The Henley 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 ...

Henley-on-Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckin ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primaril ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It was founded as a

tertiary college In England and Wales, a tertiary college is a type of further education (FE) college that offers both academic and vocational courses to both youngsters and adults, combining the main functions of an FE college and a sixth form college. Unlike a si ...

in 1987 and changed its status to a sixth form college in 2010.

History and origins

The college's roots date back to 1604, when the Free Grammar School of King James I was founded at the Chantry House in Henley. The

charity school Charity schools, sometimes called blue coat schools, or simply the Blue School, were significant in the history of education in England. They were built and maintained in various parishes by the voluntary contributions of the inhabitants to ...

, which was more vocational than academic, was undowned by Dame Elizabeth Periam in 1609. The two schools were amalgamated in 1778. The two colleges from which The Henley College was formed, King James's College and the South Oxfordshire Technical College, were controlled by Oxfordshire County Council. The merger of the two led in 1987 to a newly incorporated

responsible to the Further Education Funding Council (FEFC) for running its own affairs. In 2010 the college applied for sixth form college status, which was granted.

Current campus

The college offers a range of academic and vocational courses including more than 60 A-Levels, BTEC and other courses and also a number of vocational and part-time day and evening courses. Among the sports on offer are rugby union, football, basketball, netball and rowing. College rugby is linked with the London Wasps academy. A recently completed sports hall has been built at a cost of £2 million. Since its foundation the college has more than doubled in size and its catchment area has extended to cover a large part of the Thames Valley. The college was awarded Beacon status in 2010. The college consists of two campuses, Deanfield and Rotherfield. A third campus, Southfield, was demolished in 1998 and the land sold to fund improvements to the rest of the site, notably a new building on the Deanfield campus.

Notable college alumni

David Arch David Arch, better known as Dave Arch, is a British pianist, conductor, arranger and composer with a career covering albums, films and commercials, television and live performances. He is Musical Director and arranger for BBC Television's '' Stric ...

, composer * Richard Burns, 2001 World Rally Champion * Bert Bushnell, gold medal rower,

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ...

Mark Burton Mark Burton may refer to: * Mark Burton (politician) Richard Mark Burton (born 16 January 1956) is a New Zealand politician. He is a member of the Labour Party, serving as Minister of Defence, Minister of Justice, Minister of Local Government, ...

, television and radio comedy writer * Colonel Sir Arthur Davidson *

Adam Davy Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...

, actor *

Sally Dexter Sally Julia Dexter is an English actress of stage and screen. She won the 1987 Olivier Award for Most Promising Newcomer for '' Dalliance''. Her other West End stage credits include the musicals ''Oliver!'' (1994), ''Sister Act'' (2010) and ' ...

, actress *

Danny Goffey Daniel Robert Goffey (born 7 February 1974) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. He is best known as the drummer and backing vocalist for Supergrass. He briefly toured with Babyshambles in 2010, following their drummer's departure. Ca ...

, drummer of

Supergrass Supergrass are an English rock band formed in 1993 in Oxford. For the majority of the band's tenure, the line-up consisted of brothers Gaz (lead vocals, guitar) and Rob Coombes (keyboards), Mick Quinn (bass, backing vocals) and Danny Goffey ...

, son of

Chris Goffey Christopher Robert Goffey (born 17 October 1945)Debrett's
is an English journalist and tel ...

and brother of Nic Goffey *

Anastasia Hille Anastasia Hille (born 1965) is an English film, television and theatre actress, and ceramicist. Born in London, she was a student at London's Drama Centre and won second prize at the Ian Charleson Awards in 1994 (the first prize was awarded to ...

, actress *

Simon Kernick Simon Kernick (born February 1967 in Slough, Buckinghamshire) is a British thriller/crime writer now living in Oxfordshire with his two daughters. Kernick attended Gillotts School, a comprehensive in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. Whilst he was ...

, author * Colin Smith, rower *

Marcus du Sautoy Marcus Peter Francis du Sautoy (; born 26 August 1965) is a British mathematician, Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford, Fellow of New College, Oxford and author of popular mathematics and popu ...

, Professor of Mathematics since 2002 and Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science since 2008 at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, and who presented the BBC's ''

The Story of Maths ''The Story of Maths'' is a four-part British television series outlining aspects of the history of mathematics. It was a co-production between the Open University and the BBC and aired in October 2008 on BBC Four. The material was written and pre ...

'' *

David Stoddart, Baron Stoddart of Swindon David Leonard Stoddart, Baron Stoddart of Swindon (4 May 1926 – 14 November 2020) was a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Swindon from 1970 to 1983, and as a life peer in the House of Lords from 1983 to his death i ...

, Labour MP for

Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon unitary authority area had a population ...

from 1970–83 *

Andrew Tristem Andrew Tristem (born 1968) is an author and journalist who has written widely for ''The Sunday Times'', ''Sunday Express'' and ''Metro'', among many other publications. Schooled at Gillotts School and King James's College (now The Henley C ...

, author and journalist *

Timothy Williamson Timothy Williamson (born 1955) is a British philosopher whose main research interests are in philosophical logic, philosophy of language, epistemology and metaphysics. He is the Wykeham Professor of Logic at the University of Oxford, and fe ...

, Wykeham Professor of Logic since 2000 at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, and President from 2004-5 of the

Aristotelian Society The Aristotelian Society for the Systematic Study of Philosophy, more generally known as the Aristotelian Society, is a philosophical society in London. History Aristotelian Society was founded at a meeting on 19 April 1880, at 17 Bloomsbury Squa ...

, and from 2006-7 of The Mind Association *

Jo Wyatt Jo Wyatt is an English actress. She is known for her voice as Tweak in '' The Octonauts'', Little Miss Helpful, Little Miss Naughty, Little Miss Scary and Little Miss Sunshine in '' The Mr. Men Show''. She also voiced Daisy Kribotnik in ''Lov ...

, voice over actress and singer * John Horsley, photographer, most notably record cover art for The Verve and UB40

References

External links

College website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henley College Henley-on-Thames Education in Oxfordshire Further education colleges in Oxfordshire Learning and Skills Beacons Educational institutions established in 1987 1987 establishments in England