitude of day trips to London and the coast, Izzy wood (the teacher) also educated well on topics surrounding colonialism and did a good job at decolonising the curriculum both herself and using an array of guest speakers.
The environmental science department was also great they had more teachers who were all very friendly and chatty and the course was laid out clearly working through packs , each pack with its own topic/theme. On top of this we also had a few day trips in which we were able to experience fieldwork conducting experiments outside of the classroom setting. Lesley newel and Neil furlonger were fantastic and were able to juggle other commitments they had outside of environmental science such as year 1 and 2 biology classes and lessons in the Havant branch.
Criminology was a good course and furthered my understanding of the criminal system while also looking at real life case examples. Despite having to sit two 8 hour exams it was good and somewhat a more relaxed course than geography and environmental science so it was nice to have a break. Lucie jeanes was lovely also and was my personal tutor who helped with the writing of personal statements and applications to uni which is where I am now.

Louis B.

Not a good college, go elsewhere. For my first year of computer science my teacher Shan was not present for most lessons, and if he was present he wasn't engaging and just read off a power point. I believe the lack of teaching in first year lead to the grade I achieved. The Maths department is Alton's strong point, the teachers go out of their way to provide extra lessons during lunches. The Business department is okay, Chris is a really good teacher who is willing to learn the course. The prices that the college offers for food especially for the deli is extremely high so make sure you have enough money. Support from the college for UCAS was poor, it took endless amounts of chasing to get my UCAS submitted to university's. During results day the platform they used took 30 minutes to load to get my results. All round I would try other colleges such as Peter Symonds.

Holly D.

Daily hot meal for £2.95, what a bargain! Mine was gluten free and vegan too.

Emily H.

Amazing geography department, lovely teachers across the school. Would definitely recommend. 10am start always a bonus.
Izzy (geography teacher) thank you for all your help and all the laughs.

Martyn B.

As with most places staff are very nice and helpful to the students, but the level of support and teaching is poor. Lessons are frequently cancelled due to lack of staff, exams are mismanaged and the higher level management are full of promises that never get followed up.

My daughter is currently experiencing many issue with exams and we all wish she had chosen a different college. If you are considering this college for your child or you think this is where you want to study, be warned any positives you have heard about this college are greatly exaggerated.

Update after response:

As always the replies are standard, this review has been left after a year or more of contact with various admin and senior staff. My review stands , you have to shout the loudest to get things dealt with and since my review more lessons have been cancelled at very short notice.

Kat H.

Awful College, Rude teachers!
One teacher actually screamed at my daughter, he was never held accountable despite the complaints.
The email address underneath in the "reply" doesn't work and no one ever gets back to you.
We tried desperately to work with this awful college, but the emotional trauma it cause my daughter resulted in her dropping out entirely.
There are still a good number of kids we know still at the college and they have reported that things are still no better, no support to the point where they are going to drop out long before the term is over.
Really do not send your child to this college!

Loafis C.

Do not go to this college. Complete disregard for students' well-being or ability to learn with bad quality rude teachers and an awful support system that makes your issues worse, or does nothing at all. half the rules for the college sound like they are just made to frustrate students with no propper reason to exist, students basically end up teaching themself the corses, as the teachers hinder you more than they help your learning