Established | 1962 (as Billingham Campus) |
---|---|
Closed | 2008 |
Location |
Marsh House Avenue Billingham County Durham TS23 3HB England Coordinates: 54°37′01″N 1°16′56″W / 54.616956°N 1.282329°W |
Local authority | North East England LSC (although in LEA) |
DfE number | ???/4499 |
DfE URN | 128519 Tables |
Ofsted | Reports |
Staff | 30 |
Students | c.500 |
Gender | Coeducational |
Ages | 16–19 |
Former names | Billingham Campus, Bede College, Bede Sixth Form College |
Website |
Bede College was a sixth form college located off Marsh House Avenue in Billingham, County Durham. It merged with in May 2008
Bede College provided A-Level and vocational courses. It took its name from the famous Durham scholar The Venerable Bede.
Three halls of the site was built in 1962 by George Wimpey as Billingham Campus on 50 acres (200,000 m2) for Teesside Education Committee. The first hall had been built in 1958. It included a five form-entry co-educational grammar-technical school, Bede Hall Grammar School, and 3 secondary modern schools 'Faraday Hall', 'Davy Hall' and 'Stephenson Hall'(an older school on Hale Road Billingham. In 1965 it was agreed to combine the whole site into one comprehensive school which took place in the late 1960s. Bede Hall Grammar school was demolished and the older building 'Stephenson Hall' became 'Bede 6th Form college'. Faraday Hall and Davy Hall are now Billingham Campus
The rest of the Billingham Campus is now Billingham Campus School and Arts College, an 11–16 comprehensive school.
Bede Sixth Form College left Cleveland County Council control on 1 April 1993, and was funded by the Further Education Funding Council for England until 2001 when funded by North East LSC. It ceased to be an autonomous college in 2008. At the time it was the smallest sixth form college in England with around 500 at the college, and demographic trends made the future less rosy.
The new buildings and sport centre were built by Morgan Ashurst, who won the contract in July 2008.
The college was one of the smallest colleges in the UK, and recently it finished third in the achievement tables of colleges in the north-east of England. Many hardworking staff and students contributed to this achievement, and Dr. Richard Spencer MBE has been recognised for his efforts on several occasions, most recently by the "Award for Best Interdisciplinary Teaching" at the European Education Festival "Science on Stage" in Berlin. He was awarded the honour of an MBE in the 2010 New Years Honours List for Science Communication. He now works at Middlesbrough College as Head of Science.Geology teacher Dr. Ed Anderson has also received recognition in National Teaching Awards, and has also appeared in the local paper after his seismograph recorded the size of 2008's earthquake in Britain.