When John Evans arrived at Cornwall College in 2019 it had been inspected by Ofsted which said in its report that it “requires improvement”.

Three years later it has been classed as “good” on every single aspect for which it was assessed – and there are now major plans to transform ones of the campuses.

Principal and chief executive Mr Evans, himself an Ofsted inspector, says that the transformation he has overseen to date “is by far my biggest achievement” before quickly adding “it is all because of the staff”. But if anyone expected that he might be about to rest on his laurels, think again.

Sitting in his office at the college’s St Austell campus in John Keay House Mr Evans explains that he has big plans for the campus which he believes will not only have a transformative impact on the college but will also help turn around the fortunes of St Austell itself.

Vision for the future

The college is planning to transform the St Austell campus which will see most of the buildings on site demolished and replaced with “stunning” new facilities. In fact just The Keay Theatre and recently constructed motor vehicle facilities will remain from the current campus once the work is complete.

Mr Evans is enthusiastic about the proposed new campus which is a result of the college being put forward for a share of a £1.6billion pot from the Department for Education which will be split between 16 colleges across the country.

“Over the last three years we have completely and utterly transformed the college which has resulted in a positive budget.

“Because of that central government confidence in the institution has grown massively so when we put in for a bid to sort out the resources on the St Austell campus, when you drove up today you would have seen that the buildings are quite old and are not fit for purpose, we have been chosen as one of 16 colleges in the country to receive full D of Education support to address the resources. We are going to get a whole new campus and it is going to be stunning.

“We are going to have to build it and then knock it down. There will be a brand new campus, it will be the first carbon neutral campus in the country. It will be transformational for St Austell and people will come from all over,” he said.

Mr Evans said that the ambitious project is set to be completed by the academic year of 2025/26 but he can’t wait to see it come to fruition. And one of the key parts of the programme is to ensure that the college is a key part of the community.

“The work the college does in the community and the whole redevelopment of the campus is to ensure that it becomes the heart of the community. We are keeping the theatre and spending money on the theatre, there will be public access. The new build will have a top class restaurant looking out to the sea, all that has been built into the plans."

Plans for Camborne too

Mr Evans also revealed that the college has secured £12million which will be used to remodel the college’s campus in Camborne, which he again says will be “stunning”. These works are in addition to recent works carried out by the campus to install electric vehicle training labs in St Austell and Camborne to ensure that mechanics of the future, and those already working in the industry, will be future-proofed for the planned discontinuation of petrol vehicles.

One key aspect of the college for Mr Evans is the need to make sure that students are acquiring skills which are required by local businesses and organisations in Cornwall to make sure that they will get good jobs and fill the need for skills.

Whilst a new campus is planned for St Austell one thing which Mr Evans says is not on the agenda is to reintroduce A-level courses at the campus. He says that these are already provided well at Truro College and Callywith College in Bodmin and says that it is part of a drive across Cornwall to reduce duplication of provision.

Community focus

He added: “I am very community driven; we have gone into partnership with St Austell Football Club and have brought the Football Association to the table and we are looking to get St Austell Football Club a brand new pitch which will allow them to go up through the league, which we are going to support. I have brought Plymouth Argyle to the table as well to start running a youth academy at St Austell. Nothing is signed off yet, but it will happen.”

And as he looks back over the last three years he is keen to pay tribute to the college’s workforce: “What Cornwall College has is brilliantly loyal staff who passionately wanted to do what was right.”