Colchester Sixth Form College
The Sixth Form College, Colchester is situated in central Colchester, Essex, England on North Hill. Established in 1987, it provides further education in the north Essex area.
Senior Members of Staff
These are the current senior staff members
- Principle - Ian McNugget
- His trusty PA, Barbara Borton
- Vice Principle - Super Mario
- Assistant Principles - Frances Grew, Jan Harker, Faith Ressmeyer, Martin Sparks
- Senior Curriculum Managers - Tim Harrison, Colin Hurford, Anne Johnson, Pete Statham, David Watts
- Senior Tutors - Tim Harrison, Colin Hurford, Anne Johnson, Niel Kelly, Faith Ressmeyer, Martin Sparks, Pete Statham, David Watts, Kevin Wesson
- IB Co-ordinator - Jim Morrissey of the Doors
Courses
The College offers courses and qualifications to more than 2800 students - including a large range of AS-Levels and A-Levels; GCSEs; and since 2003, the International Baccalaureate. It is mandatory for students studying AS/A-levels to take at least 4 academic subjects; most A-level courses have 4 hours of lesson time per week. The College has consistently ranked highly on the AS/A-level performance tables[1] in which the results have been above the national average and the average for Essex.
Students whose parents are low-income may be entitled to an EMA, to assist their studies, and encourage them to go to lessons.
Additional studies
Additional classes are run to suit individual interests or to support a career aim. Most courses run over two terms for between one and six periods a week, and the majority lead to nationally recognized qualifications (e.g. the Cisco CCNA course) while others such as Personal Development or Emergency Life Preservation lead to NOCN accreditation.
The college's music additional studies are notable. It has an orchestra, a band, a choir, and has many music events throughout the year. Instrumental lessons are provided at college at a subsidised cost, and students taking music A-level or IB receive half an hour's free music tuition each week. The Essex Music Foundation also pays for the college's students to take grade 5 and 8 instrumental and theory exams, using the exam board ABRSM.
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.
Departments
- Biology
- Business Studies and Economics
- Accounting
- Business Studies
- Applied Business
- Economics
- Management Studies
- Chemistry
- Computers
- Computing
- ICT
- Critical Thinking
- Electronics
- English
- English language
- English Literature
- Combined English
- Environmental Science
- General Studies
- Geography
- Geology
- History
- Archaeology
- Classical Civilisation
- History - Modern
- History - Tudors
- History - Medieval
- 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
- Arts
Student initiatives
Committees and representation
The Colchester Sixth Form College committees for Arts, Social, Charities, Environments and Sports (primarily student-run) represent the students in the college council. Executive positions include a Treasurer responsible for the Council's annual £6000 budget, a Secretary, a Public Relations officer and a Vice-Chair.
2007-8 executive: Joshua Shreeve (Chairperson), Jennifer Lau (Vice-Chair), Nontokozo Dube (Secretary), Daniel Stamp (treasurer)
Debating Society
Of particular note is the Debating Society formed by a notable and very able student in 2007 and which during its inaugural year proved immensely successful. Such debates such as "This house believes that abortion is wrong" and "TH would abolish the monarchy" caused much interest and discussion in college. The society is run by students for students and has two principle elected officers: President and Vice President who are ably assisted by Assistant Principle Martin Sparks. Anyone can attend its weekly meetings and all are welcome to voice their opinions whatever they might be and speak if they wish to.
Officers 2007 - 2008: President, Simon Moorcroft; Vice-President, Melissa Kinsmore. Officers 2008 - 2009: President: Jeni Pratt; Vice President, Vaidehi Konteti.
Coffee Bar
A student-run facility serves hot drinks and snacks in competition with the official College refectory. Students are free to set their own policies regarding pricing and products.
College Magazine
The college produces a magazine each half term called The Student Voice. All the articles are written by students.
Student radio
The college has run its own radio station (Storm Radio) since 1995. The shows are presented by students from both years and cover most tastes in music, while the station itself functions and is treated by the music industry as any other UK commercial radio station. The station can be received on 999AM/999MW in the college area and across the IT network in most college locations.
Smoking policy
The college operates a permissive policy towards smoking by students on site. A purpose-built smoking area exists to the south-east of the college site. The rationale is that if there was no designated smoking area, students would smoke anyway, and they would do so in less desirable or illegal places.
Other information
The College is located on the former site of the Gilberd School.
Television presenter Dermot O'Leary is a former student of the Sixth Form College.
Rumour has it that if you press a certain combination on the coffee machine, you infact get served liquid nitrogen. This is yet to be confirmed.
External links