Paston Sixth Form College is a sixth form college in North Walsham, Norfolk, England, United Kingdom.
Paston Sixth Form College is one of only two sixth-form colleges in Norfolk and 93 nationally. It was created in 1984 from a merger between the Paston School and North Walsham High School for Girls. Sixth form colleges specialise in teaching full time students aged 16-18. Nationally they are the most successful type of sixth form, with excellent results at AS/A-level, and equivalent BTEC Diplomas, and a large percentage of students going on to university.
Paston Sixth Form College enjoys an excellent reputation, with consistently good examination results, and students achieving grades above those that could be predicted from their qualifications on entry. Paston is in the top 10% of schools and colleges nationally at AS and in the top 25% for A level.
Students come to Paston from a wide geographical area of rural, coastal and Broadland Norfolk: from nearby high schools in Acle, Aylsham, Cromer, Martham [Flegg], North Walsham, Sheringham, Stalham and Wroxham [Broadland], and also from North Norwich, Reepham and further afield in Norfolk.
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Paston Sixth Form College was inspected by Ofsted in February 2008 and March 2011 and the reports are available on the College website, www.paston.ac.uk . The reports describe a very successful institution with outstanding (grade 1) features. Principal Peter Mayne, said "The reports gave us a massive boost in our work to progress from being a good college to an outstanding one."
The curriculum is wide for a college of its size with over 60 AS/A courses AS and A level and 4 BTEC Extended Diplomas [equivalent to A-level].
Performing Arts are a feature of Paston. "Far East Theate", Paston's own student theatre company, have a well-deserved reputation for the high quality of their work, performed in the Paston theatre and on tour.
The college occupies the buildings of its 2 predecessor schools. The two sites are very attractive with buildings dating from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, set in extensive lawns right in the heart of the market town of North walsham. Paston has grown by over 1/3 in the last 5 years because of its reputation as a high performing college.
The Paston School, a grammar school was founded in 1606 by Sir William Paston, a libertarian, local magistrate, landowner and a member of an important local family. The emblem of the school was the griffin, which, along with six fleur de lys and the motto De mieux en mieux pour tout ("From good to better everywhere"), featured on the school coat of arms.[1]
The grammar school for girls was founded in the early years of the 20th century, becoming a Norfolk county girls grammar school in 1919. The present College's Lawns Site was the site of the school. The founders of the school were the Misses Cooke and the girls were known locally as "Cookies".
The school is famous as the school of Admiral Lord Nelson, who attended the school with his brother William 1768-1771. The college still holds a small collection of artifacts relating to Nelson and the Battle of Trafalgar. Another famous old boy is Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury - 1691-1715. Later former pupils include:
Among the alumni of the Girls High School are
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