Weymouth College

This article is about the FE college. For the former public school, see Weymouth College (public school).

Weymouth College is a further education college located in Weymouth, England. The college has over 4,000 students,^[1] studying on a wide range of practical and academic courses in many subjects. The college is part of The University of Plymouth Colleges network.

Weymouth College
Address
Cranford Avenue Weymouth , Dorset , DT4 7LQ England
Coordinates	50.623°N 2.452°W / 50.623; -2.452
Information
Type	FE College
Established	1985
Local authority	Dorset
Department for Education URN	130653 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Principal and CEO	Jasper Allen-Denton
Gender	Mixed
Age	16+
Former name	Weymouth Grammar School
Website	Official website

The college previously had a second site on Newstead Road, but consolidated to a single main campus at Cranford Avenue in 2000.

There was a private school (Eng: "public school") of the same name from 1862 to 1940 in Weymouth.^[2]

History

Grammar school

This site was opened in 1914 as Weymouth Secondary School, which in 1927 became known as Weymouth Grammar School. In 1939, the school began sharing this site with South Dorset Technical College. In the 1960s, the school moved to new premises in Chickerell Road, leaving the technical college with sole use of the site. The grammar school was co-educational with around 1,050 boys and girls administered by the South Dorset Divisional Executive of Dorset Education Committee.

Merger and formation

1985 saw the creation of the modern Weymouth College, a tertiary college,^[3] with the merging of the technical college with Weymouth College (the former Weymouth College site became known as the Cranford Avenue campus).

New site

In 2001, the Newstead Road site was sold for housing development, and all students based there were transferred to new facilities at the Cranford Avenue campus, creating the college as it exists today.

Recently,^[when?] Weymouth College has expanded provision beyond its traditional curriculum offering. A sports centre and gym facility for public use was opened at the Cranford Avenue site, with the college additionally taking over the operation of the former Weymouth Sports Club site on Dorchester Road, now renamed as Redlands Community Sports Hub.

Weymouth College was merged with the land-based college Kingston Maurward College in 2024 ^[4]

Alumni

• Mark Hix (born 1962), chef
• Karen Arnold (born 1964), businesswomen
• Cecil Herbert Sharpley (1908–1985), trade unionist and communist apostate

Weymouth Grammar School

See also: Category:People educated at Weymouth Grammar School

• Charles Bawden, professor of Mongolian from 1970-84 at the School of Oriental and African Studies
• Brian Carter, former professional footballer.^[5]
• Flight Sergeant Dudley Heal (5 August 1916 - 7 February 1999), who flew with the Dambusters Raid as a navigator in Lancaster AJ-F with the third wave taking off at 12 minutes after midnight; the aircraft was the second to hit the Sorpe Dam, and returned safely^[6]
• Michael Robert House (1930-2002) geologist and palaeontologist
• Prof Graham Hutchings, chemist, Regius Professor of Chemistry since 2016 at Cardiff University
• Prof Nick Jennings,Vice-Chancellor and President Loughborough University
• Michael Middleton (priest)
• Gilbert Jessop, cricketer