# Runshaw College

Runshaw College is a Higher and Further Education college based in Leyland, England.

## History

Runshaw College was established in 1974. It initially catered solely for school leavers from Balshaw's High School in Leyland, and Parklands High School in Chorley. In 1983 it became a tertiary college following a reorganisation by Lancashire's education authority.
On 17 January 2023, Runshaw opened a new building called Buttermere. The building is used to house T Level courses. Construction began in February 2022. The new building was built by Collinson Construction and cost £3 million. Buttermere is 2-storeys and has an area of 1,000m$^2$ for 12 classrooms and a study space.

## Locations

Runshaw's current campus in Leyland, is a sixth form college primarily catering for students aged 16–19, as well as hosting adult education and apprenticeship courses. The Euxton Lane, Chorley, campus was the centre for adult and higher education.

### Leyland Campus

The Leyland Campus has 13 buildings plus a student services centre, three sports courts and a public restaurant alongside the numerous student restaurants.
Runshaw's buildings are named after areas of the Lake District. There are currently 11 educational buildings and two student services and study buildings. Dalehead is also the home to the Foxholes restaurant, which closed in 2018 due to budget cuts.

### Chorley Campus

Runshaw operated a campus in Chorley until the end of 2022. This campus used to be where many of the Apprenticeship and Adult Education courses were held. The site also hosted the Runshaw Business Centre, meeting the needs of local small and medium-sized enterprises; and Runshaw Training, offering apprenticeships and vocational training.
On 5 December 2022, Runshaw announced they would sell the campus to Lancashire Constabulary and move the courses that were held there to the main Leyland campus. Lancashire Constabulary plan to turn the old campus into a new training centre and operations centre where Chorley's response team, and other specialist teams will be relocated to from the old town centre police station.

## Facilities

The college has a number of specialist labs and facilities including a cabin crew set, media and makeup rooms, photography studios, stage and green rooms, and sports facilities housing a gym and three sports courts.
In addition to education facilities, Runshaw also has a number of rooms that students can use in their free time, such as the Runshaw Radio broadcasting room, which broadcasts across campus and is frequently operated by students.
In May 2022, Runshaw announced that they were beginning Esports as a course, and opened a new Esports centre in 2022 which is fitted with 15 Alienware PCs.
In 2023, Runshaw opened its new educational building Buttermere which is home to the college's Professional Engineering School which will include courses at T Level in Digital and Civil Engineering, as well as a new Architecture Academy opening in March 2023.

## Notable students

* Graeme Ballard, Paralympian athlete
* Holly Bradshaw, pole vaulter
* Tom Cahill, footballer
* Lloyd Cole, songwriter was lead singer of Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
* Liv Cooke, professional football freestyler
* Melissa-Jane Daniel, archery world record-holder
* Derek Draper, New Labour spin doctor
* Tim Farron, MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale and former leader of the Liberal Democrats
* Joe Gilgun, actor
* Michael Jennings, former British champion welterweight boxer
* Monty Lord, British author
* Rachel McCarthy, scientist, poet and broadcaster
* Steve Pemberton, actor, writer and comedian
* Samantha Robinson, actress
* Amanda Roocroft, opera singer
* Dave Ryding, alpine ski racer
* Kevin Simm and Jessica Taylor, singers with Liberty X
* Tom Smith, England national cricketer
* John Thomson, actor and comedian
* David Unsworth, footballer