Peter Symonds College
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| Motto | Counting in Ones |
|---|---|
| Established | 1897 |
| Type | Sixth form college |
| Principal | Neil Hopkins |
| Location | Owens Road Winchester Hampshire SO22 6RX England |
| Local authority | Hampshire |
| DfE URN | 130708 |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Students | c.2700 |
| Ages | 16–18 |
| Publication | The Buzz |
| Website | PSC |
Coordinates: 51°04′12″N 1°19′12″W / 51.0701°N 1.3201°W
Peter Symonds College is a sixth form college in Winchester, Hampshire, in the south of England. It is one of the largest sixth form colleges in Britain.
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[edit] Admissions
It has some 3250 students aged 16–18 mainly from central Hampshire but also teenagers from the British Forces who live on campus in one of the two boarding houses and mostly come from Germany, Cyprus and the Falkland Islands.
[edit] History
[edit] Grammar school
The college was founded as a boys' grammar school in 1897 and became a coeducational 16-19 college in 1974, although its roots go back to charities established in the 16th century at the bequest of Peter Symonds, a wealthy merchant. From 1944 it was a voluntary controlled grammar school.
[edit] Sixth form college
The school, along with the Winchester County Girls' High School, also a grammar school, became a comprehensive in 1974, taking until 1978.
[edit] Apostrophe
In the late 1990s or early 2000s, for reasons unknown (but possibly because of the difficulty students and correspondents had in spelling the College's name correctly), the College dropped the possessive apostrophe from its founder's name in its official title, and is now known as Peter Symonds College.
[edit] New buildings
In 2004, the John Shields Building was unveiled, providing classrooms for the computing, psychology and environmental science departments. Also in that year the Varley Sports Café was rebuilt.
The £4.2M Ashurst Learning Resources Centre was completed in the spring of 2007. Ashurst contains five computer suites, housing over 170 computers (three suites double as classrooms, but remain open access when not in use), a vast library and large silent study areas.
The present principal, Neil Hopkins is now the only principal not to have a building in the college named after him, and instead the landfill site in front of the Northbrook building which was demolished has been affectionately called Hopkins' Hump.[citation needed]
[edit] Boarding
The school previously operated a number of boarding houses. The houses (School House, Wyke Lodge and Kelso) brought in a welcome variety of boys from far-flung corners of the world (outposts of Empire and Armed Forces bases) to spice up the – largely insular – intake of 11+ pupils from Winchester.
Wyke Lodge is now the Environmental Studies block and Kelso is now the Music department. School House is still used for boarding (30 students), along with the newly built Falkland Lodge (47 students). Both male and female students are accommodated. The construction of Falkland Lodge was funded by the government of the Falkland Islands as a boarding house so that students from the islands can study at the college.
[edit] Academic achievement
In 2009 Peter Symonds was placed sixth in The Times top 50 state sixth forms. In the same year the college was ranked 85th in the country (only including institutions with at least 30 exam entrants) based on Average Points Score.[1]
[edit] Extra-curricular activities
The college produces an online magazine named "The BUZZ", written and edited by students, which replaced "Converse" in 2008.[2] There is also a student produced college radio station, 7Radio, founded by James Silsbury and Josh Lewkowicz on the 14th Feb 2007. The '7' or 'Seven' of 7Radio, as well as relating to broadcasting 7 days a week when first set up, refers to Symonds Events and Entertainment Network radio [3]
All students study A-Level General Studies. All students also partake in one extra curricular activity per term (societies, sports, arts).[citation needed]
[edit] Headmasters and principals
- Revd Telford Varley III, 1897 to 1926
- Dr Freeman, 1926 to 1956
- Charles Simpson (acting), 1956 to 1957
- John Shields, 1957 to 1963
- John Ashurst, 1963 to 1973
- Stuart Nicholls, 1973 to 1993
- Neil Hopkins, 1993 to present
[edit] Notable alumni
- Ben Ainslie[4] - British sailor and three-times Olympic gold medalist.
- Gina Beck[5] - actress, singer, currently starring as Christine in the London production of The Phantom of the Opera
- Jon Boden - lead singer in the band Bellowhead.
- Andy Burrows[6] - former drummer in the band Razorlight.
- Laura Carmichael - Actress, currently starring in Downton Abbey
- Will Champion[7] - drummer in the band Coldplay.
- Alexa Chung[8] - TV presenter, model and fashionista.
- Diane Corner, High Commissioner to Tanzania since 2009
- Jack Dee[9] - Stand up comedian and actor.
- Chris Geere - Actor, most famous for his role in Waterloo Road, as Matt Wilding Head of Music and Drama.
- Phil Hughes (born 1991), cricketer[10]
- Alice Kettle[11] - Textile artist
- Dan Lobb - Retired tennis player, TV presenter and sports broadcaster.
- Hugh Mitchell - Actor, best known for playing Colin Creevey in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film).
- Caroline Nokes, Conservative MP since 2010 for Romsey and Southampton North[12]
- Iain Percy[13] - British sailor and double Olympic champion.
- Lucy Pinder[14] - Glamour Model and Celebrity Big Brother housemate.
- Christian O'Connell - radio DJ who presents the Absolute Radio weekday breakfast show.
- Budge Pountney - former captain of Scotland rugby union team.
- Pete Robertson - drummer for UK-band The Vaccines
[edit] References
- ^ "Top A-level results". BBC News. 13 January 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8439634.stm.
- ^ Converse Student Magazine
- ^ 7radio website
- ^ "Ben Ainslie". Sailor Biography. ISAF UK. http://www.sailing.org/bio.asp?ID=GBRCA1. Retrieved 2008-08-17.
- ^ College Days - Gina Beck, The Guardian, 15 May 2007
- ^ Murray, Janet (2007-06-26). "College days". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2007/jun/26/furthereducation.uk. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
- ^ Murray, Janet (2007-05-01). "College days". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2007/may/01/furthereducation.uk. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
- ^ Murray, Janet (2007-05-22). "College days". The Guardian (London). http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,,2084617,00.html. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
- ^ "The Making of a Comedian". JackDee.co.uk. http://jackdee.co.uk/about-jack-dee. Retrieved 2009-01-19.
- ^ "Player profile: Phil Hughes". ESPNcricinfo. http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/459436.html. Retrieved 28 September 2011.
- ^ Murray, Janet (2007-09-25). "College days". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2007/sep/25/furthereducation.uk1. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
- ^ "Gidley goes as Tories win Romsey". Southern Daily Echo. 7 May 2010. http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/8152567.Gidley_goes_as_Tories_win_Romsey/. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
- ^ Shimmon, Katie (2006-07-18). "College days". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2006/jul/18/furthereducation.uk. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
- ^ "Lucy Pinder backed by Winchester civic chiefs". Hampshire Chronicle (Newsquest Media Group). 9:04am Friday 9 January 2009. http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/display.var.2379974.0.0.php?act=complaint&cid=1722520. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
[edit] External links
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