Head of facilities Derek Kingsland, right, showing visitors round the exhibition, at the IW College sixth form open evening.
WIGHT LIVING
QUESTION: When is a sixth form college not a sixth form college?
Answer: When it’s a further education college that has a sixth form centre.
Are you still with me? Pay attention at the back there.
For some reason, people do seem to get hung up on labels when it comes to education.
Being a simple soul, and one who got three good A-levels from an FE college before going on to university, I didn’t think it mattered a hoot where you took your 'As’ — still regarded by many as the academic 'gold standard’.
But then, I took mine in Kent, this is the Island and, well, they do things differently here.
One thing they do differently is to lose loads of bright youngsters from the Island’s education system when they get to 16.
Rather than stay in their school sixth forms, a large proportion of young people decamp to the mainland choosing to take their A-Levels at Brockenhurst College near Lymington, Peter Symonds in Winchester and Taunton’s College in Southampton.
Now there’s nothing unusual in some students choosing to take their A-Levels at a sixth form college, or an FE college that does A-levels. Still with me class?
And they do so for a variety of reasons. The A-levels offered by their school sixth forms might not be in combinations they want, they are fed up with the school environment and want to be treated in a more grown-up fashion or they may have become thoroughly disillusioned with their school’s standards.
What is unusual is that, up until now at least, the option to take A-levels at a dedicated sixth form centre did not exist on the Island.
And that, rather neatly, is where the IW College’s new dedicated sixth form comes in.
For the past few months, a glossy advertising campaign promoting the new college’s sixth form centre has graced, among others, the pages of the County Press.
The campaign has raised some hackles, not least among members of the NUT, who wrote to the IW College recently demanding to know if teaching standards would be up to scratch and how much had been spent on the marketing campaign advertising the new £5m facility, which is due to open in September.
There were also mutterings that the new building would not be ready in time and that the 33 A-level courses planned at the centre would not be run as there would not be enough students to justify doing them.
The college’s assistant principal, Peter Thompson, is a man on a mission — to offer a viable alternative for students who want to do their A-levels in a college environment, and not go to the trouble and expense of travelling to the mainland to do them.
He is even more ambitious than that and hopes one day, the IW College may attract bright, talented students from the mainland.
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| Ruth Acton, the new head of sixth form. |
Turning first to the question of the new sixth-form building opening in time, he said the college had contingency plans in place should the new building not be completely finished at the start of term but it would be open within the first two to three weeks of September at the latest.
He also expressed surprise about the doubts raised that the college would not be teaching its full programme or that teachers would not be qualified to teach at A-level standard.
He said: "That’s odd and it is hurtful to the college staff. A-levels are a level-three programme. We run foundation degree courses. We have in our engineering department a doctor of mathemathics."
He added that the college had run an extensive teacher recruitment campaign in the Times Educational Supplement and the County Press and had staff in place to teach the A-level courses.
He said: "We have had high demand for these posts. There is interest in working here and working with these new people. I don’t expect any problems. I am expecting us to deliver exactly the same standards as for the rest of the curriculum."
So what exactly do students expect when they attend the college? Scores of prospective students have attended two college open days held recently where they have been encouraged to find out about what the college has on offer — and to tell staff what they hope to gain.
Cassandra Loe, 16, from High Park Road, Ryde, currently attends Ryde High School. She has ambitions to study psychology and science at the college.
She said: "I would like to go somewhere different. There will be a better atmosphere, which is more grown up."
Michael Sims, also 16, from Wroxall, currently attends Medina High School and eventually aims to study geology at university.
He said: "The college are doing the options I want and they are a new place so they have new facilities and it will be up to date."
Joe Trafford, 16, from Binstead Road, Ryde, currently attends Carisbrooke High School and would like to study photography, graphic design and computing.
He was also impressed with the new facilities on offer. He said: "It is an opportunity to study at an advanced level and there are more facilities for me to use."
The college’s newly appointed head of sixth form Ruth Acton hails from Anglesey in North Wales and has taught A-levels for 15 years.
She bubbles with enthusiasm when asked about the potential of the new sixth form centre, and also the college’s strong record on student welfare and extra-curricular activities.
She said: "I have exemplary high standards and I want my team and my students to achieve. I want this college to be gold standard and want it to be the best and I am going to work so hard to make sure that happens."
Reporter: davidn@iwcpmail.co.uk