St Vincent College
Encyclopedia
St Vincent College is a small co-educational sixth form
(16-18) college
located in Gosport
, Hampshire
, England
. The majority of students come from the surrounding towns including Gosport
, Fareham
, Stubbington
and Winchester
. The nearby Gosport Ferry
link with Portsmouth
also allows students from that city to attend. The college has around 1,200 full time students; it also caters for older "Access" students.
barracks , from which many relics remain in the grounds. The site was also used up to the late 1960s as HMS St Vincent, a naval training school. Within the grounds is Forton Lake (or Forton Creek
), a waterway leading into Portsmouth Harbour
.
team, football team, netball
team and an ultimate
team named Thundercatch. Sports facilities include a full sized Astro turf based pitch. The campus hosts a gym for the use of the students and local community.
In the Summer of 2010, St. Vincent College opened its doors to the public to show off the musical talent from students past and present featuring the headline act of Throw Back. The event was called the "St. Vincent Gig on the Grass Festival" and it even pulled in crowds of around 500 people and was shown to be a huge success with many of the acts being asked to return for 2011.
The festival line up for 2011 rumoured the return of Throw Back and Tj Stickland with the introduction of indie/acoustic three piece May-Day. The festival is due to take place on June 29, 2011, with Tj Stickland returning with new band "The Bridge" and Martin Williams' return with "MayDay" has been anticipated with a lot of excitement.
Unfortunately with new developments, a rule change, announced on 21 June 2011, could see MayDay and The Bridge kicked off the line up because the students are past, not present. The removal of past students is not confirmed but is in the pipeline, causing financial damage to both acts.
Sixth form college
A sixth form college is an educational institution in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Belize, Hong Kong or Malta where students aged 16 to 18 typically study for advanced school-level qualifications, such as A-levels, or school-level qualifications such as GCSEs. In Singapore and India, this is...
(16-18) college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
located in Gosport
Gosport
Gosport is a town, district and borough situated on the south coast of England, within the county of Hampshire. It has approximately 80,000 permanent residents with a further 5,000-10,000 during the summer months...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The majority of students come from the surrounding towns including Gosport
Gosport
Gosport is a town, district and borough situated on the south coast of England, within the county of Hampshire. It has approximately 80,000 permanent residents with a further 5,000-10,000 during the summer months...
, Fareham
Fareham
The market town of Fareham lies in the south east of Hampshire, England, between the cities of Southampton and Portsmouth, roughly in the centre of the South Hampshire conurbation.It gives its name to the borough comprising the town and the surrounding area...
, Stubbington
Stubbington
Stubbington is a large Hampshire village which is located between Southampton and Portsmouth on the south coast of England. It is within the borough of Fareham but is part of the parliamentary constituency of Gosport.-History:...
and Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
. The nearby Gosport Ferry
Gosport Ferry
The Gosport Ferry is a ferry service operating between Gosport pontoon and Portsmouth pontoon in Hampshire, southern England. It is currently operated by Gosport Ferry Ltd, a subsidiary of the Portsmouth Harbour Ferry Company plc, itself a wholly owned subsidiary of Falkland Islands Holdings,...
link with Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
also allows students from that city to attend. The college has around 1,200 full time students; it also caters for older "Access" students.
History
The college is situated on the grounds of the former St Vincent Secondary School which first opened in 1975. Gosport Sixth Form College opened in 1987 and shared the site with the secondary school, when the final year 11 left in 1990 the present name was adopted. Until 1923 the site was used as a Royal NavyRoyal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
barracks , from which many relics remain in the grounds. The site was also used up to the late 1960s as HMS St Vincent, a naval training school. Within the grounds is Forton Lake (or Forton Creek
Forton Creek
Forton Lake. A locality in the town of Gosport, Hampshire. It is within the grounds of St Vincent College.The locality is the subject of a painting by Martin Snape which hangs in the town hall....
), a waterway leading into Portsmouth Harbour
Portsmouth Harbour
Portsmouth Harbour is a large natural harbour in Hampshire, England. Geographically it is a ria: formerly it was the valley of a stream flowing from Portsdown into the Solent River. The city of Portsmouth lies to the east on Portsea Island, and Gosport to the west on the mainland...
.
Sports
The college is represented by a hockeyHockey
Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...
team, football team, netball
Netball
Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...
team and an ultimate
Ultimate (sport)
Ultimate is a sport played with a 175 gram flying disc. The object of the game is to score points by passing the disc to a player in the opposing end zone, similar to an end zone in American football or rugby...
team named Thundercatch. Sports facilities include a full sized Astro turf based pitch. The campus hosts a gym for the use of the students and local community.
Proposed merger with Fareham College
It was announced in November 2008 in the local press that St Vincent will remain an independent sixth form college. The Gosport community and Principal, staff and students of the college fought hard to keep the college open. The initial LSC proposal was on the basis of a consensual merger between the two insititutions. Merger talks broke down in the late summer of 2007 when significant differences of opinion over the suitability of the former HMS Daedalus site for a £40 million 'super college' for the Gosport and Fareham area emerged. Consequently, St Vincent pulled out of the proposed merger, but the local LSC decided to pursue a forced merger between the two colleges. St Vincent fought a high-profile local and national campaign to fight this. By the early summer of 2008 it became apparent that the LSC did not have the necessary powers required to secure a forced merger and the plan was scrapped in the autumn. In November 2008 both colleges were inspected by Ofsted and each was given an overall 'good' grade.St. Vincent Tradition
Every year St. Vincent college has a boat race in the lake that is situated to the rear of the grounds, it is usually between members of the engineering courses and does not always go to plan.In the Summer of 2010, St. Vincent College opened its doors to the public to show off the musical talent from students past and present featuring the headline act of Throw Back. The event was called the "St. Vincent Gig on the Grass Festival" and it even pulled in crowds of around 500 people and was shown to be a huge success with many of the acts being asked to return for 2011.
The festival line up for 2011 rumoured the return of Throw Back and Tj Stickland with the introduction of indie/acoustic three piece May-Day. The festival is due to take place on June 29, 2011, with Tj Stickland returning with new band "The Bridge" and Martin Williams' return with "MayDay" has been anticipated with a lot of excitement.
Unfortunately with new developments, a rule change, announced on 21 June 2011, could see MayDay and The Bridge kicked off the line up because the students are past, not present. The removal of past students is not confirmed but is in the pipeline, causing financial damage to both acts.