Richard Taunton Sixth Form College, until 2012 called Taunton's College, is a

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 ...

Upper Shirley, Southampton Shirley is a broad district and a former village on the western side of Southampton, England. Shirley's main roles are retailing and residential. It is the most important suburban shopping area in the west of the city. Housing is a mixture of co ...

attended by approximately 1000 students.

Admissions

It offers a range of courses, mostly

A Levels The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

. Many students participate in a range of extracurricular activities. It is situated to the west of

Southampton Common Southampton Common is a large open space to the north of the city centre of Southampton, England. It is bounded by the districts of Shirley, Bassett, Highfield and Portswood. The area supports a large variety of wildlife, including one of ...

next to the ''Bellemoor'' pub at the junction of ''Hill Lane'' and ''Bellemoor Road''. Near to the south is

King Edward VI School, Southampton King Edward VI School (also known as King Edward's, or KES) is a selective co-educational independent school founded in Southampton, United Kingdom, in 1553. The school was founded at the request of William Capon, who bequeathed money in his ...

History

Foundation

''Taunton's School'' was founded in 1760 by Richard Taunton, former Mayor of Southampton. In 1864 it moved to a specially built site on New Road. In 1875 it was established as an

endowed school The Endowed Schools Act 1869 (32 & 33 Vict c 56) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was one of the Endowed Schools Acts 1869 to 1948. It was passed during William Ewart Gladstone’s first ministry, to restructure endowed gr ...

, to be called ''Taunton's Trade School''. The school became a public secondary school and the name changed once more to ''Taunton's School''.

Grammar school

In 1926, the school moved to a new campus on Highfield Road. It was officially opened by

Eustace Percy, 1st Baron Percy of Newcastle Eustace Sutherland Campbell Percy, 1st Baron Percy of Newcastle, PC (21 March 1887 – 3 April 1958), styled Lord Eustace Percy between 1899 and 1953, was a British diplomat, Conservative politician and public servant. He most notably served as ...

(then the Coalition Conservative MP for

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west a ...

) on 26 April 1927. It was administered by the City of Southampton Education Committee. In 1968 it had around 850 boys.

Sixth form college

In 1969, it was reorganised as a

for boys and renamed to ''Richard Taunton College''. From 1978 girls were admitted.

Hill College

Meanwhile, in 1858, the ''Southampton College and High School for Girls'' was founded. In 1936 it moved to a site on Hill Lane. In 1967, it was reorganised as a

for girls and renamed to ''Southampton College for Girls''. Boys were admitted from 1979, along with a name change to ''Hill College'', reflecting the location of the college.

Merger

In 1989 the two colleges merged using the name ''Taunton's College'' although the Hill Lane site was refurbished and moved into in 1993.

Redevelopment proposal 2007

A 2007 redevelopment proposal for Taunton's College, on Hill Lane in Southampton, which proposed replacement of nearly all the buildings on the site including the main building completed in 1937 as the Southampton Grammar School for Girls was formally cancelled by June 2009. Funds hoped for the redevelopment of many sixth form and Further Education colleges throughout England were revealed earlier in 2009 to be insufficient for a mooted major national programme of rebuilds. Taunton's proposal was one of many which in the outturn could not be funded.

Name Change

On 11 July 2012, Taunton's College changed its name to Richard Taunton Sixth Form College.

Notable alumni

Benny Hill Alfred Hawthorne "Benny" Hill (21 January 1924 – 20 April 1992) was an English comedian, actor, singer and writer. He is remembered for his television programme ''The Benny Hill Show'', an amalgam of slapstick, burlesque and double ente ...

, comedian *

Alex Bellos Alexander Bellos (born 1969) is a British writer, broadcaster and mathematics communicator.Alex Bellos He is the author of books about Brazil and mathematics, as well as having a column in ''The Guardian'' newspaper. Education and early li ...

, writer *

Craig David Craig Ashley David (born 5 May 1981) is a British singer and songwriter who rose to fame in 1999, featuring on the single " Re-Rewind" by Artful Dodger. David's debut studio album, ''Born to Do It'', was released in 2000, after which he has rel ...

, musician *

Gareth Bale Gareth Frank Bale (born 16 July 1989) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC and the Wales national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wingers of his generation ...

, Welsh international footballer *

Chris Packham Christopher Gary Packham CBE (born 4 May 1961) is an English naturalist, nature photographer, television presenter and author, best known for his television work including the CBBC children's nature series '' The Really Wild Show'' from 1986 ...

, naturalist and television presenter *

Chris Tremlett Christopher Timothy Tremlett (born 2 September 1981) is a former English cricketer who played international cricket for England and domestically for Hampshire and Surrey. He was a tall fast-medium bowler able to extract bounce on most surfac ...

, cricketer *

Manisha Tank According to Hindu mythology, Manisha is the Hindu goddess of the enterity. When used in this context, it symbolizes intelligence and desire. In Sanskrit, the word 'Manisha' means decisive wisdom or determinate knowledge. Such knowledge is res ...

, presents '' World Report'' on CNN *

Theo Walcott Theo James Walcott (born 16 March 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for Southampton and previously for the English national team. Walcott is a product of the Southampton Academy and started his career with ...

, English international footballer

Taunton's School

* Air Commodore Frank Padfield, first programme director of the

Skynet Skynet may refer to: Airlines * Sky Net Airline, a charter airline from Armenia * Skynet (airline), a Russian regional airline based at the Krasnoyarsk Airport * Skynet Airlines, a defunct Irish airline that operated in 2001–2004 * Skynet, a d ...

British military satellite system *

, comedian * Bob Mitchell, Labour MP from 1971–83 for

Southampton Itchen Southampton, Itchen is a List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies, constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament since 2015 by Royston Smith ...

, and from 1966–70 for

Southampton Test Southampton Test is a List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies, constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament since 1997 by Alan Whitehead, ...

Charles Knott Charles James Knott (26 November 1914 – 27 February 2003) was an English first-class cricketer. Knott was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm off-break and right-arm medium pace. Early life Knott was born in Southampton and educat ...

, cricketer *

Clive Hollick, Baron Hollick Clive Richard Hollick, Baron Hollick (born 20 May 1945) is a British businessman with media interests, and a supporter of the Labour Party. Early life and career Hollick was born in Southampton, the son of Olive Mary (''née'' Scruton) and ...

, chief executive from 1996–2005 of

United Business Media UBM plc was a British business-to-business (B2B) events organiser headquartered in London, England, before its acquisition by Informa in 2018. It had a long history as a multinational media company. Its main focus was on B2B events, but its pr ...

Dominic Muldowney Dominic Muldowney (born 19 July 1952 in Southampton) is a British composer. Biography Dominic Muldowney studied at the University of Southampton with Jonathan Harvey, at the University of York (with Bernard Rands and David Blake), and priva ...

, composer, and Music Director from 1976–97 of the

Royal National Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...

Eric James, Baron James of Rusholme Eric John Francis James, Baron James of Rusholme (13 April 1909 – 16 May 1992) was a prominent British educator. Background Eric John Francis James was born at Derby into a Nonconformist family. His father was a commercial traveller wi ...

, first Vice-Chancellor from 1962–73 of the

University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

Horace King, Baron Maybray-King Horace Maybray King, Baron Maybray-King, PC (25 May 1901 – 3 September 1986) was a British politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1950 until 1971 before becoming a life peer. For most of his time in Parliament, he sat as ...

, Labour MP from 1955–71 for

, and from 1950–5 for

John Stonehouse John Thomson Stonehouse (28 July 192514 April 1988) was a British Labour and Co-operative Party politician and cabinet minister under Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Stonehouse is remembered for his unsuccessful attempt at faking his own death i ...

, former politician who notoriously faked his own death in 1974. *

Julian Peto Julian Peto is an English statistician and cancer epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He was Cancer Research UK Chair of Epidemiology at the Institute of Cancer Research from 1983 until 2010. From 1974 to 1983 ...

Martin Chivers Martin Harcourt Chivers (born 27 April 1945) is an English retired professional footballer from the 1960s and 1970s. Playing career Southampton Chivers attended Taunton's Grammar School, Southampton, and wrote to his local club, Southampton ...

, footballer *

Paul Bennett Paul Bennett may refer to: *Paul Bennett (Canadian football) (born 1954), Canadian football player *Paul Bennett (footballer, born 1952), English footballer *Paul Bennett (footballer, born 1961), English footballer *Paul Bennett (rower) (born 1988) ...

, footballer * Prof

Brian Barry Brian Barry, (7 August 1936 – 10 March 2009) was a moral and political philosopher. He was educated at the Queen's College, Oxford, obtaining the degrees of B.A. and D.Phil. under the direction of H. L. A. Hart. Along with David Braybrook ...

, Lieber Professor of Political Philosophy from 1998–2005 at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

, New York * Sir

Richard Peto Sir Richard Peto (born 14 May 1943) is an English statistician and epidemiologist who is Professor of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology at the University of Oxford, England. Education He attended Taunton's School in Southampton and subsequ ...

, Professor of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology since 1992 at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

References

External links

*
Old Tauntonians' Association

EduBase
{{authority control Education in Southampton Sixth form colleges in Hampshire International Baccalaureate schools in England