Your Next Steps: Interview, Enrolment and Welcome Day Information

Information surrounding post-GCSE results advice and enrolment will be regularly communicated, as well as being updated and displayed on this page where applicable. Please use the menu below to find the information you need.

Key DatesWhat happens after I apply?DBS ChecksWelcome and Induction DaysResults DayAugust Advice DaysEnrolment InformationYour First Day

What happens after I apply?

Once your application has been submitted our admissions team will complete some data checks including checking that you meet the published entry criteria for your chosen subject.

For most programmes you will then receive an email inviting you to log back into your account to book your telephone interview. If you have applied for Music or Performing Arts we will email you with a date and for an audition.

All communications will be sent by email, so please check them regularly or you may miss your opportunity to come in for your interview.

Interviews could be in person or they could be on the phone. This will be confirmed in the email.

What happens at my telephone interview?

You will be asked to book a pre-arranged timeslot and you will need to be ready to answer your phones between the times stated. The call will come from either an 01206 number or it might show as withheld or unknown.

The interview is designed to let out teaching staff find out about you and your interest in the course. To prepare you might want to think about what you enjoy doing, why you have applied for this course, what subjects you expect to do well in (if you are still at school/college) and how you will manage your revision in readiness for any exams.

How will I know if have been offered a place?

Once you have had your interview / audition we will email you to let you know if you have an offer. Offers will be subject to you meeting the published entry requirements of the chosen programme, once GCSE results have been published and provided to the College.

If you are not offered a place on your chosen programme, we will do our best to support you in finding an appropriate alternative.

Got another question?

For any further questions relating to the post-application process please see our application and enrolment FAQ.

If your chosen course involves contact with children or vulnerable adults, you will be asked to complete a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check once you are enrolled.

In September, the Admissions team will send you a link to eSafeguarding, which is an online DBS checking service where you must complete your DBS check. The DBS check costs approximately £50. For students with an identified low household income, there may be financial support available. For further information on our student bursary, please click here:

Student Finance

Applicants should not complete a DBS Check until they are enrolled on their chosen course and receive communication from the College on how to do this.

Welcome and Induction Days

We hold Welcome and Induction Days at the beginning of July to give you a chance to come into the College to meet your tutors and other students on your course. We keep this page regularly updated for applicants and parents/carers throughout the year and further information will be posted on here as we head further into the application cycle.

When is my Welcome and Induction Day?

In most cases you will be invited come to College for one day on either Monday 3rd July 2023 (Colchester Campus only) or Tuesday 4th July 2023 (Colchester and Braintree Campus) to attend a Welcome and Induction Day. We strongly recommend that you come along to this event because we want you to have a taste of what it is like to be a student at Colchester Institute, meet your tutors and meet other members of your class.

Applicants have been sent an email inviting you to our Welcome Days. This email explains where to report to on arrival, what you will be doing and what you may need to bring with you on the day.

If you cannot see your email, please double check your junk/promotions folders in case the email has gone into there.

If you do not think you have received your email you can view all associated email and SMS correspondence sent to you as part of the application process by logging in to your application using the link below.

If you cannot remember your password then you will be able to reset it using the link below. The email will be sent to the one used to create the account with originally, and again, please double check your junk/promotions folders in case the email has gone into there should you not receive one into your inbox.

If you have any questions, or you know that you will be unable to make your date, then please email us on information.centre@colchester.ac.uk / admissions@colchester.ac.uk or call 01206 814000 (for Braintree Campus) or 01206 712777 (for Colchester Campus).

One of the most exciting – and scary – days of all is when you receive your exam results.

Learners studying GCSEs will receive their results on Thursday 24th August 2023. Applicants will receive an email communication from the College on Thursday 24th August with your enrolment information. We have also recreated the email on our website here as well.

Enrolment Information Email for applicants expecting results on 24th August

Dear Applicant

STAGE 1

Welcome to stage 1 of your enrolment to Colchester Institute. To start you must sign in to your application account using the link below and upload these important items:

  1. Evidence of your exam results, This will include any results you are getting today, as well as any from previous years.

If you are getting exams results today please wait until you have got them and then take a photo or screenshot of all the information, subjects and grades. You may need to take more than one photo/screenshot and make sure that your name and your grades are clearly visible.

Even if you have been a student with us in the past you must upload your exam results. Your application will not be reviewed unless this is done.

https://apply.colchester.ac.uk/Page/U_UploadResults

IMPORTANT NOTE: To complete your enrolment you must be able to sign into your application account – we recommend that you try to log in now.

You must complete stage 1 by 2pm Friday 25th August to meet the priority deadline. (If you miss this time you may not secure your place on your preferred course.)

Note: If you have studied with us before, or you have already uploaded your ID photo and evidence of your Identity, you do not need to do items B and C again, but you will need to upload exam results.  

  1. Upload a photograph of yourself for your ID card (if not already provided)

You are strongly advised to prepare for this by selecting a suitable photo now and saving it on the phone/device that you will use to start your enrolment.

This photo must show your face looking into the camera, with no face covering, hat or hood, and close enough to take up most of the image, see the examples below:

3 Upload a photograph of yourself for your ID card (if not already provided)

This should be a photograph of one of the following documents:

  • Passport (please take a photo of the photo page)
  • Driving Licence
  • National Insurance Card/Official Letter confirming NI number
  • National ID card
  • Birth/Adoption Certificate

This link will take you to guidance notes on how to upload your information:

https://www.colchester.ac.uk/enrolment/online-enrolment-upload-guidance/

When you have successfully uploaded all of the above, a member of the teaching team will review these against the published entry criteria for your course and you will receive notification of their decision and your next steps by email. In some cases, teaching staff may need to call you to discuss your grades, so please keep your phone with you and be ready to answer any calls (this may come from a withheld number, or No Caller ID or it will start with 01206 712***).

This might not be on the same day as your grades are uploaded as it will be very busy with lots of results coming in for staff to look at, so please don’t worry if you don’t hear straight away – keep checking this email account. If you have met the priority deadline this will be done on or by Tuesday 29th August. Later uploads will be checked on or by Friday 1st September.

What if you haven’t met the entry criteria for your chosen course?

Firstly, please do not panic! You are strongly advised to still upload your results by the guaranteed deadline of 2pm on Friday 25th August as some courses have different levels available. These will still be reviewed by teaching staff who will email you with information about your next steps.

Good luck and we look forward to receiving your results, ID photo and proof of Identity. Please remember to keep checking this email address, including in spam or other folders (such as Promotions/Important) for your next steps.

For learners looking to study a further education qualification with an A-level pre-requisite with us, the results day for A Level exams is on Thursday 17th August 2023. Applicants for the UAL Level 3 Foundation Diploma in Art and Design will receive an email communication from the College on Thursday 17th August with your enrolment information. We have also recreated the email on our website here as well.

UAL Level 3 Foundation Diploma in Art and Design Applicants Only

Dear Applicant

STAGE 1

Welcome to stage 1 of your enrolment to Colchester Institute. To start you must sign in to your application account using the link below and upload these important items:

  1. Evidence of your exam results, This will include any results you are getting today, as well as any from previous years. Please don’t forget to include GCSE results as well as any A Level or Level 3 results.

If you are getting exams results today please wait until you have got them and then take a photo or screenshot of all the information, subjects and grades. You may need to take more than one photo/screenshot and make sure that your name and your grades are clearly visible.

Even if you have been a student with us in the past you must upload your exam results. Your application will not be reviewed unless this is done.

https://apply.colchester.ac.uk/Page/U_UploadResults

IMPORTANT NOTE: To complete your enrolment you must be able to sign into your application account – we recommend that you try to log in now.

You must complete stage 1 by 2pm Friday 18th August to meet the priority deadline.

Note: If you have studied with us before, or you have already uploaded your ID photo and evidence of your Identity, you do not need to do items B and C again, but you will need to upload exam results.  

  1. Upload a photograph of yourself for your ID card (if not already provided)

You are strongly advised to prepare for this by selecting a suitable photo now and saving it on the phone/device that you will use to start your enrolment.

This photo must show your face looking into the camera, with no face covering, hat or hood, and close enough to take up most of the image, see the examples below:

3 Upload a photograph of yourself for your ID card (if not already provided)

This should be a photograph of one of the following documents:

  • Passport (please take a photo of the photo page)
  • Driving Licence
  • National Insurance Card/Official Letter confirming NI number
  • National ID card
  • Birth/Adoption Certificate

This link will take you to guidance notes on how to upload your information:

https://www.colchester.ac.uk/enrolment/online-enrolment-upload-guidance/

When you have successfully uploaded all of the above, a member of the teaching team will review these against the published entry criteria for your course and you will receive notification of their decision and your next steps by email. In some cases, teaching staff may need to call you to discuss your grades, so please keep your phone with you and be ready to answer any calls (this may come from a withheld number, or No Caller ID or it will start with 01206 712***).

This might not be on the same day as your grades are uploaded as it will be very busy with lots of results coming in for staff to look at, so please don’t worry if you don’t hear straight away – keep checking this email account.

What if you haven’t met the entry criteria for your chosen course?

Firstly, please do not panic! You are strongly advised to still upload your results, which will still be reviewed by teaching staff who will email you with information about your next steps.

Good luck and we look forward to receiving your results, ID photo and proof of Identity. Please remember to keep checking this email address, including in spam or other folders (such as Promotions/Important) for your next steps.

August Advice Days

In August, advice sessions are available for those who have applied to start but wish to change their course choice, or are looking to start a full-time further education course with us that September. These take place from GCSE Results Day at both our Colchester and Braintree campuses.

We keep this page regularly updated for applicants and parents/carers throughout the year and further information is posted on here as we head further into the application cycle.

Advice sessions for courses starting in September 2023 have now finished.

Whilst term has started, there may still be places remaining on some of our course areas, however many of our courses are now full, and there is no guarantee of a space on any course.

Please email admissions@colchester.ac.uk with your full name and contact details, including telephone number, subject area(s) of interest and GCSE grades, so that we can arrange for someone to contact you and discuss your options.

Enrolment Information 2023

All communications regarding enrolment are sent to the email address used throughout the application process. It is essential that all applicants are able to access their emails easily, and that they are checking them regularly.

Please note: In previous years we have found that some Colchester Institute emails went into spam or other email folders, to avoid this, applicants are advised to add us to their contact list and to keep checking spam folders. This is particularly the case for Gmail, Outlook, iCloud and Hotmail.

We know that enrolment can be an anxious time for some, and there will be staff from our admissions team on hand to help throughout, either by phone on 01206 712777, email at admissions@colchester.ac.uk or our online chat function. We don’t close over the summer.

Enrolment consists of a few separate steps, but for the vast majority of applicants, it is quite a straightforward process. Information about each enrolment step will be published in due course as we head further into the application cycle and will be accessible from this page.

Online Enrolment Current Step – Step 1

Applicants for full-time study programmes will have already received email instructions for Stage 1 of enrolment earlier this year. If you have yet to complete stage 1 please follow the link below and proceed to our online enrolment section, where you will find instructions on how to do this.

Confirmation of a new student’s first day at college will be notified to them by email, along with any required kit or equipment needed. You will receive your actual start date and first day information shortly after your enrolment has been completed – so look out for the information when it comes.

When is the start of term?

Wednesday 6th September 2023, but start dates are staggered across the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of that week.

Term Dates for 2023-24 can be found here:

2023-24 Term Dates


When will timetables be issued?

In most cases, timetables cannot be confirmed until after enrolment is concluded and students are sorted into groups. Actual timetables are usually shared on the first day of term.