New accreditation for rugby course
Budding rugby players, coaches and teachers can now study at Shrewsbury Colleges Group as it has been accepted as a Focus College via the Rugby Football Union.
The accreditation means it can expand its rugby-focussed qualifications and provide a better future for anyone wishing to work in the field of rugby or sport.
The college is now the only educational establishment in the region to be named a Focus College with the RFU.
It was one of just 12 colleges nationwide out of 36 which applied, to be chosen to become a RFU/England Rugby supported programme. The nearest college to receive the status is Dudley.
To be successful, Shrewsbury Colleges Group had to prove it had the infrastructure to help sustain the game in the future and it will receive funding over the next three years to allow it to do this.
This September, the Level 3 Rugby & Education Programme, a vocational course based at London Road Campus, will start for the first time. Applications are already high, but the new status means that learners on the course will receive new, additional qualifications.
Sports Teacher and Rugby Coach, Dale Smallman, said: “Students taking the full-time course will also be able to get coaching, officiating and strength conditioning qualifications. With these qualifications, the students will then do extended work placements in rugby clubs and schools to help grow and sustain the game and we will attract high profile centres to allow the students to do this.
“The status has really enhanced our qualifications and the opportunities and prospects that learners can take from the course. They could go on to be rugby or sports coaches, work in strength conditioning or become a PE teacher. We run a Foundation Degree in Sports Coaching and Physical Education with our partners Staffordshire University, and the students from this course can go on to that and then top up to a full degree.
“On Wednesdays, students across the group, plays fixtures as part of the West Midlands Rugby League 2, which includes clubs such as Cirencester, Loughborough, Hereford, Hartpury in Gloucester and Newcastle-Under-Lyme- it’s a really well organised, high profile league with some great teams.
"This Rugby programme is hugely exciting, and with the range of excellent work placements on offer, alongside the additional coaching and officiating qualifications, it will benefit rugby players and clubs in the region for years to come.””
