In 1965, the Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham, George Patrick Dwyer, donated land in Bartley Green that was once the site of Athol House Farm for the purposes of building a teacher training college. In 1966, while under construction, the college appointed Simon Quinlan as its first principal and Joe Blackledge as vice principal. At its opening, the college was the first mixed-gender institution under lay control. The college accepted its first group of 182 students in 1968.
