Queen Mary's College

Queen Mary's College
Established 1556
Type Sixth Form College
Principal Ali Foss
Location Cliddesden Road
Basingstoke
Hampshire
RG21 3HF
United Kingdom
Local authority Hampshire
DfE number 850/8601
DfE URN 130700 Tables
Students 2600
Gender Coeducational
Ages 16+
Website Official website

Queen Mary's College (often initialised as QMC) is a sixth form college in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England. The college gets its name from the former grammar school located in the northern part of Basingstoke and the college is located in the former school buildings of the Shrubbery All Girls secondary modern, which dates back to the early 1950s.

The College

Formed in 1972 Queen Mary's College has always had a huge impact on the educational standards in North Hampshire and will hope to continue that into the future. The majority of the college's classrooms are housed in a single, two-storey, wide spread main building with a few smaller buildings and four temporary buildings providing most of the rest of the teaching space. However, three departments are predominantly housed away from the main college building. Physical Education (and related subjects) are able to make use of the QM Sports Centre while ICT & Art (and related subjects) are now housed in a recently completed (2005) £6m 3-storey teaching block. Science has recently been moved to a new multi-million pound teaching block, which was completed during the later part of 2009, with the first lessons taking place at the beginning of January 2010.[1] The building was officially opened by quantum physicist Jim Al-Khalili OCE on Friday 23 April 2010.[2] Drama and Music are located in the award winning Central Studio, which plays host to a number of shows and performances all year round.

QM Sports Centre

QM Sports Centre is located on the main college campus and, although open to the general public, is widely used by the college both as a sports centre and for educational reasons. The centre's main facilities are a 630 square metres (6,800 sq ft) hall and a 23 metres (75 ft) swimming pool. The centre itself also incorporates a fitness centre and viewing gallery and also makes use of the college's various football, rugby and artificial turfed pitches.

Central Studio

Central Studio is a professional theatre located on the college campus. While the college's various departments use the facilities of Central Studio, including the bar, theatre, dance studio and recording facilities the building itself is often used to host various professional productions and concerts. In 2009, Central Studio put on a production of 'The Laramie Project', a play about an American youth who was killed for his sexuality. Westboro Church planned to picket outside the college in protest, but were banned from the UK as a precaution against inciting hatred.[3]

In 1978 Peter Cushing was present at the official opening of Central studio where students presented a number of theatrical and musical performances.

Curriculum

Queen Mary's College offers AS and A-level courses in 40 different subjects, as well as several vocational courses and BTEC national diplomas.

The college has approximately 2400 students (the majority aged between 16 and 19) enrolled on full-time courses. It also offers a range of Adult Education opportunities, and has over 1000 students enrolled on part-time courses. The majority of students come from the Basingstoke and Deane & Hart areas.

Notable alumni

References

  1. ↑ Connop Price, David (21 August 2009). "New college block is truly state-of-the-art". Basingstoke Gazette.
  2. ↑ Roberts, Emily (2 May 2010). "£13m dream is realised at QMC". Southern Daily Echo.
  3. ↑ "Anti-gay preachers banned from UK". BBC News. 19 February 2009.
  4. ↑ "My best teacher -Sarah Beeny". Times Educational Supplement. 7 November 2008. Retrieved 15 December 2008.
  5. ↑ Shimmon, Katie (8 November 2005). "College Days - Alex Thomson". The Guardian.

External links

Coordinates: 51°15′22″N 1°5′16″W / 51.25611°N 1.08778°W / 51.25611; -1.08778

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