
FROME College saw a full house last month when it opened its doors to potential students for its annual open day.
The evening began with an address by the Principal, Gavin Ball, in the campus Merlin Theatre, who spoke about the continued trend of success, the best exam results in the history of the college, and the aspirations and expectations of the school for the future.
The college’s spokesperson Jane Davis said, “Mr Ball inspired the audience with a confident speech about the college’s values and vision, on student self-belief, high expectations and generating great life chances for every child to achieve their personal best, and the wide range of opportunities on offer at the college.
“He said there are more choices in the important key areas of maths, English and science and a 5 year programme which begins in Year 9 through to the post sixteen stages, making a seamless transition in to the Sixth Form where there are nearly 400 courses on offer.
“He spoke with passion about the college’s programme of ‘Employability’ and apprenticeships working closely with the community, and how important it is to offer students the life skills needed for their chosen paths and next steps when leaving school.
“Mr Ball spoke warmly of the commitment of the staff who enjoy working at the school and the good staff development plan in place with many training sessions on offer to ensure the college is constantly developing young people and encouraging participation and volunteering.
“He introduced guest speaker, Dr Andrew Ross from the University of Bath, who works closely with the college and the Able & Ambitious programme to guide and support students wishing to go to university.
“Head boy Ben Manning and head girl Isabel Brewster, together with the student leadership team, followed by talking about their experiences at college, the constant support from staff both academically and pastoral, and the large range of activities available, such as trips, drama productions held in the campus theatre, inter-house competitions, rewards and the Duke of Edinburgh scheme and the great Gifted & Talented programme.
“Pre-16 students Felix Piper, Zena Harper, Matthew Haines and Grace Beaven, all spoke about their chosen areas of interest and the wide range of extra-curricular activities on offer.
“Mrs West, assistant principal, finished the session with information to parents about the evening ahead and offering the audience personal student guides to accompany them around the site to see points of interest.
“Everyone left the theatre to tour the site and participate in many activities in design technology, PE, maths and English. food technology staff and students offered superb hot food to guests, and in science, visitors were given the opportunity to participate in a variety of experiments.
“The art department displayed their superb student exhibition and the music department students set up around the site supplying a diverse variety of accompaniment.
“The feedback from the evening was outstanding and many parents said that they had looked at other schools in the area but Frome College stood out as the best they had seen, and was a truly committed school with a warm community feel where they felt their children would flourish.
“If you were unable to attend the event, please don’t hesitate to contact the college on 01373 465353 to arrange a tour of the campus.”