South East Essex Sixth Form College has unveiled plans for a £1.1 million building scheme for the new millennium - one of the biggest investments in its history.

Castle Point Council is considering the planning application for a new two-storey specialist learning centre on the Thundersley campus.

EMMA THOMAS looks at college's past and its plans for the year 2000 and beyond.

In the early 1970s, Alderman Bill Wright had a dream.

He wanted pupils leaving school across what are now Rochford and Castle Point districts to have a greater access to A-level courses and higher Education.

Sweyne School in Rayleigh was a grammar school and as such, one of the few places where 16 to 18-year-olds could go on to study A-levels.

Alderman Wright thought it was time for a change. Chairman of the now-defunct South East Essex Divisional Education Executive, he was the mastermind behind what became a centralised sixth form college for all the area's senior schools.

The South East Essex Sixth Form College in Kiln Road, Thundersley, opened its doors to students, offering A-level courses to teenagers who'd missed out on a grammar school education.

SEEVIC, as it was commonly known, was one of the first such purpose-built colleges in the county.

It attracted teenagers from schools across Rochford, Hockley, Rayleigh, Canvey and Benfleet and was heralded as a great innovation.

It was seen as the future for higher education and as such, attracted some of the best staff from the Sweyne School.

Over the past 20 years, thousands of teenagers have sat through lectures at SEEVIC, and gone on to sit and pass A-level exams.

However, in the early 1990s, as more and more schools opted to become grant-maintained, many began to set up their own sixth forms, offering a wide range of A-level and vocational courses.

Many of its original feeder schools now have their own sixth forms, leaving the college to rely for students on its partner schools, such as Appleton in Benfleet, Deanes in Thundersley, Castle View and Cornelius Vermuyden on Canvey and FitzWimarc and Sweyne Park in Rayleigh.

It also finds itself trying to compete for students from other schools in the area, who have the choice of staying at their own sixth forms or going to SEEVIC, or South East Essex College in Southend.

Student numbers could have dropped as a result of these change. However, instead, SEEVIC has gone on from strength to strength, and continues to welcome an increasing number of students.

It has one of the broadest ranges of courses of any sixth form college. It offers about different 40 A-levels, plus GNVQs, BTECs, and other courses for its 16 to 19-year-old students.

It also has a unique arrangement with Southend United Football Club, offering budding footballers professional coaching alongside academic studies.

There are ample opportunities for adults to study at SEEVIC with courses ranging from information technology tasters to full-time degrees with the backing of Anglia Polytechnic University.

The college also runs its own Training for the Millennium Centre on Canvey in association with Castle Point Council.

It has won awards from the Investors In People and Recognition of Quality organisations and is renowned for its students' sporting achievements.

Principal Geoff Arnott, who took charge in February 1997, stresses his college offers something very different from a school.

He said: "We have 1,500 students aged between 16 and 19 and we are expecting around 1,200 adults this year, too.

"We are experiencing quite an increase in applications and we are very popular. My view is that the education we offer at the college prepares our students to stand on their own two feet, but also offers them a tremendous amount of support."

He added: "Most of our students are only here for two years and they are geared so that they can progress onto something even more successful."

Forward-looking - principal Geoff Arnott Castle Point Borough Council planners are currently looking at a £1.1 million two-storey building for the Kiln Road site.

It will have a 1,400 square metre square floor space and will be one element in the first phase of the remodelling of the campus.

The centre will provide a state-of-the-art learning environment with large work areas for English, media and sports studies.

It will also have two large learning centres and a sports lab, all with PCs and specialist equipment.

Geoff Arnott said: "We are at the beginning of a revolution in the way students will learn in colleges. These significant changes are the start of a three year strategy to ensure SEEVIC is providing students with the advanced resources essential to high quality learning.

College spokesman Andrew Westoby said: "This will be an ideal, purpose-built building which will help us prepare for the different kinds of learning which will come in the next three to five years."

There has also been talk of the college branching out to the old Park School site in Rawreth Lane, Rayleigh, which has not been dismissed as an option.

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