Grantham College is a further education and Sixth Form college in

Grantham Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln and ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

, England.

History

Construction

Air Chief Marshal

Arthur Longmore Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Murray Longmore, (8 October 1885 – 10 December 1970) was an early naval aviator, before reaching high rank in the Royal Air Force. He was Commander-in-Chief of the RAF's Middle East Command from 1940 to 1941. E ...

lived at Elsham House from about 1920; his daughter Janet was mother of Tony Worth, whose father Sqn Ldr George Worth MBE stood as the Conservative candidate in the 1945

election. Elsham House was sold by auction on Wednesday 17 October 1945 for £5,334 to Grantham Technical College, and it was hoped to open the college by September 1947, but it would be open by at least 1948. The house, and squash court, were converted to classrooms in 1948 for £8,500. In 1949 £33,000 was spent on new workshops for engineering and gas fitting and classrooms. Main building began in 1952, and it became Grantham College for Further Education. The building was officially opened on Tuesday 8 September 1959 by the conservationist Sir

Peter Scott Sir Peter Markham Scott, (14 September 1909 – 29 August 1989) was a British ornithologist, conservationist, painter, naval officer, broadcaster and sportsman. The only child of Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott, he took an interest i ...

. Building had cost £252,031 and equipment had cost £52,377.

Education across Grantham

In the early 1970s there were advanced proposals by Kesteven County Council (based in

Sleaford Sleaford is a market town and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. Centred on the former parish of New Sleaford, the modern boundaries and urban area include Quarrington to the south-west, Holdingham to the nor ...

) to abolish the eleven-plus selection system in the Grantham area and use Grantham College as the only sixth form in the town. Mary Large, the Chairman of the Kesteven Education Committee, said that more young people preferred to go to college rather than stay in a school sixth form because of the 'more adult atmosphere'. In 1973 the Education Secretary,

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

, had to approve the plan, which involved converting her former school,

Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School (KGGS) is a grammar school with academy status for girls in Grantham, Lincolnshire, established in 1910. It has over 1000 pupils ranging from ages 11 to 18, and has its own sixth form. History KGGS was fou ...

, into a mixed comprehensive. It was not approved. In April 1974 control of the college passed from

Kesteven The Parts of Kesteven ( or ) are a traditional division of Lincolnshire, England. This division had long had a separate county administration (quarter sessions), along with the two other Parts of Lincolnshire, Lindsey and Holland. Etymology Th ...

Lincolnshire County Council Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire an ...

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

. Later, in 1979, it became Grantham College of Further Education. In the early 1990s control passed to the

Further Education Funding Council for England The Further Education Funding Council for England (FEFC) was a non-departmental public body of the Department for Education and Skills which distributed funding to Further Education and Sixth Form Colleges in England between 1992 and 2001. It wa ...

, then to the East Midlands

Learning and Skills Council The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) was a non-departmental public body jointly sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) in England. It closed on 31 Marc ...

based at Leicester. Also in the early 1990s the college name was shortened to Grantham College, and became an Associate College of Nottingham Trent University. It is now an Associate College of the

University of Bedfordshire The University of Bedfordshire is a public research university with campuses in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, England. The University has roots from 1882, however, it gained university status in 1993 as the University of Luton. The Universi ...

, and Bishop Grosseteste University College, and through these it offers HND, HNC, and Foundation degree courses. The college was never officially a fully developed

sixth form college A sixth form college is an educational institution, where students aged 16 to 19 typically study for advanced school-level qualifications, such as A Levels, Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) and the International Baccalaureate Di ...

, although used for that purpose; in 2008 a purpose-built sixth form college opened in Grantham at the Walton Girls High School. From September 2010 the College provided for

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: * Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...

courses at The Paddocks Equestrian Centre at

Hough-on-the-Hill Hough-on-the-Hill is a village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish including Brandon was 399 at the 2011 census. It is situated approximately due north from the market ...

, a village to the north of Grantham.

Structure

Grantham College's Elsham House building was built by

Richard Hornsby & Sons Richard Hornsby & Sons was an engine and machinery manufacturer in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England from 1828 until 1918. The company was a pioneer in the manufacture of the oil engine developed by Herbert Akroyd Stuart, which was marketed un ...

in the 1860s. The college has 77 residential places in Sedgwick Hall and Sedgwick Mews halls of residence. A satellite to Grantham College is Sleaford College, in the nearby town of

. Grantham College is accessed via the A1 and East Coast Main Line, and the A52 from the east. However, most college usage is by those who live in close proximity. Similar education is available further north from Grantham, at Lincoln College's sites in Lincoln and

Newark-on-Trent Newark-on-Trent or Newark () is a market town and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district in Nottinghamshire, England. It is on the River Trent, and was historically a major inland port. The A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road bypasses th ...

, and to east at Boston College in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. The other nearby Lincolnshire towns of Spalding and Bourne do not have FE colleges.

Notable alumni

Beverley Allitt Beverley Gail Allitt (born 4 October 1968) is an English serial child killer who was convicted of murdering four children, attempting to murder three other children and causing grievous bodily harm to a further six. The crimes were committed ...

- Serial killer nurse. * W. Alec Osborn MBE – president from 2006-7 of the

Institution of Mechanical Engineers The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is an independent professional association and learned society headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that represents mechanical engineers and the engineering profession. With over 120,000 member ...

, and former Chief Engineer of Perkins Engines * Abi Titmuss, acquired a Grade D in Science in society AS-level, in August 1995''Grantham Journal'' Friday 25 August 1995, page 8

References

External links

Grantham College
– Official website
"Grantham College in Sleaford"
Grantham College. Retrieved 8 July 2013
"Grantham College"
EduBase2. Retrieved 8 July 2013 {{Authority control Further education colleges in Lincolnshire Educational institutions established in 1948 Buildings and structures in Grantham 1948 establishments in England Education in Grantham