Central Studio
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| Established | 1556 |
|---|---|
| Type | Sixth Form College |
| Principal | Ali Foss |
| Location |
Cliddesden Road Basingstoke Hampshire RG21 3HF United Kingdom |
| Local authority | Hampshire |
| DfE URN | 130700 Tables |
| Students | 2600 |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Ages | 16+ |
| Website | Official website |
Queen Mary's College (QMC) is a sixth form college in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England. The college gets its name from the former grammar school located in the northern part of Basingstoke and the college is located in the former school buildings of the Shrubbery All Girls secondary modern, which dates back to the early 1950s.
Formed in 1972 Queen Mary's College has always had a huge impact on the educational standards in North Hampshire and will hope to continue that into the future. The majority of the college's classrooms are housed in a single, two-storey, wide spread main building with a few smaller buildings and four temporary buildings providing most of the rest of the teaching space. However, three departments are predominantly housed away from the main college building. Physical Education (and related subjects) are able to make use of the QM Sports Centre while ICT & Art (and related subjects) are now housed in a recently completed (2005) £6m 3-storey teaching block. Science has recently been moved to a new multi-million pound teaching block, which was completed during the later part of 2009, with the first lessons taking place at the beginning of January 2010. The building was officially opened by quantum physicist Jim Al-Khalili OCE on Friday 23 April 2010. Drama and Music are located in the award-winning Central Studio, which plays host to a number of shows and performances all year round.
QM Sports Centre is located on the main college campus and, although open to the general public, is widely used by the college both as a sports centre and for educational reasons. The centre's main facilities are a 630 square metres (6,800 sq ft) hall and a 23 metres (75 ft) swimming pool. The centre itself also incorporates a fitness centre and viewing gallery and also makes use of the college's various football, rugby and artificial turfed pitches.
Central Studio is a professional theatre located on the college campus. While the college's various departments use the facilities of Central Studio, including the bar, theatre, dance studio and recording facilities the building itself is often used to host various professional productions and concerts. In 2009, Central Studio put on a production of 'The Laramie Project', a play about an American youth who was killed for his sexuality. Westboro Church planned to picket outside the college in protest, but were banned from the UK as a precaution against inciting hatred.
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