Hills Road Sixth Form College

Hills Road Sixth Form College was established on 15 September 1974 on the site of the former Cambridgeshire High School for Boys, when education in Cambridgeshire was reorganised on a comprehensive basis, and grammar schools and secondary moderns were replaced by a system of (mainly) 11-16 comprehensive schools and sixth form colleges.

Since then, the college has expanded from its original single building, with the addition of the Sports and Tennis Centre in 1995; the Colin Greenhalgh building, which houses most arts subjects such as English, Modern Languages and History; The Rob Wilkinson building housing the Physics, Chemistry, and PE departments was developed in 2004; in 2005 the Margaret Ingram Guidance Centre provided specialist tutorial accommodation. Although the College previously had ambitious plans for a major redesign between 2010 and 2013, the economic crisis reduced the scope of the plans: in 2010 the College administrative areas were redesigned, more classrooms added in the Physical Sciences, Psychology and Art departments, the staffroom enlarged and relocated, the library partially refurbished, an extra resource area built to compensate for the space used to build new classrooms and the student social area rebuilt.

In the early 1990s responsibility for further education was removed from local authorities (as part of reforms aimed at reducing the level of the council tax), and Hills Road like other colleges moved to direct funding from central Government.

Hills Road is one of seven post-16 centres in the Cambridge Area 14-19 Partnership. The state-maintained secondary schools in the city and Village Colleges in the surrounding areas are the main feeder schools to the centre, although it attracts students from all over the county and further. Currently, about 85% of students come from the school's catchment area, and 80% of students are from state maintained schools.[2] Hills Road is permanently over-subscribed. The college typically requires candidates to achieve a B/6 (although at least an A for science and maths courses)[3] grade in a related GCSE to study an A-Level course,[4] whereas the nearby Long Road Sixth Form College typically requires a C/4 grade for entry to AS courses.[5]

Priority for places is given to those who have attended a school in the catchment area. The college also attracts students from out of area establishments, although such applications are only considered after places have been offered to all qualifying applicants in the Cambridge area.[6] The College runs a relative admissions program, meaning that the grades which got you in one year may not get you in the next, as all applicants are judged relative to all the others who apply.

About 90% of Hills Road students go onto higher education following their time at the college, for 40% this is after a gap year. About 5% of students enter full-time employment. For five years prior to 2007, half of students went on to attend one of sixteen universities (Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Durham, East Anglia, Leeds, Loughborough, Manchester, Oxford, Nottingham, Sheffield, Sussex, Southampton, UCL, Warwick and York).[7] In 2006, fifty-two Hills Road students gained places at Oxbridge; this was a larger number than at any other state school and represents one in every sixteen students.[8] Hills Road was recently ranked third in a list of the schools with highest levels of Oxbridge entry, after Westminster School and Eton College. The Sunday Times reported that Hills Road sends approximately sixty-five students to the universities of Cambridge and Oxford every year.[9]

As of 2018, the College has consistently topped the A level league tables for state Sixth Form Colleges for the past 25 years, with an average pass rate of 99.5% over all subjects. In 2018, 72% of grades were awarded A*-B, and over 40% of all results achieved the top A*-A grades.[10] Hills Road Sixth Form College was voted the Sixth Form College of the Year in 2013, by the Sunday Times.[9] In January 2014 Hills Road was named the "creme de la creme" of state schools by Tatler Magazine, and included in Tatler's list of thirty elite state school in the United Kingdom.[11] National measures also place the College in or around the top decile amongst all types of institution for added-value:[10] students of all abilities achieve better results in GCE AS/A levels than expected from their starting points. The 2009 Alps Report places the College third in the sixth form college performance table and in the top 1% for all institutions.[12] On the 2010 edition of the BBC league tables, Hills Road Sixth Form College achieved a contextual value added score of 1009.1.[13]

The College has continually achieved an Ofsted rating of 'Outstanding' from its first inspection in 2001.[14] It became the first centre in the country to receive 'designated outstanding' status, meaning it is no longer subject to routine inspections but is liable to be 'spot checked' at any time.

Founded in 2008, The Phoenix is the only regular (but unofficial) Hills Road Student Newspaper.

Cambridgeshire High School for Boys

• Martin Amis - novelist and son of Sir Kingsley Amis
• Syd Barrett and Roger Waters of the rock band Pink Floyd; there is a suggestion that the song Another Brick in the Wall Part II, written by Waters, which includes the famous lyrics "we don't need no education", bears reference to Waters' miserable stint endured whilst at the County High School for Boys
• Sir John Bradfield - Founder of Cambridge Science Park, the first Science Park in Europe.
• Bob Klose - an early member of Pink Floyd
• Storm Thorgerson - co-founder of the Hipgnosis partnership, who designed record covers for artists including Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Genesis and Muse

Many other notable alumni are listed in the Alumni section of the Wikipedia entry for the Cambridgeshire High School for Boys.

Hills Road Sixth Form College

• Alison Balsom - trumpeter signed with EMI Classics
• Catherine Banner - Author
• Edward Dusinberre - First violinist of the Takács Quartet
• Tom Findlay - Musician, half of Groove Armada
• Tom Hunt, serving Member of Parliament for Ipswich
• Katie Rowley Jones - West End actress
• Tim Key - Surreal comedian and poet
• Dave Lewis - Tesco CEO
• Heather McRobie - Writer and academic
• Nemone Metaxas - Radio DJ
• Mark Pettini, Essex County cricketer (and former captain). Former member of England Under-19 team
• Hector Janse van Rensburg - watercolor painter, also known as Shitty Watercolour
• Surie - Singer, representing the United Kingdom in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Storm"
• Ben Thapa - member of male singing quartet G4
• Tom Westley, Essex County England Test cricketer and captain of England Under-19 at the 2008 Under-19 Cricket World Cup
• Cavetown - singer, songwriter, musician, and YouTuber
• Benedict Cork - singer, songwriter, musician

The College is managed by the College Strategy Team (CST), consisting of the Principal, the Deputy Principal and three Assistant Principals.

The management of the College is split into areas of responsibility (Teaching, Learning & Student Support, Planning & Quality, Finance & Operations, Student Services & Support), each of which is assigned to a member of the CST.

Previous Principals

• Colin Hill (1974–1984)
• Colin Greenhalgh (1984–2002)
• Rob Wilkinson (2002–2008)
• Linda Sinclair (2008–2017)
• Jo Trump (2017-)

The College Student Council is a part of the Hills Road environment. Its Chair and another officer sit on the board of governors.