College set to move out of Oxford centre

12:00pm Monday 26th November 2012 in News Photograph of the Author By Jamie Brooks, Contact me on 01865 425422

Acting principal Dr Roy Carrington Buy this photo » Acting principal Dr Roy Carrington

HEADINGTON could see a new influx of students, after plans were announced to move an international school to the area.

Abacus College, formerly known as St Aldates College, is hoping to relocate from its headquarters in Threeways House, George Street. It has submitted a planning application to move to Victory House, above Londis at 116-120 London Road.

The small independent school, which has between 120 and 150 students, hopes to change two floors of the offices, which have been empty since November 2010, to educational use.

The college, which is run as a not-for-profit organisation, has long been established in the city, teaching GCSE and A-Level courses to international students. It was based in Rose Place from 1968 to 1989, and moved to 77 George Street for three years.

The college name was changed to Abacus College when it moved into Threeways House in 1992.

Bursar Jennifer Carrington said: “Businesses need to adapt and change according to current needs.

“Our present building no longer fulfils our needs so we are looking to move.

“Although we have always occupied a city centre location this time we could not find anything suitable.”

Abacus includes the Oxford Language Centre, which will also relocate from Threeways House if the planning application is successful.

Related links

Acting principal Dr Roy Carrington said: “The classrooms are not quite what we need in the current building so we are looking around to get a building that meets our needs better.”

“We want to offer our students a good education and a nice experience. “We are very pleased that so far there have been no objections to our moving.”

A decision on the planning application is expected to be made today.

Comments(12)

Andrew:Oxford says...
12:52pm Mon 26 Nov 12

The No10 is going to be mobbed next summer.

Report this post »

King Joke says...
1:17pm Mon 26 Nov 12

Quite so. Let's hope 'acting principal Dr Roy Carrington' is as keen to engage with Stagecoach to predict student flows, as he is to get planning permission for his move.

Report this post »

Pavinder Msvarensy says...
1:43pm Mon 26 Nov 12

At nearly £8,000 a year there will be plenty of host families in Barton champing at the bit to get a piece of the action, maybe it is the No2 we should be looking at. Bet Londis will be happy with a few hundred extra customers on their doorstep, although the old 7/11 would have appealed more to the international students.

Report this post »

King Joke says...
2:37pm Mon 26 Nov 12

True Pavinder. Both bus companies should be informed of this latest influx.

Report this post »

bart-on simpson says...
5:11pm Mon 26 Nov 12

Pav, You are always making rubbish spiteful NIMBY comments. This one got down to a century in negative territory in record time. So be much more thoughtful and positive, or just retire from the game.

Report this post »

Andrew:Oxford says...
6:09pm Mon 26 Nov 12

bart-on simpson wrote:
Pav, You are always making rubbish spiteful NIMBY comments. This one got down to a century in negative territory in record time. So be much more thoughtful and positive, or just retire from the game.
The scoring system isn't absolutely reliable, there are ways to manipulate it to deliver extreme scores in a fairly brisk timeframe.

Report this post »

Danny A says...
6:10pm Mon 26 Nov 12

Pavinder Msvarensy wrote:
At nearly £8,000 a year there will be plenty of host families in Barton champing at the bit to get a piece of the action, maybe it is the No2 we should be looking at. Bet Londis will be happy with a few hundred extra customers on their doorstep, although the old 7/11 would have appealed more to the international students.
I had a flyer through the door on Saturday looking for host families. Looks like they were confident about getting the planning permission!

Report this post »

King Joke says...
8:27am Tue 27 Nov 12

bart-on simpson wrote:
Pav, You are always making rubbish spiteful NIMBY comments. This one got down to a century in negative territory in record time. So be much more thoughtful and positive, or just retire from the game.
Hang on Bart, all Pav was suggesting was that one bus service might be stretched by this new addition. How is that negative?

THe Londis vs 7 Eleven debate is surely nothing to get worked up about?

Report this post »

Myron Blatz says...
8:54am Tue 27 Nov 12

The move probably more a combination of greedy city-centre landlords, and ever-hungry 'student factory' language and other schools which often seem to trade on being able to stick 'Oxford' somewhere in the prospectus, rather than where bus routes might become overloaded, or placing strain on Headington's shops - which already suffer from ever-decreasing short-stay parking for shoppers, and where several bus operators wanted to get the Council to impose 'through bus lanes' at the loss of even more on-street parking for residents and shoppers, alike! Make no mistake, bus operators are in-business to make money, so if there is an increase in volume of students, they will meet that need and gladly take the money - as will local and multi-national shops!

Report this post »

King Joke says...
9:10am Tue 27 Nov 12

So Headington's shops benefit from increased custom, which is good.

Can I point though that bus companies will increase services to meet demand IF they know where the peaks will fall. Some of the language schools are good at working with bus companies, but the less reputable ones aren't interetsed. So this could be a good news story but we have to depend on the school to act responsibly and work with the authorities to ensure infrastructure is in place.

Report this post »

Pavinder Msvarensy says...
10:52am Tue 27 Nov 12

Exactly King Joke, All I was pointing out was that Barton is the most likely destination for host families as the students are only a 5 minute bus ride away. I also miss 7//11, but I think I am a bit old for the serve yourself 30oz cokes these days. Although they are probably banned due to the junk food rules now.

Report this post »

King Joke says...
11:00am Tue 27 Nov 12

Oh and BTW, the will be no bus lanes where the short-stay parking is. THere is no need as there are bus gates at the entrances to the Headington shopping area. These hold traffic back to let buses and their passengers into the shopping area with less delay, meaning there is no need for bus lanes in the shopping area itself.

Now all we need is enough buses to carry the extra language students, and no more single decks on the 8 or 9 roads!

Report this post »

click2find

About cookies

We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use.

I agree