St Vincent College
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| St Vincent College | |
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| Motto | Your college of choice |
| Established | 1987 |
| Type | Sixth Form College |
| Principal | Steve Wain |
| Location | Mill Lane Gosport Hampshire PO12 4QA  |
| LEA | Hampshire County Council |
| Ofsted number | 130705 |
| Students | c.1200 full time |
| Gender | Mixed |
| Ages | 16 to 18 |
| Publication | Clocktower |
| Website | www.stvincent.ac.uk |
St Vincent College is a small co-educational sixth form (16-18) college located in Gosport, Hampshire, England. The majority of students come from the immediate surrounding towns including Gosport, Fareham, Stubbington and even Winchester. The nearby Gosport Ferry link with Portsmouth also allows students from the city to attend. The college currently has around 1,200 full time students[1]; it also caters for older "Access" students.
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[edit] History
The college is situated on the grounds of the former St Vincent Secondary School which first opened in 1975. Gosport Sixth Form College opened in 1987 and shared the site with the secondary school, when the final year 11 left in 1990 the present name was adopted. Until 1923 the site was used as a Royal Navy barracks , from which many relics remain in the grounds. The site was also used up to the late 1960s as HMS St Vincent, a naval training school. Within the grounds is Forton Lake (or Forton Creek), a waterway leading into Portsmouth Harbour.
[edit] Sports
The college itself is represented by a hockey team, soccer team, netball team and an ultimate team named Thundercatch[2]. Sports facilities include a full sized Astro turf based pitch. The campus also hosts a gym for the use of the students and local community.
[edit] Proposed merger with Fareham college
The Learning and Skills Council proposd a merger between St Vincent college and nearby Fareham College in a document circulated at the beginning of December 2006.[3] In June 2007 a feasibility study recommended part of the former HMS Daedalus air field in Lee-on-the-Solent as the best location for a new college[4]
The scheme however has been rejected by a host of community and democratically-elected bodies including Fareham and Gosport Borough council, Gosport MP Peter Viggers, local schools and organisations involved with young people. The consultation period ended in February 2008.
Although as yet there has been no official word from the LSC on the current status of the proposed merger, St Vincent College has decided to continue to plan ahead for the next academic year with confidence in its independent status. The college has since launched a new Performing Arts Academy and an Academy of Visual and Media Arts[5]
