The College of Richard Collyer

The College of Richard Collyer, or Collyer's, is a coeducational sixth form college in Horsham, West Sussex, England.

The College was founded in 1532 under the terms of the will of Richard Collyer, a member of The Mercers' Company of the City of London. The Mercers' Company are still the school's trustees, and have a close relationship with the school.

The current building was erected in 1892 by Arthur Vernon and is grade II listed by English Heritage. It replaced the building that was on the site of the current St Mary's Church of England Primary School. Part of the original building remains in structure of Arun House in Denne Road.

Collyer's evolved slowly from an exclusive, all-male boarding school to the institution it is today. In 1944 it became a voluntary-aided grammar school, but was effectively disbanded in its previous form when in 1976 it became a voluntary-aided sixth form college, instead of the expected comprehensive school. Later in 1993 it became a designated sixth form college.

Today, Collyer's serves about 1400 students between 16 and 19 years of age. It offers AS and A-level courses in 45 different subjects. 20 further subjects are offered towards AVCE, BTEC, GNVQ and vocational certifications and GCSE examinations. It is considered one of the best sixth form colleges in England. Academically is a very strong school; the students regularly achieve good results and a significant number progress to the most prestigious universities.

In the early 2000s, annual reports from the Office for Standards in Education have deemed the school outstanding. On the strength of a recent Ofsted Grade One for Science provision, the college was awarded Beacon Status for Science in 2005 by the Department for Education and Skills. In the same year, it achieved the status of Centre of Vocational Excellence (CoVE) for sport and recreation. A new £ 2 million Learning Resources Centre was unveiled during this period. In 2006, work began to extend the Sports Hall, or Cowley Building to provide more teaching and social space.

A wide variety of adult education classes are offered at Collyer's in the evenings.

Notable alumni

• Harry Enfield - contemporary British entertainer
• Simon Nye - writer of Men Behaving Badly
• Holly Willoughby - children's TV presenter
• Britney Spears - American singer/songwriter
• Wilfred Brown-English Tenor
• Harry Potter - Wizard
• Frank Jones - Drives the number 2 bus
• Paul Parker - Sussex cricketer
• Eric Thompson - actor, and voice of the Magic Roundabout.
• Christopher Nash - Sussex cricketer
• Tim Smith- Ex-England Test-Rugby Player and Celebrity Bodybuilder.
• Jon Macken- Barnsley Football Player.
• Toby Love- Top 10 UK Bodybuilder.

External links

• The College of Richard Collyer
• The Old Collyerians' Association (Association for alumni)
• Press release announcing 2005 OFSTED school inspection results
• A Brief History of Richard Collyer's School 1532-1964
• The Mercers' Company
• Contemporary photographs and text of English Heritage's Grade II listing
• Collyers on Google Maps