Sixth Form College, Farnborough

The Sixth Form College Farnborough is a sixth form college situated in Farnborough, Hampshire. It caters for around 3,700 students and admission is mostly from schools in the local areas of Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire. The college is often referred to as 'Farnborough Sixth' to differentiate it from Farnborough College of Technology.

Awards

In 2006, the College ranked third place in the school league table for Hampshire, achieving a higher ranking for A-Level results than several highly regarded independent and private schools in the area.^[1]

In 2007, the College was rated 'Outstanding' by Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector,^[2] and it retains Beacon Status as one of the country’s top sixth form colleges.

In 2010, the college was one of the first colleges nationwide to gain the 'NFER Research-Engaged Award'.

In 2012, HRH Prince Philip presented the college with one of the first Duke of Edinburgh Award Operating Licences, making the college a Directly Licensed Centre in the Duke of Edinburgh Award network.

The college has also attained awards including the 'Investors in People', 'Investors in Careers', 'Positive about Disabled People' and 'Fairtrade' awards.

History

The College was originally founded as the Farnborough Grammar School in September 1936, when the Aldershot County High School outgrew its premises and the boys were relocated to Farnborough.^[3]

The Sixth Form College was created from 1974 to 1978, gradually enlarging as the number of Grammar School pupils reduced. Since being incorporated as a sixth form college in 1992, it has grown fast from 1,180 full-time students in 1992 to now having over 3000.

Dr John J Guy was the principal from 1992 to 2010.^[4] He served on a number of government committees, including the Tomlinson Committee on 14-19 reform, and in 2001 was awarded the OBE for services to education.^[5]

He was succeeded as principal in September 2010 by the college's deputy principal, Simon Jarvis.^[6]

College facilities

Cafe Direct, one of three canteens

The college has recently undergone a major building programme costing over £15 million. The first project was the Prospect Theatre and performing arts suite, which was opened by Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex in 2000. Also, The Dame Kelly Holmes Sports Centre was officially opened on 25 April 2007 by the double Olympic gold medallist. The developments have also seen the construction of a brand new quad built in the centre of the college, and the Whitehouse Building which boasts an e-Assessment Centre - an IT centre for students to use. The latest building is the John Guy Building, a new block which replaced the former 1960s Scola block. The John Guy Building was opened by the Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove in 2010 and houses the physics, electronic, arts and photographic departments. It was given a BREEAM 'Excellent' rating. The college has three cafeterias: Café Direct, TimeOut and Shades. The college also has two large fields which are used for sports and recreational purposes.

Student Association

Every March, students elect a President, Vice President, and various officers to organise student affairs and social activities both in and outside of the College, as well as charity events. The President and Vice President are members of the Governing Body of the College Corporation.

In October 2007, the 2007/2008 Student Association broke the College record, which had been set the previous year, for the most amount of money raised in a single college day; the £1,800 that was raised eventually went to a variety of gene therapy charities through the 'Jeans for Genes' initiative.^[7] In 2007 the school undertook a massive project for Red Nose Day in which over a thousand students took to the field holding red paper above their heads, first making the shape of a nose and then a 6 (the logo of the college), filmed by the BBC from a helicopter.

The 2011/2012 Student Association raised over £20,000 for a variety of local charities over the academic year, the highest raised for charity by the college so far. The 2012/2013 Student Association reestablished the Student College Magazine and have forged links with other local colleges through a Battle of the Bands Competition.

Enrichment

Outside of the classroom, the college runs a comprehensive enrichment programme. The college runs a number of successful sport teams and other societies. One project with local schools, Copperlink, produces a drama production with a local handicapped school every year. The college also runs inter-collegial schemes including World Challenge and Young Enterprise.

The college has recently established links with Presbyterian Secondary Technical School, Aburi, Ghana. This project is called the Ghana Link and it aims to broaden students from both schools' horizons and develop a two way partnership that would be of benefit to both parties.^[8] In June 2007 15 students from the sixth form college went to the school in Ghana and stayed for ten days there they took part in many lessons and enrichment activities. Following this successful visit, which strengthened links between the schools, students at Farnborough Sixth Form College raised funds for students of the Presby Secondary Technical School, Aburi to visit the UK and stay with the students they hosted over the summer.^[9] A second batch of students from Farnborough Sixth Form College have stayed with families in Aburi, to continue this link between the schools. However there is growing concern that Farnborough Sixth Form College could do more to help the Ghanaian school. A longer stay in Ghana for the English students is being considered ( an increase to 14 days rather than 10). This longer stay will give the English students a better opportunity to teach which the Ghanaian children would greatly appreciate.

The college has a dedicated Film Production enrichment program which produces commercial and non-commercial films for outside companies and student film fesitivals.

In March 2000, Prince Edward opened the new £2.5 million Performing Arts Centre incorporating the modern 300-seat Prospect Theatre and teaching suites for music, dance and drama.^[4] Touring theatre groups regularly visit the theatre to give public performances.

One of the music enrichments making use of this facility is the biannual college Opera Project, where full-scale operas are performed by students. In 2006, the college staged The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart, acclaimed within the community.^[10] Following the success of this first opera, a performance of Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel took place in July 2008.^[11]

CristalWeb

A screenshot of CristalWeb on a staff account

CristalWeb is the college's web-based management information system that allows both students and staff to see the data that the college holds on them. It is extensively used within the college, to pass messages from staff to students, take registers of classes, submit absence reasons, look up exam results, amend certificates of enrichment, and edit students' personal information. It also enables access from outside the college campus to SixthNet, and its newer version: Moodle, the series of web-pages for each subject faculty containing homework, revision aids and past exam papers, in addition to information about the departments. The system has been operating since mid-2004.

Notable alumni

• Ash Atalla, TV producer
• Victoria Atkin, former Hollyoaks actress^[12]
• Prof Russell G. Foster, Professor of Circadian Neuroscience since 2006 at the Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology, University of Oxford, and Professor of Integrative and Molecular Neuroscience from 2000-3 at Imperial College London
• Goldierocks (Samantha Louise Hall), DJ, presenter, journalist and producer
• Ben Gotting, rugby player who attended in the late 1990s
• Helen Reeves (kayaker)
• Nicholas Hoult, actor
• Josh Cuthbert, member of boy band Union J, who left the college in 2010
• Mike McMeeken, rugby league player

Farnborough Grammar School

• Major Philip Brookshaw^[13]
• Maj-Gen Michael Callan CB, Colonel Commandant of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) 1981–9
• Prof Martin Earwicker, Vice-Chancellor since 2009 of London South Bank University, President since 2008 of The Association for Science Education, and Chief Executive from 2001-6 of Dstl (Defence Science and Technology Laboratory)
• Martin Else, Chief Executive since 2005 of the Royal College of Physicians
• Maj-Gen Laurie Gingell CB OBE, commanded the 7th Armoured Brigade from 1970-1 and the 1st Royal Tank Regiment from 1966-7
• Air Vice-Marshal Peter Howard CB OBE, Commandant from 1975-88 of the RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine, and performed the first rocket-powered ejection (from a Gloster Meteor) on 13 March 1962
• Alan Johns CMG OBE, Director from 1984-94 of the Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind, helped with the Bhopal disaster
• Alan Clayson, musician and author
• Prof Brian D. Ripley, Professor of Applied Statistics since 1990 at the University of Oxford
• Prof Francis Rose, Professor of Commercial Law since 2000 at the University of Bristol^[14]
• Digby Smith, military historian
• Prof Nicholas Stafford, Professor of Head and Neck Surgery and Otolaryngology since 1995 at the University of Hull (based at the Hull and East Riding Hospital)
• Geoffrey Strickland, Stendhal scholar
• Stephen Timms, government minister, Labour MP since 1997 for East Ham and from 1994-7 for Newham North East
• Mel Webb, sports reporter^[15]
• Prof Michael Whelan, Professor of Microscopy of Materials from 1992-7 at the Department of Materials, University of Oxford^[16]

References

External links

• EduBase