The college educates almost half of the county's young people and over 8,000 adults each year at campuses in Lewes, Eastbourne, Hastings and Newhaven, and in the workplace.

Four key areas were identified as needing to improve: effectiveness of leadership and management; quality of teaching, learning and assessment; outcomes for learners; and the 16-19 study programmes.

[21] Action for Inclusion working together to develop and improve education for learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities in the FE sector.

[24] The college maintains a secondary site at Ore Valley, less than a mile from Hastings town centre, which was opened in 2010.

Sarah Connerty, clerk to the governors, is responsible for freedom of information requests made to the college.

With its inspirational new build, successful, an oversubscribed Academy 6, and significantly improved reputation I hope that I have gone some way to achieving that aim.

[30] Patel resigned December 2011 following criticisms of leadership and management by OFSTED and was temporarily replaced by Bill Grady, supported by the newly appointed deputy principal April Carrol.

The college aimed to increase class sizes, currently 'very low', and to timetable more self-directed study.

[25] In 2011 the college formed a wholly owned limited company, Plaza Trading Hastings Ltd, which operates commercial ventures on the site, including the Costa Coffee franchise and the Art Shop.

[40] In the early 2000s, plans were evolved to reform educational provision in Hastings and more widely in Sussex, for 6th form and older students.

The second Hastings college was never created, in part because of resistance by local schools and parents to relinquish their own successful 6th forms.

[42] With the advent of compulsory education up to the age of 18, the additional student numbers encouraged schools to expand their own provision.

As part of these plans, it was decided to consolidate Hastings college on a new main site at Station Plaza.

This experienced considerable difficulties because the largely modern college had been constructed in the centre of James and Decimus Burtons' St Leonards holiday resort development, dating from the 1830s.

The college had been built in the 1960s on a site which had been used as a quarry for Burton's building work and then been transformed into a park and formal gardens as part of the original design.

[46] The site had been subject to vandalism and arson in the years it was unoccupied, but in April 2015 most of the existing buildings were finally demolished by the new developer.

[47] The site includes an Original grade II listed building by Burton, Archery Villas in the south, which is to be refurbished and retained.

Sussex Coast College had owned Pyke House in Battle High Street, a listed building left in trust for educational purpose, for 30 years.

[50] The college owned an adult education centre in Lion Street in Rye, which was originally property given to the town for the creation of a school in 1870.

In 2002, the college submitted plans to create four residential properties on the site, retaining one room for community use.

[51] The property was sold in 2012 to a local consortium of St Mary's church and the Fletcher community theatre group.

St Mary's retained the FE centre for community use, while the old library and art room were converted to form a small two screen cinema, preserving most of the listed building.

[52] The college bought the property for a nominal £1 from East Sussex County Council for educational purposes, and sold for estimated £250,000.

[53] In 2010, as part of the consolidation scheme, planning permission was granted to construct 44 homes on the college's former site in St Saviour's Road, St. Leonards, which had housed the new 'Academy 6' A-level department, opened in 2007.

The college retained its Technical College buildings on Mountfield Road, Lewes and added the buildings across the road which has been part of the former Lewes County Grammar School for Boys site excluding the chapel which Priory School retained.

Then by Eastbourne Grammar School and its forerunner which in 1962 moved to King's Drive) both sites in St Anne's road have now been redeveloped for housing.