The judges were in agreement that Huddersfield New College achieves “amazing results” and raises the aspirations of its students. The area the college serves is in the bottom third of local authorities in terms of deprivation and a quarter of students at the college receive a means-tested bursary.

The college has excellent results at A level, with a 100 per cent pass rate for A-level and vocational courses, despite the college not academically selecting its students at 16. Students can choose to study either A levels, BTECs or a combination of the two, with 83 per cent of learners following some form of vocational course at levels 1-3. The BTEC pass rate at the college is 100 per cent.

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The college is number one in the National Centre for Diversity’s 2019 Top 100 Index and was commended by Ofsted for its approach, with inspectors saying “learners celebrate and welcome their differences and feel extremely comfortable at college”. The college has teamed up with neighbouring Premier League football club Huddersfield Town as its official equality partner. Every department at the college builds bespoke industry links to ensure that students have access to employer experiences, including with the NHS, IT companies and accountancy firms.

The college also shares best practice at a local and national level, including supporting other sixth-form colleges graded “requires improvement” or “inadequate” with their journeys of improvement. The judges said Huddersfield New College serves a community where “things are not made easy for them”, but this does not stop students from excelling.