A St Albans college with its origins in agriculture is celebrating its 100th anniversary this autumn.

Oaklands College opened as the Hertfordshire County Council Agricultural Institute in 1921, providing full and part-time courses for home and overseas students.

It will be marking its centenary with fresh direction from the college’s new principal, Andrew Slade, the 10th to occupy the role.

Andrew, who took up his post at Oaklands in August this year, will steer the college through its milestone year, which will begin with the opening of a new, state-of-the-art teaching facility, as part of the £62 million redevelopment of its St Albans campus.

He said: “This is a hugely exciting point in Oaklands history as we mark its centenary and look forward to the next 100 years.

"It is fitting that as we embark on our next 100 years that we will shortly launch our state of the art new teaching complex at our St Albans campus, which completes another phase of our £62m programme of investment in our college facilities.

"And we are equally ambitious for our students and staff who together form our highly welcoming and supportive college community. Oaklands has a proud history of 100 years of teaching excellence and I am very excited by Oaklands’ future as we work to play an even bigger role in the communities we serve and in the region as a whole.”

The new teaching centre provides 49 new classrooms for the college’s student body, including dedicated facilities for their ‘Pathway 4’ special needs provision. This concludes the second phase of the wider redevelopment of the campus and sees the college ready to embrace the next 100 years.

Potential students who are interested in seeing the changes at Oaklands’ St Albans campus are invited to attend the college’s first in-person open events this November and sample a wide range of full and part-time courses covering many subjects and sectors.

The open event kicks off the academic calendar with more to come in 2022, alongside live community events such as the return of Oaklands popular Lambing Day next spring.

If you would like to find out more about the college or visit an open event, please visit the college website at www.oaklands.ac.uk.