West Thames College
Encyclopedia
West Thames College is a medium sized college of further and higher education. It has two campuses in the London Borough of Hounslow
in Middlesex
, England
: a main campus in Isleworth
and a smaller Skills Centre in Feltham
. Over 6,500 students study at the college each year.
The college achieved a 'satisfactory' rating at its last Ofsted inspection in 2010 with individual 'good' ratings for support for students, equality and diversity, safeguarding, and financial management. West Thames College also gained national Beacon Awards for Equality and Diversity in 2008 and 2009.
The college offers a wide range of A Levels and specialist vocational courses up to higher education level: BTECs, NVQs, City & Guilds, Foundation Degrees, HNDs and BA (Hons) degrees.
The college has an excellent reputation for its creative arts courses, especially specialist makeup. Students have won the International Makeup Artist Trade Show (IMATS) Competition for the last 5 consecutive years, beating competitors from around the world.
– and modern buildings such as the Millennium Building (built 1999, refurbished 2008 and extended 2010), the Atrium Building (opened 2010) and the Sir Joseph Banks Building (opened 2011).
Facilities include the new 140-seat Endeavour Theatre; performance, dance and rehearsal studios; a professional Media and Music Centre with TV studio, recording and editing suites; hair and beauty salons which are open to the public; specialist makeup studios; sports and fitness centre with full-sized sports hall, gym and outdoor pitches; art and design studios; a Learning Resource Centre on three storeys with drop-in IT suites and extensive library; engineering workshops and science laboratories. There are also modern leisure facilities for students including spacious common rooms and cafes.
, then Chancellor of the Exchequer. Around 650 students study practical vocational skills and training at the Skills Centre, including catering, plumbing, brickwork, painting and decorating, electrical installation, engineering, carpentry and motor vehicle maintenance.
from 1779 to his death in 1820 (he purchased the freehold in 1808). Banks carried out scientific experiments in the grounds of the house and Queen Charlotte visited Banks and his wife there in 1813.
The first recorded house on the site was built around 1645. Elisha Biscoe bought this house in 1754, demolished it and built Spring Grove House. After Biscoe's death, his son leased the house to Banks.
Spring Grove House was substantially rebuilt and extended by its later owners, Henry Pownall in the mid 19th century and Andrew Pears in the late 19th century. It is an excellent example of late Victorian architecture and interior design, with a fine Georgian room as an added bonus. The ground floor rooms of the building were sensitively restored and redecorated in 2011.
In 1922 the house was purchased by Middlesex County Council. It opened in that year as the new site of Hounslow Polytechnic (renamed Spring Grove Polytechnic) which had been established in 1892 and had used premises in Hanworth Road. The following year Spring Grove Secondary School moved to the house, sharing the building with the Polytechnic who offered almost entirely evening classes.
In 1946 Spring Grove Secondary School became Spring Grove Grammar School. It moved to new premises in Lampton in 1959 and Spring Grove House was taken over by Isleworth Polytechnic as a full-time college. The college was renamed Hounslow Borough College in 1976. In 1993 the college acquired incorporated status and was renamed West Thames College.
Spring Grove House is open to the public one Saturday every September as part of Open House London
.
London Borough of Hounslow
-Political composition:Since the borough was formed it has been controlled by the Labour Party on all but two occasions. In 1968 the Conservatives formed a majority for the first and last time to date until they lost control to Labour in 1971. Labour subsequently lost control of the council in the...
in Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
: a main campus in Isleworth
Isleworth
Isleworth is a small town of Saxon origin sited within the London Borough of Hounslow in west London, England. It lies immediately east of the town of Hounslow and west of the River Thames and its tributary the River Crane. Isleworth's original area of settlement, alongside the Thames, is known as...
and a smaller Skills Centre in Feltham
Feltham
Feltham is a town in the London Borough of Hounslow, west London. It is located about west south west of central London at Charing Cross and from Heathrow Airport Central...
. Over 6,500 students study at the college each year.
The college achieved a 'satisfactory' rating at its last Ofsted inspection in 2010 with individual 'good' ratings for support for students, equality and diversity, safeguarding, and financial management. West Thames College also gained national Beacon Awards for Equality and Diversity in 2008 and 2009.
The college offers a wide range of A Levels and specialist vocational courses up to higher education level: BTECs, NVQs, City & Guilds, Foundation Degrees, HNDs and BA (Hons) degrees.
The college has an excellent reputation for its creative arts courses, especially specialist makeup. Students have won the International Makeup Artist Trade Show (IMATS) Competition for the last 5 consecutive years, beating competitors from around the world.
Isleworth Campus
The main college campus in Isleworth includes the Grade II listed Spring Grove House – once the home of 18th century botanist and explorer Sir Joseph BanksJoseph Banks
Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, GCB, PRS was an English naturalist, botanist and patron of the natural sciences. He took part in Captain James Cook's first great voyage . Banks is credited with the introduction to the Western world of eucalyptus, acacia, mimosa and the genus named after him,...
– and modern buildings such as the Millennium Building (built 1999, refurbished 2008 and extended 2010), the Atrium Building (opened 2010) and the Sir Joseph Banks Building (opened 2011).
Facilities include the new 140-seat Endeavour Theatre; performance, dance and rehearsal studios; a professional Media and Music Centre with TV studio, recording and editing suites; hair and beauty salons which are open to the public; specialist makeup studios; sports and fitness centre with full-sized sports hall, gym and outdoor pitches; art and design studios; a Learning Resource Centre on three storeys with drop-in IT suites and extensive library; engineering workshops and science laboratories. There are also modern leisure facilities for students including spacious common rooms and cafes.
Feltham Campus
The Feltham Skills Centre was officially opened in 2003 by ex-Prime Minister Gordon BrownGordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
, then Chancellor of the Exchequer. Around 650 students study practical vocational skills and training at the Skills Centre, including catering, plumbing, brickwork, painting and decorating, electrical installation, engineering, carpentry and motor vehicle maintenance.
History
Spring Grove House, a Grade II listed building which forms part of the college's Isleworth campus, was the main country residence of Sir Joseph BanksJoseph Banks
Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, GCB, PRS was an English naturalist, botanist and patron of the natural sciences. He took part in Captain James Cook's first great voyage . Banks is credited with the introduction to the Western world of eucalyptus, acacia, mimosa and the genus named after him,...
from 1779 to his death in 1820 (he purchased the freehold in 1808). Banks carried out scientific experiments in the grounds of the house and Queen Charlotte visited Banks and his wife there in 1813.
The first recorded house on the site was built around 1645. Elisha Biscoe bought this house in 1754, demolished it and built Spring Grove House. After Biscoe's death, his son leased the house to Banks.
Spring Grove House was substantially rebuilt and extended by its later owners, Henry Pownall in the mid 19th century and Andrew Pears in the late 19th century. It is an excellent example of late Victorian architecture and interior design, with a fine Georgian room as an added bonus. The ground floor rooms of the building were sensitively restored and redecorated in 2011.
In 1922 the house was purchased by Middlesex County Council. It opened in that year as the new site of Hounslow Polytechnic (renamed Spring Grove Polytechnic) which had been established in 1892 and had used premises in Hanworth Road. The following year Spring Grove Secondary School moved to the house, sharing the building with the Polytechnic who offered almost entirely evening classes.
In 1946 Spring Grove Secondary School became Spring Grove Grammar School. It moved to new premises in Lampton in 1959 and Spring Grove House was taken over by Isleworth Polytechnic as a full-time college. The college was renamed Hounslow Borough College in 1976. In 1993 the college acquired incorporated status and was renamed West Thames College.
Spring Grove House is open to the public one Saturday every September as part of Open House London
Open House London
Open House London is an organisation which promotes appreciation of architecture by the general public. It organises tours, lectures, educational projects for children and so on, but it is best known for Open House Weekend, a two-day event which takes place on one weekend each September throughout...
.
Notable alumni
- Anne-Marie DuffAnne-Marie DuffAnne-Marie Duff is an English actress best known for playing Fiona Gallagher in Shameless, and Elizabeth I in The Virgin Queen.-Early life:...
, actor (ShamelessShamelessShameless is a British television drama series set in Manchester on the fictional Chatsworth council estate. Produced by Company Pictures for Channel 4, the first seven-episode series aired weekly on Tuesday nights at 10pm from 13 January 2004...
, Nowhere BoyNowhere BoyNowhere Boy is a 2009 British biopic about John Lennon's adolescence, his relationships with his guardian aunt and his birth mother, the creation of his first band, the Quarrymen, and its evolution into the Beatles. The film is based on a biography written by Lennon's half-sister Julia Baird...
, The Virgin Queen) - Freddie MercuryFreddie MercuryFreddie Mercury was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range...
, lead vocalist of Queen, studied at the college when it was known as Isleworth Polytechnic - Rufus SewellRufus SewellRufus Frederik Sewell is an English actor. In film, he has appeared in The Woodlanders, Dangerous Beauty, Dark City, A Knight's Tale, The Illusionist, Tristan and Isolde, and Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence. On television, he starred in the 2010 mini-series The Pillars of the Earth...
, actor (Zen, Pillars of the Earth) - Martin HancockMartin HancockMartin Hancock is an English actor well known for his role as Emily Bishop's nephew Geoffrey "Spider" Nugent in the British soap Coronation Street and Reg Lund in Holby City....
, actor (Defiance, Coronation StreetCoronation StreetCoronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
, Holby CityHolby CityHolby City, stylised as Holby Ci+y, is a British medical drama television series that airs weekly on BBC One.The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama Casualty, and premiered on 12 January 1999...
) - Celena CherryCélena CherryCélena Cherry is the lead singer of the 1990s UK girl group, Honeyz.-Solo career:...
, lead singer with the HoneyzHoneyzHoneyz were a British-based R&B girl group formed in 1997.-Early years:The lineup was initially made up of Heavenli Roberts , Naima Belkhiati, and Célena Cherry... - Brothers Mark MorrissMark MorrissMark James Morriss is an English singer-songwriter. He is the lead singer for The Bluetones, and is the older brother of bandmate Scott Morriss. He is also pursuing a solo career....
and Scott MorrissScott MorrissScott Edward Morriss is the bass player for the English band The Bluetones. He is the younger brother of bandmate and lead vocalist Mark Morriss. He also plays bass in his brother's backing group, The Mummys....
of the Bluetones