Winstanley College

Winstanley College

Established	1977
Principal	Louise Tipping
Deputy Headteacher	Mel Chadwick
Chair	David Rosbottom
Location	Winstanley Road Wigan Greater Manchester WN5 7XF England Coordinates: 53°31′25″N 2°42′10″W / 53.5237°N 2.7029°W / 53.5237; -2.7029
Local authority	Wigan
DfE number	359/8600
DfE URN	130522 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Students	1,803
Gender	Coeducational
Ages	16–19
Colours	Blue, White
Former name	Upholland Grammar School
Website	www.winstanley.ac.uk

Winstanley College is a sixth-form college in the Billinge Higher End area of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester. It was named the Sunday Times Sixth Form of the Year in 2012.^[1]

Admissions

In the academic year 2007–08 it had 1,803 full-time students.^[2] The catchment area spreads across several areas of the North West of England, incorporating much of Wigan, Bolton, Preston, Salford, West Lancashire, Chorley, Warrington, St Helens and Knowsley.

Winstanley College is highly oversubscribed due to its outstanding Ofsted Reports and A Level performance. For 2012–2013 entry, potential students must achieve 48 points in their best eight GCSE results, based on a system where an A* is equal to 10 points, an A, 8, a B, 6 and a C, 4.

Buildings

The College has undergone a major re-development; including the building of a part student-designed English and Politics building, and the Head of Politics Elaine Mulroy has received an award for the top teacher of Politics within England and Wales.

Points of interest when visiting the college include:

• The Art and Psychology Departments for their imaginative architecture
• The Student Centre.
• The English and Politics/Law/Sociology (PLS) building (including subject-specific study areas).
• Learning Resource Centre (LRC).
• Extensive Sporting and Gym facilities including several large sports fields.
• A brand new £3 million development for Media, Music & Performing Arts opened July 2012. Architects Pick Everard have won Best Education Building Design and Best Overall Design in Wigan for 2012.

Student Union

College buildings

Winstanley College Students' Union is an independent union and a member of the National Union of Students. The student union is run by the Student Union Executive. Usually each member of the Student Union Executive is a second year student, elected by Lower Sixth students, going into the Upper Sixth year.

History

Grammar school

The College began life as Upholland Grammar School, which was founded in 1661.^[3] The grammar school moved to its present site on Winstanley Road in Billinge Higher End in September 1953. it had 600 boys and girls in the 1960s and had 750 by 1976. During WWII the grammar school had its own Air Cadet Squadron – 1439 (Beacon) squadron with the headmaster Alfred Maggs BA MSc as the first commanding officer (Flt Lt A. Maggs RAFVR(T))

Sixth form college

It was renamed Winstanley College in August 1977,^[4] and at that time, it ceased to enrol new pupils at age 11, gradually becoming a sixth form college. By September 1981, no pupils remained in the lower forms, and the transformation to a sixth-form college was complete. In early 2009, plans were unveiled for an extensive redevelopment of the grounds, which was subsequently put to the Learning & Skills Council for approval. In mid-2009 the project was shelved for lack of grant funding. Since that time the college has redeveloped the 1950s buildings by replacing its flat roofs (AA projects & Mitie roofing), the music block was replaced with a £3m building for media and performing arts which was completed in 2012 (Pick Everard and ISG). A replacement library block and new accommodation for physical sciences and biology were completed in 2014.

Academic performance

A portal to higher education, Winstanley College is at the forefront of the top 10 colleges in the UK in terms of A-level PPS (points per student) — ranked 1st in the Guardian's country-wide collation of A-Level results in 2010.^[5]

It was named by the Sunday Times as Sixth Form of the Year in 2012 for consistently achieving excellent A-level results over a long period of time. The report highlights the fact that Winstanley are A-level specialists with the expertise to deliver consistent academic excellence with large numbers of students drawn from a wide area.

In January 2010, Winstanley College was rated as "Outstanding" by Ofsted.

Notable alumni

• Richard Ashcroft, Pete Salisbury, Simon Jones & Nick McCabe- from the band The Verve.^[4]
• Shaun Briscoe – rugby league footballer for Hull Kingston Rovers formerly of Wigan Warriors and Hull
• Jane Bruton, Editor-in-Chief since 2005 of Grazia (UK)
• Sam Darbyshire – Hollyoaks Jamie "Fletch" Fletcher
• Helen Don-Duncan, backstroke swimmer in the 200m event at the 2000 Olympics
• Roger Draper, Chief Executive since 2006 of the Lawn Tennis Association
• Lucy Gaskell – Casualty Kirsty Clements
• David Grindley – British 400 metre runner. Bronze medallist at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games^[4]
• Leah Hackett – Hollyoaks Tina McQueen
• Leon Osman – professional footballer for Everton FC^[4]
• Carley Stenson – Hollyoaks Steph Dean
• Davinia Taylor (nee Murphy), actress
• Georgia Taylor – Coronation Street Toyah Battersby, Casualty Ruth Winters

Upholland Grammar School

• John Ashcroft CBE, Chief Executive from 1982–6 of Coloroll
• Catherine Ashton, Baroness Ashton of Upholland – High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, former Leader of the House of Lords and European Commissioner for Trade^[4]
• Thomas Berridge, Liberal MP from 1906–10 for Warwick and Leamington (his father was a former headmaster)
• Prof Chris Berry, Professor of Political Theory from 1995-2011 at the University of Glasgow^[6]
• John Carleton, rugby union
• John Gaskell, Telegraph reporter
• Prof Robert Dickinson, Professor of Geography from 1958–67 at the University of Leeds
• Dr. Charles Bamforth, Professor of Brewing at the University of California
• Prebendary Tom Kerfoot OBE, founder and first General Secretary of the International Christian Maritime Association
• Prof Kenneth Pye, sedimentologist
• Prof Peter Thompson, Professor of Anatomy from 1909–21 at the University of Birmingham
• Robin Thornber, theatre reviewer
• Peter Williams (English rugby player), rugby union
• Canon Frank Wright

References