St Vincent College is a

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

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

(16-18)

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...

located in

Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hampshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 70,131 and the district had a pop ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The majority of students come from the surrounding towns including

Fareham Fareham ( ) is a market town at the north-west tip of Portsmouth Harbour, between the cities of Portsmouth and Southampton in south east Hampshire, England. It gives its name to the Borough of Fareham. It was historically an important manufac ...

Stubbington Stubbington is a village which is located between Southampton and Portsmouth, in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. It is within the borough of Fareham. History Both Stubbington and neighbouring Crofton were mentioned in ...

and

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

. The nearby

Gosport Ferry The Gosport Ferry is a ferry service for pedestrians and cyclists operating between Gosport and Portsmouth in Hampshire, southern England. It is currently operated by Gosport Ferry Ltd, a subsidiary of the Portsmouth Harbour Ferry Company Ltd, ...

link with

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

also allows students from that city to attend. In December 2023 there were around 700 16-18 year olds studying at the college. The college caters for students with high needs and also adult learners. It is part of the Lighthouse Learning Trust.

History

Plaque at Saint Vincent College - geograph

St Vincent Secondary School opened in 1975 on the site of

Forton Barracks Forton Barracks was a military installation near Gosport in Hampshire, which served first as an Army barracks and then as a divisional headquarters for the Royal Marines. It subsequently served as a Royal Navy training establishment. Today, the sit ...

, known after 1927 as HMS ''St. Vincent'', with most of the historic buildings of its former Naval existence having been subsequently demolished. In 1987 Gosport Sixth Form College opened as part of the re-organisation of secondary education in the town. Initially the college shared the site with St Vincent Secondary School, but when the school's final Year 11 left in 1990, the present title was adopted. There is a small museum on the site that has a number of artefacts and pictures of the site's time as a naval establishment, although it opens only on the last Friday of each month during term time.

Sports

The college is represented by a

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

team,

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team,

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

team and an

ultimate Ultimate or Ultimates may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums *Ultimate (Bryan Adams album), ''Ultimate'' (Bryan Adams album) *Ultimate (Jolin Tsai album), ''Ultimate'' (Jolin Tsai album) *Ultimate (Pet Shop Boys album), ''Ult ...

frisbee team named Thundercatch. Sports facilities include a full-sized

Astro turf AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Since the early 2000s, AstroTurf has m ...

-based pitch. The campus hosts a gym for the use of the students and local community.

Proposed merger with Fareham College

It was announced in November 2008 in the local press that St Vincent will remain an independent sixth form college. The Gosport community and Principal, staff and students of the college fought hard to keep the college open. The initial Learning and Skills Council (LSC - Government Quango) proposal was on the basis of a consensual merger between the two institutions. Merger talks broke down in the late summer of 2007 when significant differences of opinion over the suitability of the former HMS Daedalus site for a £40 million 'super college' for the Gosport and Fareham area emerged. Consequently, St Vincent pulled out of the proposed merger, but the local LSC decided to pursue a forced merger between the two colleges. St Vincent fought a high-profile local and national campaign to fight this. By the early summer of 2008 it became apparent that the LSC did not have the necessary powers required to secure a forced merger and the plan was scrapped in the autumn. In November 2008 both colleges were inspected by Ofsted and each was given an overall 'good' grade.

References

External links

College website

History

Sports

Proposed merger with Fareham College

References

External links

See also