What’s the Army Foundation College like?

The college is graded ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted but has had some serious problems.

All soldiers starting between age 16 and 17.5 go to the Army Foundation College in Harrogate for their basic training. About 1,300 new soldiers train there every year.

If you join the army for a combat role or logistics, your course is usually a year long, otherwise it’s six months. (Find out more about signing up for a specific army role here.)

What education do I get?

The Army Foundation College is really a military training centre and not like a local community college.

The college has been graded ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted for the welfare support available – but not for the quality of the education, which isn’t part of Ofsted’s inspections there.

The education is quite basic. Most recruits get three subjects to choose from — courses in English, maths and ICT. You study these for up to a day a week in total – the rest of the time is spent in military training.

And is the welfare ‘outstanding’?

There have been many complaints that staff have abused recruits:

75 internal complaints of violence against recruits by college staff have been recorded since 2014, according to the army.
In 2021 alone, investigations were opened into sexual offences against 22 recruits at the Army Foundation College, according to the Ministry of Defence. Three of the accused were members of college staff, one of whom was convicted in 2023 of sexual offences at the college over ten months.
In a 13-month period between 2022 and 2023, police records show 13 sexual offences at the Army Foundation College, including nine of rape.

Ofsted has not mentioned this in its reports, but you can check the facts here, here, here, and here.

What’s daily life like?

When you arrive your mobile is taken off you. For the first six weeks you’re not allowed to leave the base or have any visitors. The only contact you’re allowed is one short phone call a day (your phone is given back to you for an hour or so in the evening). After the first six weeks there’s a bit more freedom.

At the beginning, a lot of the time is spent in physical training and drill (standing to attention, marching). You’ll go off base a couple of times for military exercises and end the course with a week-long ‘battle camp’. You finish off with a passing-out parade for the parents. Then you go to another training centre for your ‘Phase 2’ training, which is specific to the army role you signed up for.

Find out more about army training here.

What do recruits think of it?

Some recruits love it, some hate it. About a third of recruits leave the army during the course, or are thrown out by the army (e.g. for injury or bad behaviour).

The good news is that if you want to leave then you can — as long as you haven’t turned 18 (or, if you have turned 18, you haven’t yet been in the army for six months).

Find out more about when you can and can’t leave the army here.