Thanet College is a Further Education College located in the town of Broadstairs, on the Isle of Thanet in Kent, part of the South East coast of the United Kingdom.

The College, at its current site, has grown over the years but was originally based in the grade II listed ‘Yarrow’ building* - a former home for ‘Convalescent Children Of The Better Class’. During the first and second world war the building became a military hospital and suffered considerable damage caused by enemy action, the obvious target being the bridge in Ramsgate Road spanning the London, Chatham and Dover Railway.

During the 1950s enormous progress was made in medicine. Medication for a short period could achieve better results than long periods of convalescence in homes such as Yarrow. The home was taken over by Kent County Council in the 1960’s when it became a Technical Training School.

In 1949 Thanet Technical College was operating from its site in Ramsgate and comprised of Catering and Commerce. During the late 60s the College took over the Technical Training School at Broadstairs and built a brand new Catering block in 1969. Staff moved over to the new site in 1970 and the College flourished going on to become a Centre of Vocational Excellence for Catering.

The old site at Ramsgate was eventually closed down in the late 1980s when further new buildings were created at Broadstairs and in the early 90s the College dropped its middle name to become Thanet College.

In 1997, the College was considered to be too expensive to run and planning application was sought to demolish the Yarrow building. There was much local opposition and the application was turned down. In 1998 the Yarrow building was placed on the ‘Statutory List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest’ and therefore protected as a Grade II Listed Building.

Today, Thanet College’s Broadstairs site comprises of ten multipurpose buildings (including Yarrow), two workshops and three mobile classrooms. A second site is located at Hornet Close on Pysons Road Industrial Estate and is the delivery centre for construction-based vocational courses.
 
Thanet College also operates community venues in Margate and Ramsgate, delivering short courses and has recently opened a new Business Training Centre in Manston under the employer brand Training Solutions.

*In 1893 Alfred Yarrow set out to build a convalescent home for children. After much searching he came upon a suitable site, overlooking the sea. This was Wrotham House which sat just off the Ramsgate Road, the previous home of Richard Richardson, a wealthy London builder.

Alfred, who was a friend of Dr Banardo, inclination was to help the children of those who were prepared to co-operate for their own good, he never intended the Home to be used by the waifs and strays he had seen in his youth in the East End.

References:

Scurrell, David (1984). Yarrow at Broadstairs
Euden, Tony (2007). The Children’s Convalescent homes of Broadstairs
Watts, Roy. Director of Curriculum