Ifield Community College (ICC) is a maintained comprehensive secondary school in Crawley, England, for pupils aged 11 to 18.

Admissions

It caters for around 1000 pupils in years 7 to 13, including over 100 in its

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

. It is situated in the west of Crawley, next to the A23.

Ifield railway station Ifield railway station (pronounced 'Eye-field') serves the neighbourhoods of Ifield and Gossops Green in the West Sussex town of Crawley, England. It is on the Arun Valley Line, down the line from , measured via Redhill. Train services are p ...

is nearby to the south. The school is entirely comprehensive, providing education for around 1000 pupils aged between 11 and 18 of all abilities. Most pupils attending the school live within the catchment area, and transfer from one of the local primary schools: * The Mill Academy School * Waterfield Primary School *

West Green Primary School West Green is one of the 14 residential neighbourhoods in Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England. Crawley was planned and laid out as a New Town after the Second World War, based on the principle of self-contained neighbourhoods surr ...

* The Bewbush Academy * Gossops Green Primary School * Langley Green Primary School * St.Margarets Primary School

History

The school has history dating back to 1852 – nearly 100 years before the coming of the new town. It began as a free school opened by Mrs Sarah Robinson in the village of Crawley. A new building was opened in 1854 in what was later to become known as Robinson Road in honour of the teacher. In 1953, the school lost its primary-aged pupils with the opening of the new West Green county junior and infants' school. Many older pupils were moved to the newly opened Hazelwick School with the remainder transferring to the new Sarah Robinson

secondary modern A secondary modern school is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Schools of this type continue in Northern Ireland, where they are usuall ...

School buildings opened on the Ifield campus in 1956.

Comprehensive

At this time, the secondary modern school shared a campus with the newly opened Ifield County Grammar School, built in 1955. The schools worked closely together, eventually merging in 1966 to become Ifield comprehensive school following retirement of F.W. Wilmott, the Headmaster at the Sarah Robinson school. A headmaster, Mr Bomford, was brought in to oversee the transition and he introduced a new formality, with senior teachers wearing gowns in assemblies for the first time. Ifield had a considerable reputation for sport, particularly football and athletics. The pupils at this time included Jeff Bryant, who went on to be a professional footballer with Wimbledon and Alan Minter, a future World Boxing Champion. By 1984 there were some 1600 pupils on roll - including Keith Newell who went on to play cricket for Sussex County Cricket Club. Developments in the early 1980s saw the two separate buildings co-locating, with former buildings becoming the home of Ifield Middle School in 1985. In 2005, a new school building opened in the centre of the campus, with the old buildings being demolished.

Campus

The campus for the school was set aside in the masterplan for Crawley New Town along the eastern edge of the neighbourhood of Ifield alongside the A23. It was shared with St Margaret's Church of England primary school, and later the Holy Cross Intermediate School. In 2005, a new building for the school was opened in the southeasternmost corner of the large campus, maintaining the existing tree-lined boundaries. The campus is still shared with St Margaret's School, and now The Mill Primary School and the Manor Green special schools.

Choir

Ifield Community College had a choir made up of students from all age groups in the school. In 1996 it was the subject of a film by SVC television, directed by Andrew Vere. The choir, led by Patrick Allen (music educator), has performed at European venues including St Mark's Basilica in Venice (2008), the Royal Festival Hall, London, Barcelona Cathedral, the Auditorium Stravinski in Montreux and a recent (June 2011) collaboration with the

BBC Singers The BBC Singers are a British chamber choir, and the professional chamber choir of the BBC. One of the six BBC Performing Groups, the BBC Singers are based at the BBC's Maida Vale Studios in London. The only full-time professional British ...

saw them performing and recording at

Maida Vale Studios Maida Vale Studios is a complex of seven BBC sound studios, of which five are in regular use, in Delaware Road, Maida Vale, west London. It has been used to record thousands of classical music, popular music and drama sessions for BBC Radio 1 ...

. They have been six times finalists at the National Festival of

Music for Youth Music for Youth (MFY) is a British charity which provides free access to educational and performance opportunities for groups of young musicians and audiences through a series of festivals and concerts throughout the UK. Two million children hav ...

, most recently in 2009, 2010 and 2014. The choir was the subject of a feature on BBC Radio 3's ''Music Matters'' in May 2011, focusing on the integration of the choir's Chagossian Drummers. The choir also represented the UK in The ''Let The People's Sing Gala Concert'', broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in October 2011. The choir broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 in March 2012 as part of the ''Voice's Now'' festival from The Roundhouse, London. Ifield Community College - geograph

References

External links

Official School website

Ifield Community College information on West Sussex Grid for Learning

Ofsted Information on the school

EduBase

Ifield Community College Choir website
{{authority control Buildings and structures in Crawley Secondary Schools in Crawley Secondary schools in West Sussex Educational institutions established in 1966 1966 establishments in England Community schools in West Sussex