Luton Sixth Form College

Luton Sixth Form College is a sixth form college situated in Luton, Bedfordshire.

Luton Sixth Form College
Address
Bradgers Hill Road

Luton
,
Bedfordshire
,
LU2 7EW

England
Coordinates51.9023°N 0.4142°W / 51.9023; -0.4142
Information
TypeSixth form college
Established1966 (1966)
Department for Education URN130600 Tables
OfstedReports
PrincipalAltaf Hussain
GenderBoth male and female
Age16 to 19
Former nameLuton Grammar School
Websitewww.lutonsfc.ac.uk

Admissions

It is noted for its multiethnic population; 69% of the College's students are from minority ethnic groups.[1][2]

History

In 1904 Luton Council acquired the Modern School, which was a mixed-sex secondary school. This school moved into new buildings in Park Square in 1908 (now the site of the University of Bedfordshire). By 1919 the school had grown significantly and further expansion was needed. A new building was constructed at Alexandra Avenue for the girls (now the site of Denbigh High School). This school was named Luton High School for Girls; the boys continued at the old site in Park Square.

Grammar school

Again expansion meant that a new building was needed and, in 1938, the current college was built on the north side of Bradgers Hill Road as the new site for Luton Modern School. At that time, the school was on the northern edge of the developed area of Luton, with open countryside beyond. In 1944 the school became Luton Grammar School. A mixed-sex technical college remained at Park Square until it moved to Barnfield Avenue in the 1950s, as Luton Technical Grammar School, but it was often referred to as Luton Secondary Technical School or the Tech. The site is now home to Barnfield College.

On 16 February 1965, a radio programme recorded at the school, Sporting Chance, was broadcast on the BBC Light Programme, where a team from the school faced Maurice Edelston, Peter West and Alan Clarke (sports commentator), with the quiz hosted by John Snagge.[3]

Sixth Form College
Luton Sixth Form College in 2006, before its rebuild in 2007-2010

In 1966 Luton Grammar School became the first Sixth Form College in the UK, drawing together the Sixth Forms from the three selective schools in Luton. Many of the staff from the previous sixth forms as well as the libraries moved to the Bradgers Hill Site.

The founding College Principal was Brian David Dance B.A. Oxon (formerly Headmaster Cirencester Grammar School) who oversaw the creation, amalgamation and development of the College from 1966 to 1973. In 2011 the Luton News wrote of Dance's contribution to the College, 'During his tenure at the college, it become a model of excellence for many other local education authorities, seeking as it did to offer the widest possible range of A level courses, in many combinations unavailable elsewhere'.

In 1971 the College participated in the BBC television version of Top of the Form inter schools quiz show. After three victories (against Oxted County, Merthyr and Weston-super-Mare Grammar Schools) the College reached the finals of the national competition against Kenilworth Grammar School (broadcast on 8 June 1971). In August and September 1971 the same College team (together with Oban and Kenilworth Schools) took part in the BBC TV/USA TV 'Trans World Top Team' competition against the United States (represented by teams from Baltimore, New Orleans and St. Pauls). Of the six teams participating the College was placed close second to winners Baltimore.

Rebuild

In early 2007, the college announced plans to completely rebuild the site from ground up. The new £56 million[4] college opened to students on 7 September 2010 on the site of the old college's playing fields. Currently, phase two of the rebuild is taking place which includes the demolition of the old buildings and the construction of a new car park, a cricket pitch, football pitches and a path from the entrance to the site to the new college in their place.[5]

College profile

Student numbers

In October 2006 the following breakdown of numbers was recorded:

Programme Students
International Baccalaurate Year 122
International Baccalaurate Year 223
Advanced level single award (year 1)590
Advanced level single award (year 2)590
Advanced level double award (year 1)268
Advanced level double award (year 2)179
Intermediate level200
Foundation level23
Art Diploma10
Total1905

As of 2010 the official student number, between the ages of 16–18, is 2197.[6]

Academic performance

Office for Standards in Education Report

The Office for Standards in Education deemed the following to be the strengths and weaknesses of Luton Sixth Form College (quoting directly):

  • Key strengths
    • outstanding leadership and management
    • highly effective promotion of a multicultural ethos
    • overall, students achieving GCE grades higher than those predicted by their GCSE results, achieved by predicting lower grades at the beginning of the year.
    • fair standard of teaching and learning
    • very good specialist resources
    • thorough monitoring of student progress
    • excellent advice and guidance
    • excellent attendance and punctuality
    • relatively safe and secure environment.
  • What should be improved
    • key skills provision
    • effectiveness of group tutorials
    • sharing of teaching skills and best practice between subject teams
    • pass rates and the proportion of high grades achieved in some GCE AS and A-level subjects are significantly below the national average.

It gets A-levels slightly under the England average. There are only five places to take A-levels in Luton – the others are sixth forms at Cardinal Newman Catholic School, The Chalk Hills Academy, Stockwood Park Academy and Barnfield College.

Notable former pupils
Kerry McCarthy

Luton Grammar School
John Gosling, 1970s keyboardist of The Kinks
Sir Alec Jeffreys, Wolfson Research Professor of the Royal Society since 1991 at the University of Leicester

Luton Modern School

References
  1. College profile Archived 27 January 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Leb Partnership. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 4 November 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. Sporting Chance
  4. KSS Architects. http://www.kssgroup.com/projects/luton-sixth-college.php
  5. Baqus Construction Consultancy. http://www.baqus.co.uk/case_studies/entry/redevelopment_of_luton_sixth_form_college
  6. Department for Education. http://www.education.gov.uk/cgi-bin/performancetables/school_10.pl?Mode=Z&No=8218600&Type=LA&Begin=b&Num=821&Phase=2&Year=10&Base=a
  7. "Conor crowned Countdown champ". 5 March 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  8. Lord Howie (23 October 2011). "Obituary: Ivor Clemitson". The Independent. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.