The
Blackpool Sixth Form College serves the Fylde peninsula and surrounding areas of the county of
LancashireLancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Lancashire County Council is based in Preston. However, Lancaster is still considered to be the county town...
, England. The college has around 1,500 full-time students, most of whom are aged between 16 and 19 years. Education is mainly focused around the popular A-Level qualification but the college is also diversifying into new areas such as Applied A-Levels and other vocational courses.
The campus is sited in the Highfurlong district of
BlackpoolBlackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. Situated along the coast of the Irish Sea, it has a population of 142,900, making it the fourth-largest settlement in North West England behind Manchester, Liverpool and Warrington...
.
The
Blackpool Sixth Form College serves the Fylde peninsula and surrounding areas of the county of
LancashireLancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Lancashire County Council is based in Preston. However, Lancaster is still considered to be the county town...
, England. The college has around 1,500 full-time students, most of whom are aged between 16 and 19 years. Education is mainly focused around the popular A-Level qualification but the college is also diversifying into new areas such as Applied A-Levels and other vocational courses.
Location
The campus is sited in the Highfurlong district of
BlackpoolBlackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. Situated along the coast of the Irish Sea, it has a population of 142,900, making it the fourth-largest settlement in North West England behind Manchester, Liverpool and Warrington...
. This places it on Blackpool's extreme eastern boundary, about 3 miles from the coast and close to the neighbouring town of
Poulton-le-FyldePoulton-le-Fylde is a town within the Wyre borough of Lancashire, England. The town has a population of 19,480 as of 2001 and occupies an area of 7.79 km², for a population density of 2500 people/km²...
. Despite being some distance from the town centre, the college is easily reached by road and rail (in fact there are two railway stations close by). The college's locality is somewhat less urban than the busy, built-up centre of Blackpool.
Campus
The Highfurlong campus consists of a large main building and a number of annexes including the sports hall, a concert hall (also used for examinations) and a purpose-built music and performing arts suite. The main building houses most of the classrooms and offices and also the library, common room/dining room and one of the two large resource rooms. Some areas of the building are two storeys high and the single storey area is at two levels. Despite this arrangement, the building is very accessible to wheelchair users thanks to a comprehensive set of ramps and lifts.
Outside, the campus contains a large amount of green space. There are large lawns to the front and side of the main building and a large courtyard at its centre. Since many of the students drive cars, the college uses some of its land as car parking space, mainly around the front and back of the main building.
Recently Blackpool Sixth Form have invested in a huge multi-million pound re-development with two new buildings being built. The first building being opened in september 2008 consiting of three floors. The first floor housing a brand new library and resource centre more commonly known as the FYI centre. The second floor houses the business and health and social departments with the third floor dedicated to the brand new science department.
The second building is scheduled to open in september 2009 and this will house the new reception and a state of the art cyber-cafe. The building as a whole is dedicated to the new media and visual arts departments.
Education and college life
About 45 subjects are available to full-time students. Until 2004, the college specialised in the A-level qualification almost exclusively and A-levels still make up the majority of the courses on offer. The curriculum areas cover the traditional subjects - arts, sciences, languages, economics and mathematics - as well as more modern courses like Media and Film Studies and social sciences.
Students can also participate in wide range of recreational activities. The college has 17 sports teams, and also a basketball academy and a very active Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme.
History
The college was opened in 1971 as a dedicated sixth form centre for the nearby Collegiate Grammar School, although it has always attracted students from other schools across
the FyldeThe Fylde is a coastal plain in western Lancashire, England. It is roughly a 13-mile square-shaped peninsula, bounded by Morecambe Bay to the north, the Ribble estuary to the south, the Irish Sea to the west, and the Bowland hills to the east...
and beyond. (A few of the tutors who started in 1971 are still teaching at the college and a considerable number of the staff are former students.) In 1989, the sixth form centre controversially separated from the main school to become a fully independent college. Since then, the number of students has increased enormously and the campus has been extended by several new buildings, the most recent of which is the music and performing arts suite. Plans are underway to rebuild or refurbish much of the original 1971 build in the next few years.
Principals
- Joan Wilkinson (1971-1981)
- Robert Farrand (1981-1989)
- Christopher Fulford (1989-2000)
- Jeffrey Holland (2000-2004)
- Felicity Greeves (2004-date)
Notable former students
- Little Boots
Victoria Christina Hesketh , also known by her stage name Little Boots, is an English electropop musician. As a musician Little Boots sings and plays the keyboard, piano, stylophone and a Japanese electronic instrument, called Tenori-on.After a return to college to focus on her studies, Hesketh...
(Victoria Hesketh), musician
- Rachel McLean
Rachel Margaret McLean was a British student at St. Hilda's College in Oxford, England, when she was murdered by her boyfriend, John Tanner, a day after they became engaged...
, murder victim
- John Robb - musician (Goldblade
Goldblade are a punk rock band from Manchester, United Kingdom. The band formed in early 1995 when ex Membranes frontman John Robb put the band together with Wayne Simmons and former A Witness vocalist Keith Curtis on bass, Rob Haynes on drums and Jay Taylor on guitar...
), presenter, music critic
External links