South & City College Birmingham - Longbridge Campus — Attraction in Birmingham

So, first of all, before I start, I am autistic, and have some special needs & anxiety/self confidence issues. When I went here to one of the open days in early 2024, the place actually looked nice and welcoming. Fast forward to Late 2024 when I started my course, and it was honestly painful to complete. The course itself was mostly OK, the teachers were alright on my part, but the people were not at all. Lots of unnecessary drama, fights (sometimes), shady people, rude and unkind people etc. This also applies for Longbridge's area itself. Never really felt welcome there at all.

Some of the people in my class would act out, one individual who acted like my friend said some really offensive stuff to this other person who is LGBTQ+, and the same person also started shouting at me and calling me names when I asked if he could not shout over everyone else for attention. I stopped talking to him but he would still try to come over to what I was doing and engage in conversation in which I would just ignore him. Upsetting that he pulls this move without apologizing to me and then acts like nothing happened.

I also retook my GCSE's here. It pretty much went alright, and they did put the extra help individuals (including myself) into a small room, but of course not without a person refusing to follow the mostly simple exam conditions every time and shouting at the supply teacher assigned to watch us. This actually frightened me, I had a feeling this individual was going to resort to violence on top of him already shouting and being aggressive in the room and at the teacher.

There would always be lots of people smoking outside the only entrance of the campus, and that made me feel nervous having to walk past them since they somehow didn't have any other entrance that they could allow use for people with anxiety who aren't comfortable walking past a bunch of mean looking groups of people smoking and vaping for the fumes to blow right into your face. Toilets weren't that particularly nice either, sometimes the accessible ones didn't flush properly. I was told that all of the toilets in the entire campus have been there since 2011. Really should plan on replacing or at least restoring some of the literal missing stall doors or ones that looked like they could give in at any minute.

Halfway through the course, I started getting more and more upset and depressed as things didn't improve or get better. It didn't help that I also started having issues with my arms developing painful rashes and them being triggered when I got nervous or anxious. Sometimes people I didn't even know would come up to me when I was minding my own business and jokingly act like they know me and say some nonsense to get a rise out of me. That also happened when I was in school. I don't know why this is happening in literal college. As I mentioned, that kind of stuff makes me anxious or nervous because I don't know them. I know I may be overexaggerating it, but those random people definitely were trying to annoy me.

I started occasionally skipping classes to just not deal with the physical pain (hives) and stress of being targeted or picked on. I eventually did complete my course and earned my diploma, but I would NOT recommend going here if you are autistic/special needs/anxious, nervous, suffering from depression etc. It won't make...

My Review of South & City College – Longbridge Campus

I started at this college in 2022 and studied Electrical & Electronics Engineering Level 1 & 2 (BTEC Diploma), which is a 2-year pathway. I passed my first course and overall the college is good in terms of offering a variety of courses.

However, here’s my honest advice: If you are still struggling with your GCSEs, it’s better to study on your own as much as possible (5 days a week if you can). The college support for GCSE Maths & English is quite limited, and in my experience they don’t always give enough help. It also depends a lot on which course you are on.

I want to thank the safeguarding team, as they really supported me when I was bullied, and I’m very grateful for that.

But I do think the Maths & English support needs big improvements. Communication is poor, and more one-to-one help should be given so students actually understand the topics. I would also suggest bringing back Functional Skills options for students aged 16–20 who struggle with GCSEs, so they have another chance instead of being forced to retake GCSEs only.

I also studied Art & Design Level 1 and passed it, which I found less stressful compared to Engineering. But when I wanted to enroll for Level 2 Art, the tutor told me not to join because of the written work, and suggested I “come back next year when your English is better.” I felt that was unfair and discouraging.

Overall, the college has good courses and safeguarding, but the support for Maths & English and some staff attitudes need serious...

There are many things wrong with this college for example the staff can not even book rooms like a computers only room to use. When it comes to exam times they dont even take it serious enough as they dont even have the right staff to invigilate the exams. The students who attend the college dont act appropriately towards others and a reason for this is that the college dont speak much about the way your suppose to be towards others. There are cases of bullying around the college and this is also something that the college does NOT PICK UP ON I HAVE SEEN THIS HAPPENING IN AND OUTSIDE OF THE college. There have been many cases of people bringing drugs in and this is something happening on a regular basis. The college sells a dream to students and then do not act upon it as they do lots of things wrong me myself have experienced this whith me leaving this college months ago with no btecs. The staff around the college are rude at times and think too much of themselves thinking that they run the place. The courses offered to students are not always what they seem like as they change things to do within courses this has been told to me by many students within the college. As a whole this is not a college u want to come if you are looking for a safe environment and to get yourselves...