Royal National College for the Blind

The Royal National College for the Blind (RNC) is a specialist residential further education (FE) college and charity for young people age 16-25 who are blind or partially sighted. Founded in 1872, we celebrated our 150^th anniversary in 2022 with a wonderful visit from our royal patron HM King Charles III. RNC is a leading specialist provider of education, vocational training & qualifications as well as providing vital independence skills training to everyone who attends the college.

Students are from diverse cultural and social backgrounds, are all visually impaired and many of whom have additional disabilities. Around 95 students from across the UK come to live and study at the college on its Hereford campus every year. People come to us at various stages of their sight loss journey… some are progressing their academic education with aspirations for university or further vocational training, others may need to retrain for work due to deterioration in their sight.

All our academic and vocational courses are undertaken in partnership with independence and mobility skills to ensure that when the young person leaves RNC, they are well equipped to live independently, follow their work and study aspirations or return to their communities, perhaps in a volunteering role.

RNC relies on additional funding, including donations, to give its students the best possible experience while at the college, including accessing the latest equipment and IT, a wide range of extra curricular and life experiences including Duke of Edinburgh awards, team and individual sports and the opportunity to organise exciting student led activities.

For more information, please log onto www.rnc.ac.uk