| Motto | "...where teaching and learning are outstanding..." |
|---|---|
| Established | 1936 |
| Type | Sixth form college |
| Principal | Simon Jarvis |
| Location | Prospect Avenue Farnborough Hampshire GU14 8JX England |
| Local authority | Hampshire |
| DfE number | ???/8604 |
| DfE URN | 130703 |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Ages | 16–19 |
| Website | Farnborough SFC |
The Sixth Form College, Farnborough is a sixth form college situated in Farnborough, Hampshire.
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It is also known as Farnborough Sixth Form College, or 'Farnborough Sixth' among the local population to differentiate it from Farnborough College of Technology, a further education college also situated in Farnborough. It caters for around 3,000 students between the ages of 16 and 19. Admission is mostly from schools in the local areas of Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire. It is situated just off (west of) the A325, in Hawley Green. The Farnborough area is important for the UK aerospace industry.
Students study for AS/A-Levels and other qualifications such as the GNVQ and GCSE. In 2007 the College was described as 'outstanding' by Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector,[1] and it retains Beacon Status as one of the country’s top sixth form colleges. It is therefore often over-subscribed; the college states that "But you must apply in good time - last year we had over 3000 applications for the 1600 places available."[2]
The Principal is Simon Jarvis. In 2006 the College achieved 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.[3] The number of students going on to study at Oxbridge is rated as very high, with around 30 entrants per year.[4]
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.[5]
The 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 2,960 in 2007.
Dr John Guy was the principal from 1992 to 2010.[6] 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.[7]
He was succeeded as principal in September 2010 by the college's deputy principal, Simon Jarvis.[8]
The college has recently undergone a major building programme costing over £15 million.[2] The first project was the Prospect Theatre and performing arts suite, which was opened by Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex in 2000. The latest building, 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 fairly recently, the Whitehouse Building which boasts an e-Assessment Centre–an IT centre for students to use. The latest phase is a new physics and arts block to replace the existing 1960's Scola block. Planning permission has been granted and the project designed by architects Broadway Malyan has commenced. The college has three cafeterias and two large fields which are used for sports & recreational purposes.
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, that 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.[9] 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.
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.[10] 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.[11] 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 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.[6] 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.[12] Following the success of this first opera, a performance of Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel took place in July 2008.[13]
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.