| Richard Taunton Sixth Form College | |
| Coordinates: | 50.9266°N -1.4173°W |
| Head Label: | Principal |
| Head: | Paul Swindale |
| Founder: | Richard Taunton |
| Address: | Hill Lane |
| Country: | England |
| Postcode: | SO15 5RL |
| Local Authority: | Southampton |
| Ofsted: | yes |
| Urn: | 145228 |
| Dfeno: | 8608 |
| Enrolment: | 1000 |
| Lower Age: | 16 |
| Upper Age: | 18 |
| Website: | http://www.richardtaunton.ac.uk/ |
Richard Taunton Sixth Form College, until 2012 called Taunton's College, is a sixth form college in Upper Shirley, Southampton attended by approximately 1000 students.
It offers a range of courses, mostly A Levels.[1] [2] Many students participate in a range of extracurricular activities.
It is situated to the west of Southampton Common next to the Bellemoor pub at the junction of Hill Lane and Bellemoor Road. Near to the south is King Edward VI School, Southampton.
Taunton's School was founded in 1760 by Richard Taunton, former Mayor of Southampton.[3] In 1864 it moved to a specially built site on New Road.[4] In 1875 it was established as an endowed school, to be called Taunton's Trade School. The school became a public secondary school and the name changed once more to Taunton's School.
In 1926, the school moved to a new campus on Highfield Road.[5] It was officially opened by Eustace Percy, 1st Baron Percy of Newcastle (then the Coalition Conservative MP for Hastings) on 26 April 1927. It was administered by the City of Southampton Education Committee. In 1968 it had around 850 boys.
In 1969, it was reorganised as a sixth form college for boys and renamed to Richard Taunton College. From 1978 girls were admitted.
Meanwhile, in 1858, the Southampton College and High School for Girls was founded. In 1936 it moved to a site on Hill Lane. In 1967, it was reorganised as a sixth form college for girls and renamed to Southampton College for Girls. Boys were admitted from September 1978, along with a name change to Hill College, reflecting the location of the college.
In 1989 the two colleges merged using the name Taunton's College although the Hill Lane site was refurbished and moved into in 1993.[6]
A 2007 redevelopment proposal for Taunton's College, on Hill Lane in Southampton, which proposed replacement of nearly all the buildings on the site including the main building completed in 1937 as the Southampton Grammar School for Girls was formally cancelled by June 2009.
Funds hoped for the redevelopment of many sixth form and Further Education colleges throughout England were revealed earlier in 2009 to be insufficient for a mooted major national programme of rebuilds. Taunton's proposal was one of many which in the outturn could not be funded.
On 11 July 2012, Taunton's College changed its name to Richard Taunton Sixth Form College.