Westminster Kingsway College
Encyclopedia
Westminster Kingsway College is a further education college in central London with Centres in King's Cross (Camden) and Victoria (Westminster). The College has about 14,000 students across all age ranges and provides further, adult and higher education programmes including full-time and part-time vocational, professional and academic courses at different levels. 75% of students are over the age of 21 and there are over 60 nationalities and 54 different languages spoken. Students are predominantly from London with an international department that has students from overseas including those who attend study visits, exchanges and internships from partner colleges from other countries.
Westminster Kingsway College was founded in September 2000 following the merger of Westminster and Kingsway Colleges. The College operates on several main Centres across London including a Centre in King’s Cross, which opened in 2009, and a listed building in Victoria. The College’s Victoria Centre, where the School of Hospitality first opened its doors to learners in 1910, celebrated its centenary in 2010. Based in Vincent Square, the Victoria Centre houses the College's own restaurant The Vincent Rooms, which provides cuisine prepared and served by second and third Professional Chef students.
The College provides community education, with a programme of neighbourhood learning in partnership with Camden Council and in Westminster with local organisations.
The College’s specialist subjects have been given to vocational training including Hospitality, Creative Media, Performing Arts, Business and Public Administration. It also provides higher education for about 250 full-time equivalent students on Foundation Degrees in Business, Hospitality Management, Culinary Arts, Travel & Tourism, Accounting and Public Administration.
The College Principal and Chief Accounting Officer at Westminster Kingsway College is Andy Wilson. The College employs about 650 people in both teaching and business support departments.
Before the merger Westminster College began as a School of Hospitality in Vincent Square in 1910 when in 1908 a consultative committee which included Sir Isidore Salmon, Auguste Escoffier and Cesar Ritz was established to design training programmes in professional cookery in readiness to produce graduates that could work in London’s finest hotels. The first course to be developed was the Cookery Technical Day School, which was soon to be formulated into the Professional Chef Diploma. Within a couple of years, the school had added food service to its course portfolio and a training restaurant was opened. Records show that this was in fact the UK’s first Hospitality School established in 1910.
The school developed during the interwar years as additional kitchens, cold rooms and larder and pastry areas were added. A two-year Hotel Manager’s course replaced the food service course. There were plans for a 50 bedroom 'training hotel’, which had begun construction in 1939. This unfortunately was stopped as a result of the outbreak of war and was never completed.
Following the Second World War, the Vincent Rooms restaurant was extended, and in 1953 the Escoffier Restaurant was opened. Further kitchens were added as well as a wine cellar. The restaurants have evolved over a considerable period of time alongside the School of Hospitality and Culinary Arts at Westminster Kingsway College producing graduates who are now working in Hotels and Restaurants all over the world. In 1985 there was a substantial and comprehensive refit of the whole school.
Before the merger Kingsway College, previously known as Princeton College, was a large college in Camden. Notable Principals included Fred Flower who was Principal from 1960 to 1978. Regarded as one of the great humanist educators of his day, under Flower's leadership, Kingsway became one of the country's most diverse and thriving further education colleges, and his skill provided a framework for the development of unconventional ideas which came to powerfully influence British post-16 education. Flower sat on both the Newsom (1963) and the Taylor (1977) committees.
Westminster Kingsway College was founded in September 2000 following the merger of Westminster and Kingsway Colleges. The College operates on several main Centres across London including a Centre in King’s Cross, which opened in 2009, and a listed building in Victoria. The College’s Victoria Centre, where the School of Hospitality first opened its doors to learners in 1910, celebrated its centenary in 2010. Based in Vincent Square, the Victoria Centre houses the College's own restaurant The Vincent Rooms, which provides cuisine prepared and served by second and third Professional Chef students.
The College provides community education, with a programme of neighbourhood learning in partnership with Camden Council and in Westminster with local organisations.
The College’s specialist subjects have been given to vocational training including Hospitality, Creative Media, Performing Arts, Business and Public Administration. It also provides higher education for about 250 full-time equivalent students on Foundation Degrees in Business, Hospitality Management, Culinary Arts, Travel & Tourism, Accounting and Public Administration.
The College Principal and Chief Accounting Officer at Westminster Kingsway College is Andy Wilson. The College employs about 650 people in both teaching and business support departments.
History
Westminster Kingsway College was formed following the merger of Westminster College and Kingsway College in 2000.Before the merger Westminster College began as a School of Hospitality in Vincent Square in 1910 when in 1908 a consultative committee which included Sir Isidore Salmon, Auguste Escoffier and Cesar Ritz was established to design training programmes in professional cookery in readiness to produce graduates that could work in London’s finest hotels. The first course to be developed was the Cookery Technical Day School, which was soon to be formulated into the Professional Chef Diploma. Within a couple of years, the school had added food service to its course portfolio and a training restaurant was opened. Records show that this was in fact the UK’s first Hospitality School established in 1910.
The school developed during the interwar years as additional kitchens, cold rooms and larder and pastry areas were added. A two-year Hotel Manager’s course replaced the food service course. There were plans for a 50 bedroom 'training hotel’, which had begun construction in 1939. This unfortunately was stopped as a result of the outbreak of war and was never completed.
Following the Second World War, the Vincent Rooms restaurant was extended, and in 1953 the Escoffier Restaurant was opened. Further kitchens were added as well as a wine cellar. The restaurants have evolved over a considerable period of time alongside the School of Hospitality and Culinary Arts at Westminster Kingsway College producing graduates who are now working in Hotels and Restaurants all over the world. In 1985 there was a substantial and comprehensive refit of the whole school.
Before the merger Kingsway College, previously known as Princeton College, was a large college in Camden. Notable Principals included Fred Flower who was Principal from 1960 to 1978. Regarded as one of the great humanist educators of his day, under Flower's leadership, Kingsway became one of the country's most diverse and thriving further education colleges, and his skill provided a framework for the development of unconventional ideas which came to powerfully influence British post-16 education. Flower sat on both the Newsom (1963) and the Taylor (1977) committees.
Notable alumni
- Jamie OliverJamie OliverJames "Jamie" Trevor Oliver, MBE , sometimes known as The Naked Chef, is an English chef, restaurateur and media personality, known for his food-focused television shows, cookbooks and more recently his campaign against the use of processed foods in national schools...
- Celebrity chef - Ainsley HarriottAinsley HarriottAinsley Harriott is a British celebrity chef and television presenter.-Early career:Trained at Westminster College of Catering, Ainsley obtained an apprenticeship at Verrey's restaurant in the West End and later worked as a commis chef...
- Celebrity chef - Antony Worrall ThompsonAntony Worrall ThompsonHenry Antony Cardew Worrall Thompson is a British celebrity chef, television presenter and radio broadcaster.-Biography:...
- Celebrity chef - Sophie WrightSophie WrightSophie Wright may refer to:* Sophie Wright , fictional character on British TV show Emmerdale in 1996-97* Sophie B. Wright , New Orleans educator* Sophie Wright , young British chef...
- Celebrity chef - Eliza Doolittle (singer) - Singer/Songwriter
- Sid ViciousSid ViciousSid Vicious was an English musician best known as the bassist of the influential punk rock group Sex Pistols...
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- Bassist - Steve McFaddenSteve McFaddenSteve McFadden is an English actor, known for his role as Phil Mitchell in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, which he has played since1990.-Early life:...
- Actor - Kathy BurkeKathy BurkeKatherine Lucy Bridget Burke is an English actress, comedienne, playwright and theatre director. She is best known for her portrayals of Perry in the Harry Enfield film Kevin and Perry Go Large, and of Linda La Hughes in the British sitcom Gimme Gimme Gimme...
- Comedian - Trevor NelsonTrevor NelsonTrevor Nelson MBE is an English DJ and presenter.Born in Hackney to a family of St Lucian heritage, he attended Central Foundation Boys' Grammar School in Cowper St, Islington, London EC2 and Westminster Kingsway College...
- BBC RadioBBC RadioBBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
DJ - Michelle CollinsMichelle CollinsMichelle Danielle Collins is a British actress best known for her roles on television in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, as Cindy Beale, Coronation Street as Stella Price, and BBC dramas Sunburn and Two Thousand Acres of Sky...
- Actress - Leon LaiLeon LaiLeon Lai is a Hong Kong-based actor and Cantopop singer. The media refer to Aaron Kwok, Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau and Leon Lai as the Cantopop Four Heavenly Kings . He uses the stage name "Li Ming" or "Lai Ming" which literally means "dawn."-Biography:...
- Actor & Singer - Toby MottToby MottToby Victor Mott is a British artist,designer and sometime Punk historian known for his work with the Grey Organisation, an artists' collective that was active in the 1980s, and for his fashion brand Toby Pimlico...
- Artist - Graham Flood-Hunt - British international athlete
External links
- Official Westminster Kingsway College website, Accessed March 24, 2011