About Us

Reading Borough Council has offered Adult and Community Learning (ACL) for over 65 years in Reading. Today, the service is delivered by New Directions College. Starting out as Reading Technical College in 1958 we offered courses in Battle, EP Collier and Alfred Sutton Schools. These included fencing, shorthand, car maintenance and for Spring brides “special courses in cookery and needlecrafts.”

We became New Directions College in 2008 when Reading Adult and Community College and the Training Education Advice (TEA) Shop merged. We have taught from numerous premises over the years and now have our dedicated centre in Whitley. We continue to deliver adult education within our community and deliver from a range of community venues across the Borough.

Thousands of people have benefited from our courses over the last 6 decades – finding their creative potential; gaining the skills to pursue a career or simply making friends and connections in their local community.

New Directions College offers a complete range of formal and informal education programmes that include;  Apprenticeships, Sector Based Work Programmes and work experience. We specialise in delivering GCSEs and functional skills in English and Mathematics, English for Speakers of other Languages (ESOL) and essential and advanced digital skills qualifications. Furthermore, we offer a breadth of vocational qualifications in subjects such as business management, hospitality, early years and childcare, courses for teaching assistants and those who work in the education and training sector.  Our range of creative arts and crafts courses are also vibrant and includes ceramics, art, recycled fashion, creative writing, dressmaking, felting and textiles, cookery and languages to list a few.

Ofsted has graded the College Good for the past 6years (last inspected in December 2024) and the College is committed to delivering an outstanding quality of education to our local communities and businesses.

Our vision is to deliver an outstanding quality of education that supports individuals to achieve their personal aims and aspirations whether they are to gain employment, improve their skills and learn something new, or to help them be part of their community.