Activate Learning is an educational organization offering a diverse range of learning opportunities across Oxfordshire, Berkshire, and Surrey. The company operates several colleges, including Banbury and Bicester College, City of Oxford College, and Guildford College, providing programs aimed at various demographics, from school-aged learners to adults seeking further education or vocational training. The organization specializes in a variety of educational services, including access to higher education, adult education, apprenticeships, and specialized skills bootcamps designed to enhance local career prospects. By leveraging digital technology and innovative teaching methods, Activate Learning aims to empower students to achieve their educational and career goals in a supportive and resource-rich environment.
Activate Learning receives overwhelmingly negative feedback from students and parents, with a significant majority expressing dissatisfaction. Common complaints center around poor management, lack of communication, and inadequate course delivery.
Many reviewers report frustrating experiences with registration and enrollment processes, noting delays and unresponsive staff. Specific courses, such as A-levels and vocational programs, are criticized for insufficient teaching support, with some students left without essential instructors for extended periods. Despite a few positive mentions of individual staff members who provided helpful guidance, the overall sentiment reflects a deep disappointment in the institution's ability to deliver quality education. Consumers strongly advise against enrolling, highlighting a lack of professionalism and care for student needs.
Summary generated with AI from recent reviews
Each source counts by its number of reviews. Only reviews written by people are scored.
| Source | Rating | Reviews | Weight | 6-mo | Fake risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Trustpilot Imported Trustpilot reviews | 1.6 | 30 | 100% | ● Low |
Monthly average rating from reviews written by people · latest review Nov 2024.
| Month | Average | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 23 | 1.0 | 1 |
| Jan 24 | 1.0 | 1 |
| Feb 24 | 1.0 | 1 |
| Mar 24 | — | 0 |
| Apr 24 | — | 0 |
| May 24 | 1.0 | 1 |
| Jun 24 | 2.0 | 1 |
| Jul 24 | — | 0 |
| Aug 24 | 5.0 | 1 |
| Sep 24 | 1.0 | 2 |
| Oct 24 | 1.0 | 1 |
| Nov 24 | 1.0 | 2 |
Share of positive (4–5★) and negative (1–2★) reviews mentioning each topic · based on the 30 most recent reviews.
“In the 2020/21 academic year I undertook an access course along with retaking Maths and English GCSEs as an adult lea...”
“Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this college at all based on my child’s experience”
Same method for every company: overall rating, legitimacy checks, the average rating of reviews mentioning each area and the 6-month trend · Universities & Colleges.
| Company | Overall | Legit | Service | Website & app | Trend | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 1.6 out of 5 (poor) | 100 out of 100 | 1.9 out of 5 (poor) | 2.6 out of 5 (poor) | — | 30 |
| 4.8 out of 5 (good) | 100 out of 100 | 4.8 out of 5 (good) | 4.2 out of 5 (good) | — | 85 | |
| 5.0 out of 5 (good) | 100 out of 100 | 5.0 out of 5 (good) | — | — | 57 | |
| 5.0 out of 5 (good) | 100 out of 100 | 5.0 out of 5 (good) | — | — | 37 | |
| 4.5 out of 5 (good) | 100 out of 100 | 4.9 out of 5 (good) | — | — | 25 |
Bottom line: Activate Learning is #5 of 5 on overall rating in this group. On service, Truka scores higher (5.0 vs 1.9).
30 reviews of Activate Learning. Filter by what matters to you.
Please don't send your children here to do A-levels (Farnham College). My child hasn't had a Biology teacher for months so is trying to teach himself and their second Psychology teacher in a year is also suddenly leaving. These poor kids are in their second year and don't stand a chance of being properly educated. It's a disgrace
laggy, logs you out and you have to redo the entire task. full of bugs, low quality design and terrible for learning would rate 0/10
I was enrolled in a course lasting 1 year with exams in June 23- promised I Could re-sit im November as I was unable to sit a paper - I enrolled this September just to re-sit in NOvember and they've just decided , after enrolling , that they can no longer offer me the opportunity to re-sit - which means I've spent 1 year and 1 month attending, revising, working for absolutely nothing! How can they reverse their decision so arbitrarilty - no-one cares- they didn't even respond to my emails by name - just a generic email with no name !! SO UNPROFESSIONAL -AVOID
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Visited Guildford College as a prospective student and was slapped with a £60 parking fine which Activatelearning refused to remove. Needless to say, I won't be enrolling on one of your courses. Students beware, you can't park at their facilities without being handed a parking fine! AVOID!
I applied to do math GCSE course through this college as it was mainly distant learning and is achievable with having a small child to care for and no childcare during the week I did the enitial assesment and then was asked to enroll to which I couldn't complete as I didn't have proof if not having my math gcse below grade c so I decided to come back to it later to find I can't access the page being told my details are wrong and also a page stating 404 denied access I emailed activate learning 4 days ago with no response I've rang twice being in a cue from position 12 and getting to position 4 the phone cuts off and now trying to enrol says my details do not exist I think I've had a lucky escape and will look into my local college as this has been a dreadful experience so far.
My son has been to the Oxford college campus for two years and been on two different courses, in that time the entire staff have proven themselves to be totally unreliable, unprofessional, contravened data protection by discussing personal family information with another student, the teachers are lazy and clueless with a seemingly low regard to even turn up on occasions. With certain inside information I know without doubt this organisation runs their colleges and schools as a business first and an education provider second so their priority is the bottom line profit over the students educational needs and requirements. I would to think this was an isolated incident at this location but my daughter had severe bullying issues both physical and emotional at The Bicester School where we removed her from that school twice due to their total inability to deal with the issue satisfactorily and we knew they could not guarantee the safety of our child. A totally shocking organisation that we have had the misfortune to deal with for the last few years, never again will a child of ours step across their threshold
Very poor communication to potential customer and absolutely no sense/culture of responsibility or accountability in this organisation. I tried to apply and enroll on a course by a local college who are part of Activate Learning now. Filled in online application 2 months in advance, received 2 confimation emails stating that Activate Learning will be in touch. Few weeks before the course date got another email requesting to contact Activate Learning to settle the payment for the course. When I called I was told by Activate Learning that my name is not on the list, course is fully booked and there is nothing they can do. Nobody could provide any explanation what had gone wrong, neither they were willing to try to help. I also raised a Complaint on Activate Learning website and few weeks later still have not heard anything. When calling Activate Learning, the recorded greeting message on phone states that Activate Learning is commited to provide outstanding customer experience or something similar along those lines. Nowhere near in my case. I had to contact the college directly and the staff there were willing to look into problem and found a solution.
Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this college at all based on my child’s experience. Communication has been extremely poor, with students left without timetables or clear guidance, not replying to emails, leaving them to figure things out on their own. The lack of organization is concerning. My child has also mentioned that most teachers are very difficult to understand due to language barriers (accents), which impacts their ability to follow lessons. I’ve listened to recordings myself and found it difficult to understand myself as well. Additionally, teacher meetings are often cancelled at the last minute, with no explanation or new dates provided. Another concern is how the school approaches inclusivity. While I fully support the idea of creating an inclusive environment, certain practices feel...distracting. For instance, children walking around pretending to be cats and dogs during school hours barking and screaming at other students seems inappropriate and disruptive. If other students say something about it they will get told off for not being inclusive. My child was also pressured to wear a specific LGBTQ+ lanyard for a student pass, which they were uncomfortable with. If they did not agree wearing this lanyard they were not given their new student pass... Inclusivity should be about respecting everyone’s preferences, not forcing students into situations that make them uneasy. Lastly, the cafeteria raises serious hygiene concerns. While I appreciate the opportunity given to individuals with disabilities to participate, there seems to be a lack of supervision, which has led to unsanitary practices like improper handling of food. This is a significant health and safety issue that needs to be addressed immediately. Do not send your child here. I hope they take these issues seriously and makes the necessary improvements, but I doubt they will.
Its a pain just to register for a course. I'm going to look elsewhere as this college looks like its mis-managed from the start.
Studied level two esports and where do I even begin, For a start the teachers were consistently ill or there were changes in plans, not to mention there was not enough of the course itself, for example Tuesday was 9 am to 16:40 pm, and only an hour of it was esports, you’d think for a course about esports they’d give me more of what you’ve came for, but no…2024 and I had just completed my GCSE’s and sent my application for level 3 esports, I waited and waited…received nothing, no email or anything, so I email BOTH tutors, got absolutely nothing from either of them, and on September 4th, the day college is meant to start, they decide to email me, “sorry you didn’t get into the course” Which is just outrageous, how can anyone think it’d acceptable to drop that just as college begins, I’ve got barely any time to apply for anything now because I’ve been waiting for this. So anyone thinking of signing up to this college, word of advice, don’t. Go somewhere you’ll actually get what you came for
It was like if my presence was disturbing the school environment... At first, after enrolling to my desired course, they forgot to file me in....(WELL, MAYBE THEY DID NOT FORGET , THEY HAD CROWDED CLASSES AND DECIDED GET RID OF ME AMONG OTHERS) Secondly, they decided to make a spare online group of poor forgotten students and we started an online course Thirdly, our teacher named Caz who gave us online lessons, showed an attitude to discriminating foreign students all the time. She started a private conversation once with one of us students, eventually without paying attention to whom could be yet Online and it turned out that I was still online myself a listen to all she meant to say about me. ( Unfortunately I couldn't record that conversation! Finally, even if I attended and did not miss a day of lesson, I renounced to take the exam ... That wasn't a school at all!
It’s like walking through the gates of hell when you arrive at the Oxford campus, I write this as an ex-tutor not as a student As others in the thread have said , Directors are Bullies , that ooze arrogance they really do not care about education they care about money , the only time they are visible is on days such as open events then they scuffle off back into the holes the crawled out of ! Male directors are very misogynistic that just gas light you they lack any leadership skills , communication skills , they have zero compassion and most of all they lack any kind of integrity. One member of staff who is now director had a relationship with a student, instead of being sacked they were moved and promoted. HR are so poor that they allow teachers to work there with out DBS’s some hadn’t had them for 3 years - this is a major concern , they wait until they have lots to apply for , I didn’t have one for 7 months , I had to chase it up myself they didn’t seem to care, DBS’s are a legal requirement to work in any educational organisation. It isn’t until you leave the hell hole that you realise how poor the company is , when you see the way other establishments are run then you truly understand the true extent of toxicity As I tutor I tried to do my best for students but I was so over worked with an extremely high workload that my mental health suffered , management didn’t care , when I complained about my workload and the amount of work I had to do outside of the work place my manager said “ Your a teacher get on with it “ this is the same manager that refused to mark work outside of his working day and demanded extra payments. Just writing this and thinking about activate learning gives me PTSD , Please take my advice don’t enrol on any courses under activate you’ll ruin your chance of education…… YOUR JUST A £-sign
I have applied for course and they said that will send me an email for enrolment but three weeks later I am still waiting for it. When I messaged them, they said we have sent you, but they definitely not. That is absolutely unacceptable because I have just lost my time.
Wasted time and money. Disappointed
Since buying out loads of Colleges, their "land grab then sell off for profit" approach means that almost all the decent and competent admin staff have left the campus' as they can't stand working for the awful management, who seemingly have absolutely no interest in education whatsoever, and a huge fixation with getting personally very wealthy and cruising around in top-end company cars etc. Just look around their sites - filthy dumps where they don't even pick up the litter; emblematic. A very sad reflection of the state of tertiary education in the UK.
active learn is really bad i think it should burn in hell because it really doesnt help
Activate Learning is an educational organization offering a diverse range of learning opportunities across Oxfordshire, Berkshire, and Surrey. The company operates several colleges, including Banbury and Bicester College, City of Oxford College, and Guildford College, providing programs aimed at various demographics, from school-aged learners to adults seeking further education or vocational training. The organization specializes in a variety of educational services, including access to higher education, adult education, apprenticeships, and specialized skills bootcamps designed to enhance local career prospects. By leveraging digital technology and innovative teaching methods, Activate Learning aims to empower students to achieve their educational and career goals in a supportive and resource-rich environment.
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