Queen Mary's College, Basingstoke

Queen Mary's College
Address
Cliddesden Road Basingstoke , Hampshire , RG21 3HF
Information
Type	Further education college
Religious affiliation(s)	Non-denominational
Local authority	Hampshire County Council
Ofsted	Reports
Principal	Stephen Sheedy
Gender	Coeducational
Age	16+
Website	http://www.qmc.ac.uk/

Queen Mary's College (often initialised as QMC) is a sixth form college in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England.

The College

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. The building was officially opened by quantum physicist Jim Al-Khalili OCE on Friday 23rd of April 2010. Drama and Music are located in the award winning Central Studio, which plays host to a number of shows and performances all year round. (for more, see below)

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 630m² hall and a 23-metre 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 1977 Peter Cushings was present at the official opening of Central studio where students presented a number of theatrical and musical performances.

Curriculum

The college has approximately 2100 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 area, where there are no local state schools with sixth forms.

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

Notable alumni

• Sarah Beeny
• Shelley Conn
• Monty Don
• Elizabeth Hurley
• Ramon Tikaram
• Tanita Tikaram
• Kathy Smallwood-Cook

References

• The Guardian - College Days - Alex Thomson

External links

• Queen Mary's College website
• Central Studio
• QM Sports Centre
• 2003 Ofsted Report
• Queen Mary's College Student's Union website