Hills Road Sixth Form College

Summary

Hills Road Sixth Form College (commonly referred to as HRSFC, Hills Road or just Hills) is a public sector co-educational sixth form college in Cambridge, England, providing full-time A-level courses for approximately 2400 sixth form students[1] from the surrounding area and a variety of courses to around 4,000 part-time students of all ages in the adult education programme, held as daytime and evening classes.[2]

Hills Road Sixth Form College
Address
Map

Cambridge
,
England
,
CB2 8PE
Coordinates52°11′17″N 0°08′07″E / 52.188151°N 0.135297°E / 52.188151; 0.135297
Information
School typeSixth form college
MottoLatin: Virtute et fide
By virtue and faith
Established1974
School districtIn co-operation with Cambridge CAP Partnership
AuthorityDirectly government managed in co-operation with Cambs LEA
Department for Education URN130615 Tables
OfstedReports
PrincipalJo Trump
Teaching staff135
GenderMixed
Age rangeGenerally 16-19 (full-time), all ages (evening classes)
School rollc. 2,096 full-time, c. 3,675 part-time[citation needed]
Average class size22
LanguageEnglish
Hours in school dayVariable
Classrooms94
Colour(s)Maroon and sky blue   
SportsBadminton, basketball, cricket, football, hockey, netball, rounders, rowing, rugby, squash, tennis, volleyball
Nickname"Hills"
Test average98% pass, 48.8% A grade
NewspaperThe Phoenix
Websitewww.hillsroad.ac.uk

History edit

Hills Road Sixth Form College was established on 15 September 1974[3] on the site of the former Cambridgeshire High School for Boys, when education in Cambridgeshire was reorganised on a comprehensive basis, and grammar schools and secondary moderns were replaced by a system of (mainly) 11-16 comprehensive schools and sixth form colleges.[citation needed]

Since then, the college has expanded from its original single building, with the addition of the Sports and Tennis Centre in 1995; the Colin Greenhalgh building, which houses subjects such as English, modern languages and history; the Rob Wilkinson building housing the physics, chemistry and computer science departments was developed in 2004; in 2005 the Margaret Ingram Guidance Centre provided specialist tutorial accommodation; the Linda Sinclair building, opened in 2016, houses the mathematics and PE departments.[4] The Study Centre, opened in 2023, provides study areas and a rooftop space for staff.[5][6] Although the college previously had ambitious plans for a major redesign between 2010 and 2013, the economic crisis reduced the scope of the plans: in 2010 the college administrative areas were redesigned, more classrooms added in the physical sciences, psychology and art departments, the staffroom enlarged and relocated, the library partially refurbished, an extra resource area built to compensate for the space used to build new classrooms and the student social area rebuilt.

In the early 1990s responsibility for further education was removed from local authorities (as part of reforms aimed at reducing the level of the council tax), and Hills Road like other colleges moved to direct funding from central government.

Notable Alumni edit

Cambridgeshire High School For Boys

Hills Road Sixth Form College

Results and reputation edit

In January 2014 Hills Road was named the "creme de la creme" of state schools by Tatler Magazine, and included in Tatler's list of thirty elite state school in the United Kingdom.[15] The 2009 Alps Report placed the College third in the sixth form college performance table and in the top 1% for all institutions.[16] According to the 2009 edition of the BBC's English school tables, the school's student have performed above average in A-Level examinations.[17]

The college has achieved an Ofsted rating of 'Outstanding' from its first inspection in 2001.[18]

References edit

  1. ^ "Hills Road Sixth Form College Review".
  2. ^ "Adult Education courses".
  3. ^ "Records of Hills Road Sixth Form College (Formerly the Cambridgeshire High School for Boys, the Cambridgeshire and County High School for Boys and the Cambridge and County School for Boys) - Archives Hub".
  4. ^ "The Linda Sinclair Building". Hills Road Community Network. 5 October 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  5. ^ "State-of-the-art Study Centre opens at Hills Road Sixth Form College". Cambridge Independent. 26 April 2023. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  6. ^ "Hills Road Sixth Form College Secures £3.2 Million of Post-16 Capacity Funding to Build New Study Space and Social Areas". www.hillsroad.ac.uk. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  7. ^ "Martin Amis". The Guardian. 22 July 2008. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  8. ^ Tarasewicz, Adam (13 July 2019). "10 things you only know if you went to Hills Road Sixth Form". CambridgeshireLive. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  9. ^ "Town vs Gown: The Perse School and Hills Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge". www.telegraph.co.uk. 30 October 2008. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  10. ^ "Cambridge & County High School for Boys / Hills Road Sixth Form College | Capturing Cambridge". Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  11. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20110716115304/http://www.addenbrookes.org.uk/news/news2007/jan/former_chairman_knighted.html
  12. ^ 'Surveys in Combinatronics', 2003, CUP, Wensley C.D.
  13. ^ "Meet South Cambs MP Anthony Browne: Shot at by the Americans and credited on Oliver Stone film". Cambridge Independent. 28 January 2020. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  14. ^ "Cambridge Venture – The Silk Stories". Connected Cambridge. 22 August 2015. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
  15. ^ "Hills Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge named among the best state schools in the country by upmarket Tatler magazine | Cambridge News | Education | Education-news". Archived from the original on 11 January 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
  16. ^ "Alps analysis reports and training for schools and colleges". Archived from the original on 3 September 2011. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
  17. ^ "BBC NEWS - Education - League Tables - Performance results for Hills Road Sixth Form College". news.bbc.co.uk.
  18. ^ "Hills Road Sixth Form College Ofsted rating". 6 August 2019. OFSTED. Retrieved on 2019-08-06.