Colchester Sixth Form College
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The Sixth Form College, Colchester (principal: Ian McNaughton) was established in 1987 and provides further education in the north Essex area. It is situated in central Colchester, North Hill, and receives most of its applications from pupils from the Colchester area, but also attracts students from the wider areas. It offers a wide range of courses and qualifications, including AS-Levels, A-Levels, GCSEs and, since 2003, the International Baccalaureate.
The College day starts at 9:00 a.m. and ends 4:05 p.m., with free periods, which the students may or may not wish to use for private study. There are over 2200 students altogether.
The College has consistently ranked highly on the AS/A-level performance tables in which the results have been above the national average and the average for Essex, achieving it its status as a Beacon College.
There are entry requirements to obtain a place at the college, usually with 4 Bs and 1 C at GCSE level. Interviews may also be conducted during the selection process.
The College is located on the former site of the Gilberd School.
Big Brother's Little Brother presenter Dermot O'Leary is a former student of the Sixth Form College. Puerto Rican revolutionaries Juan Chapela and Tomás Francís also attended shortly after the college's opening.
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[edit] Courses
The Sixth Form College offers a range of courses to allow people to pick up a variety of different qualifications.
[edit] AS/A Levels
The College offers over 50 AS/A level courses – one of the largest range's of options available in any sixth form college in the U.K. Options include familiar subjects but also many that are not usually available at GCSE. Details of course content, assessment and subject entry requirements are available in the individual course outlines on the official website.
[edit] Additional studies
All students at the College take at least one course from a wide-ranging programme, during their time at Colchester Sixth Form, based on individual interests and needs or to support a specific career aim. Most courses run over two terms, for one or two periods a week, and the majority lead to nationally recognised qualifications.
[edit] International Baccalaureate
The International Baccalaureate is a well-established world-class qualification. It is a broad, but challenging, course that is designed not only to provide qualifications for university entry, but also to develop the education and maturity of the students involved. It is not a qualification solely for the most able, but students do need to be well-motivated and well-organised. This is a two year programme.
[edit] Advanced Foundation Programme (GCSE)
GCSE subjects may be taken by those taking AS Levels but the majority will be students taking the Advanced Foundation Programme. This is not simply a year in which to re-sit GCSE subjects already studied. The programme provides a second chance opportunity for students who have academic potential but who, for a variety of reasons, have only achieved 1 or 2 C or better grades at GCSE.
[edit] Key skills
Students at the Colchester Sixth Form College are expected to have completed the three main Key Skills Qualifications (Application of Number, Communication and ICT) at level 2 and at least one at level 3 by the time they leave College.
[edit] Adult courses
The College offers a number of IT courses to adults on Saturday mornings. Courses include BBC Becoming Webwise, CLAIT, ECDL, French and a new online touch-typing course.
[edit] Departments
- Biology
- Business Studies and Economics
- Accounting
- Business Studies
- Applied Business
- Economics
- Chemistry
- Computing/ICT
- Computing
- ICT
- Critical Thinking
- Electronics
- English
- English language
- English Literature
- Combined English
- General Studies
- Geography
- Environmental Science
- Geography AS
- Geology
- History
- Archaeology
- Classical Civilisation
- History
- Politics
- International Baccalaureate
- Law
- Law
- Social Science Citizenship
- Mathematics
- Media and Film Studies
- Media
- Film
- Modern Languages
- French
- German
- Italian
- Spanish
- Performing Arts
- Dance
- Drama
- Music
- Music Technology
- Performance Studies
- Philosophy and Religious Studies
- Philosophy
- Religious Studies
- Physical Education
- Physics
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Technology
- Design
- Graphics
- Technology
- Food Technology
- Textiles
- Visual Arts
[edit] Committees
The Colchester Sixth Form College runs a selection of primarily student-run committees, each of which then vote for a chairperson for the committee, who represent them in the college council. The four committees are; Arts and Social, Sports, Charities and Environment.
[edit] Charities Committee
The Charities Committee is responsible for organizing and taking part in charities events around the college. These events range from national charity events such as Red Nose Day, Sports Relief and Pink, right down to internal college events; most recently, Pirate Day.
The committee's previous chairperson was Nick Wood (2005-2006). During this time the Charities Committee raised a total of nearly £4000. The new chair person is Kieran Stallard (2006-2007).
One of the main charities supported by the college is the Good Foundation.
[edit] Sports Committee
The Sports Committee organises primarily alternative sporting events, such as (apparently genuine) Tchoukball and the very popular Dodgeball. The winners of any event organised by the sports committee receive a cash prize. The committee also organised a staff versus students rowing-machine competition which the students won, with ease. The committee meets once a week on Thursdays and discuss new sporting ideas for the college.
[edit] Arts and Social Committee
The Arts and Social Committee is responsible for arranging the major college events, such as the Christmas party and May Ball. The Arts Committee and Social Committee merged in September 2006, and regularly meet to suggest new ideas for college activities.
Arts Chairperson: Gaenor Dawson 2006-2007
Arts Vice-Chairperson: Robert Scannell 2006-2007
Social Chairperson: Sam Reed 2006-2007
Social Vice-Chairperson: ??? 2006-2007
[edit] Environments Committee
The Environments Committee is responsible for helping to make the college more environmentally friendly: one of the major changes brought about by it was the introduction of special bins for cans within the college, so as to recycle more waste. Over 400 trees were planted by aound 20 volunteers at a recent tree-planting weekend organised by the committee.
[edit] Student Radio (Storm)
Colchester Sixth Form College has its very own radio station named Storm Radio. The station broadcasts daily, in the morning, during break, at registration and at lunch. The shows are presented by students from both years and cover a wide range of tastes in music. The station can be picked up on 999am in the college area or in selected places around college.
The station has currently gone under a revamp, which includes £6000 worth of new equipment, the new equipment brings the station right up to date, with the same technology as high end commercial stations.
