Franklin Sixth Form College

Franklin Sixth Form College
Address
Chelmsford Avenue [1] Grimsby , North East Lincolnshire , DN34 5BY England
Coordinates	53°33′16″N0°06′19″W / 53.5545°N 0.1052°W / 53.5545; -0.1052
Information
Type	Sixth form
Motto	To provide the best possible life chances for our community [2]
Established	1990
Founder	Humberside County Council
Local authority	North East Lincolnshire [3]
Department for Education URN	130586 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Corporation chair	Mike Fox [4]
Principal	Wendy Ellis
Staff	179 total (2011) 107 teaching 72 non-teaching [5]
Gender	Mixed
Age	16to 19 [6]
Enrolment	2,740 total (2010–11) 1,705 aged 16–18 1,034 aged 19+ [7]
Website	http://www.franklin.ac.uk

Franklin Sixth Form College is a sixth form college on Chelmsford Avenue in Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire, England, serving more than 2,700 students, including adult learners.

Location

The main entrance to the college before renovations added new office space, on Chelmsford Avenue

One of 92 sixth form colleges in England, ^[8] Franklin College is situated west of Grimsby town centre, in the Grange area of the town. It is located on Chelmsford Avenue, which can be accessed from Laceby Road (A46). ^[9] The Grimsby Institute's East Coast School of Art, ^[10] and the Ormiston Maritime Academy (previously known as Hereford Technology School), ^[11] are located down the adjacent Westward Ho.

Admissions

While Franklin College is primarily for students aged 16–19 who want to study for A levels, mature students are also welcome to enrol, and evening classes are available, some based throughout Grimsby and Cleethorpes. ^[12] It currently serves in excess of 1,700 full-time students aged 16–18 from the whole of North East Lincolnshire and surrounding areas, in addition to more than a thousand adult learners aged 19 or over. ^[7]

History

Establishment

The Conservatives councillors on the council wanted to call it the Grimsby Sixth Form College. Councillors voted by 8–2 to call it the Franklin Sixth Form College on Tuesday 13 February 1990, by Labour councillors after the Labour councillor Jack Franklin, who died in 1980; his wife died in 1988. ^{[13] [14]} It cost £2.4m and tool 18 months, being built by Top Con Limited, to rebuild the site into a college. ^[15]

On the local council, not all of the councillors agreed on the state of Grimsby's education. The Conservative group on the education committee had frequently referred to low standards and inadequate exam results. But the Labour group, led by committee chairman Max Bird, had said that establishment of the college had led to more staying on at 17, and more A levels were being taken. But the previous sixth forms at local schools had been failing, leading to the sixth forms being closed in 1990, apart from Lindsey School and the Toll Bar School. ^[16]

Opening

The college was founded in September 1990 by Humberside County Council, Franklin College was named after two councillors, Jack and Florence Franklin, who had devoted much time to the area. ^[17] The site opened on Monday 10 September 1990, with 620 from Barton to Market Rasen. ^[18]

Nearby city Kingston upon Hull had gained two sixth form colleges the year before. The first principal was Peter Newcome, who retired in late 2009 ^[19] and was replaced by principal Trevor Wray. ^[4] The current principal is now Peter Kennedy.^{[ citation needed ]} The college site had at one time been occupied by Chelmsford Secondary Modern School before its closure. ^[20]

Initially planned to be a small sixth form with about 450 students due to low further education uptake in the area, ^[17] the college has exceeded that number and currently serves more than 1,700 full-time students aged 16–18. ^[7]

It was initially run by Humberside Education Committee until 1993, then administered by the FEFC. ^[21] Following the FEFC's abolition in 2001, the college was run by the newly formed Yorkshire LSC, ^[22] which was itself replaced by the YPLA in April 2010. ^[23] The YPLA was abolished in 2012 and replaced with the Education Funding Agency and the Skills Funding Agency. Both the EFA and SFA were abolished in March 2017 and their responsibilities transferred to the Education and Skills Funding Agency. Humberside was abolished in 1996, ^[24] and the college now resides within the region of North East Lincolnshire LEA, but is not part of or controlled by the authority. ^[3]

It initially offered Spanish, Russian French and German at A level.

Academic record

The report published by Ofsted following an inspection of the college in 2008 describes school success rate as "consistently at or above the national average at all levels for all ages", ^[25] and rated the college as Grade 2 (good) in all six criteria (effectiveness of provision, capacity to improve, achievement and standards, quality of provision, leadership and management, and equality of opportunity). ^[26]

In 2009 the college came first in North East Lincolnshire for points per student. ^{[ citation needed ]}

In 2011, 100% of students left the college with at least two A levels or equivalent qualifications, and 95% achieved the equivalent of three A level passes. ^[27] 41.2% of A level entries in 2010 earned A*–B grades. This breaks down as 24.1% B grades, 12.7% A grades, and 4.4% A* grades. The average UCAS Tariff point score per student upon graduation was 349.75. ^[28] For comparison, the same year 8.1% of all A level entries were awarded an A* grade, 18.9% received an A, and 25.2% received a B. This places Franklin College below the national average. ^[29]

Following an Ofsted inspection in 2018, the college was awarded a 'Good' rating. ^[30]

Facilities

The £1 million art block that opened in 2007

In 2007, the college opened a new £1 million art block, equipped for subjects such as art and photography. ^[31]

The site had a Youth Enterprise company. ^[32] Radio Franklin College opened in March 1992. ^[33]

Franklin College also possesses a library and study area that provides a wide selection of fiction and non-fiction books and DVDs. Previously called the Learning Resource Centre (LRC), this was renovated and renamed the Learning Centre in late 2011. ^[34]

Construction of a new £1 million extension, consisting of classrooms for IT and health on the college site, began in November 2011. ^[34]

In 2023, the college opened a new learning centre called The Bridge following a £1.7 million investment. ^[35]

Sport

In 1991, it formed a rugby union team. The other local sixth form colleges had rugby union teams. ^[36]

Notable alumni

• Keeley Donovan – BBC weather forecaster who studied media ^[37] at Franklin^{[ citation needed ]}
• Matt Kennard (actor) ^[38]
• Melanie Onn, Labour MP for Great Grimsby since 2015 ^[39]
• Matthew Stiff – opera singer and former member of G4 ^[40]

Notes

1. Franklin College 2012.
2. "Vision, Values & Strategic Aims". Franklin Sixth Form College.
3. "Franklin College". Schools Web Directory. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
4. Franklin College 2012, Governance.
5. Franklin College Corporation 2011, p. 28.
6. "Establishment: Franklin College". EduBase. Department for Education. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
7. Franklin College Corporation 2011, p. 6.
8. "List of Sixth Form Colleges". Sixth Form Colleges' Forum. Archived from the original on 26 January 2012. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
9. Franklin College 2012, Travel.
10. "About Us". Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education. Archived from the original on 18 March 2012. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
11. "Ormiston Maritime Academy". Ormiston Maritime Academy. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
12. Franklin College 2012, Part Time Courses.
13. Grimsby Evening Telegraph Tuesday 13 February 1990, page 27
14. Grimsby Evening Telegraph Wednesday 14 February 1990, page 1
15. Grimsby Evening Telegraph Thursday 23 August 1990, page 30
16. Grimsby Evening Telegraph Tuesday 5 November 1991, page 5
17. Franklin College 2012, Overview.
18. Grimsby Evening Telegraph Monday 10 September 1990, page 1
19. "Franklin College principal to retire". This Is Grimsby. 13 November 2009. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
20. "Open air theatre fell into disrepair". This is Grimsby. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
21. "Further and Higher Education Act 1992", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, 1992 c. 13
22. "Learning and Skills Act 2000", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, 2000 c. 21
23. "£10.4bn skills agency scrapped". BBC News Online. 17 March 2008. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
24. "The Humberside (Structural Change) Order 1995", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, SI 1995/600
25. Ofsted 2008, p. 6.
26. Ofsted 2008, p. 5.
27. "Franklin College". School and Local Statistics. Department for Education. 2011. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
28. "Franklin College". This Is Grimsby. 2010. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
29. "Exam results 2010, A-level". BBC News Online. BBC. 19 August 2010. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
30. "Find an inspection report and registered childcare". reports.ofsted.gov.uk. Ofsted Communications Team. 8 October 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
31. "Franklin College Fine Art and Photography Facility, Grimsby, UK". Imagine School Design. Report Creative. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
32. Grimsby Evening Telegraph Tuesday 3 March 1992, page 34
33. Grimsby Evening Telegraph Thursday 19 March 1992, page 5
34. "Spelling new chapter for learning centre". This Is Grimsby. 8 October 2011. Archived from the original on 22 December 2011. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
35. "See inside new 'university-style' £1.7 million facility at Grimsby college". GrimsbyLive. 23 June 2023. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 4 August 2023.
36. Grimsby Evening Telegraph Thursday 7 November 1991, page 32
37. "Keeley Donovan". BBC Look North. 15 June 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
38. Grimsby Evening Telegraph Saturday 31 July 1999, page 15
39. "Melanie Onn chosen as Labour's parliamentary candidate for Great Grimsby". Grimsby Telegraph. 28 July 2014. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
40. "G4 star Matt to return to his roots" Archived 24 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine , Grimsby Telegraph , 29 August 2009. Retrieved 14 December 2013.

References

• "Franklin College website". Franklin College. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
• Annual Report and Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 July 2011 (PDF) (Report). Franklin College Corporation. 19 December 2011. Retrieved 20 February 2012.^{[ permanent dead link ‍]}
• Franklin College inspection report (PDF) (Report). Ofsted. June 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 21 February 2012.

External links

• Website