Comberton Village College

Comberton Village College

Established	1960
Type	Foundation School
Headteacher	Stephen Munday MA
Specialism	Sports
Location	West Street Comberton Cambridge Cambridgeshire CB23 7DU  England
Local authority	Cambridgeshire
DfE URN	110900
Students	1369
Gender	Coeducational
Ages	11–16
Website	combertonvc.org

Coordinates: 52°11′05″N 0°00′39″E / 52.18482°N 0.01079°E / 52.18482; 0.01079

Comberton Village College is a secondary school in Comberton.

Comberton Village College was opened in 1960. As a Cambridgeshire Village College, it was designed to be a centre for the life of its community and to provide quality education for pupils aged between 11 and 16.

In 1974, the school became fully comprehensive and, in April 1993, it became grant-maintained. It changed to a Foundation School and has recently become a Foundation School with a Trust: the recently formed Comberton Educational Trust. The pupil roll is 1369 and rising while over 2,000 adults use the college for a wide range of continuing education and leisure activities. A £7 million building programme was completed in 2003 that significantly enhanced a range of the school's facilities, including major new leisure facilities. A further £4 million building project is now underway to provide further specialist teaching and learning facilities across a range of subject areas ready for use in September 2009.

The school has recently been granted a presumption to open a new Sixth Form due to its high-performing status. Capital funding from the Learning and Skills Council has been secured to build the required new facilities for the agreed new 350-place Sixth Form. This is now set to open in September 2011. It will offer a strong suite of academic courses across the subject areas as well as applied courses. This development will then enable students from Comberton to complete their sixth-form studies as well as providing opportunities for students from other local schools.

The new SiXth Form Building was opened ^[1][2] by Sir David Bell,permanent secretary for the Department for Education on June 14, 2011. Comberton Village College will offer the AQA Baccalaureate desired by many Russell Group universities which requires students to complete an extended project as well as general studies and ‘critical thinking’ elements in addition to their A-Levels.

The school is now in discussion with both the DCSF and Cambridgeshire Local Authority about the possibility of opening a new branch of the school at the nearby developing community of Cambourne, part of the school's catchment area. This will provide further opportunities for new quality educational provision in the local area. It will be overseen by the new Comberton Educational Trust.

As of 24 June 2010, the school has been invited by Education secretary Michael Gove to become one of the UK's first 'Free Schools' and as a result would be classified as an 'Academy'. The school announced its intention to convert to academy status on September 28, 2010.

References

1. ^ "Newly-knighted Sir David Bell opens £7.5 million sixth form centre". Cambridge First. http://www.cambridgefirst.co.uk/news/newly_knighted_sir_david_bell_opens_7_5_million_sixth_form_centre_1_921709. Retrieved 15 June 2011. 
2. ^ "£9.5 sixth-form centre opened". cambridge evening news. http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Education-and-Training/News/95-sixth-form-centre-opened-15062011.htm. Retrieved 15 June 2011. 

External links

"Comberton Village College". http://www.combertonvc.org/. Retrieved 2009-04-02.