Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College is a sixth form college, located in Leicester, England. The college is led by Paul Wilson who was appointed the eighth principal in March 2018. The college absorbed the nearby Regent College in 2018 to form an institution with approximately 2,000 full-time 16–18-year-old students and 140 teaching staff. More than 40 subjects are offered at A Level. The college was awarded Learning and SkillsBeacon Status in April 2003.
History
The college, which has over 2200 students, was founded in 1976 following a re-organisation of secondary education in the city. Many other parts of rural Leicestershire had gone comprehensive in 1968. The college now occupies a site adjoining Victoria Park and the University of Leicester that was previously occupied by Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys. The school takes the Wyggeston name from the former school and from Wyggeston Grammar School for Girls, which both closed in the 1970s. In 1976 the site of the former girls’ school became Wyggeston Collegiate Sixth Form College, known as Regent College between 1996 and 2018, when it was absorbed into Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College.
Headmasters
Dr G A Thompson – 1978-1994
Dr Robert Wilkinson – 1994-2002
Ian Wilson – 2002–2012
Sandra Hamilton-Fox – 2016
Paul Wilson – 2018–present
Curriculum
Courses including AS, A2 and GCSEs are all provided at the College. The International Baccalaureate Diploma was introduced in September 2006 with 33 students opting for this alternative. The last cohort of the IB completed the course in 2012, and the programme is no longer offered. The College works increasingly closely with local schools and colleges and this partnership working will develop further in pursuit of the curriculum agenda for the 14 to 19 age group.
Strengths
An enrichment programme offers more than seventy courses and activities including many science-based options such as Medical Laboratory Science and Space Physics, reflecting the college's strengths in science. The inclusion of languages in the enrichment programme has also improved the overall take-up of languages. The college has a long-established tradition of sporting prowess and two thirds of students participate in sport.
Academic performance
In 2006 the A Level pass rate was 98 per cent with 45 per cent at grades A and B. About 90% of students progress to higher education, mostly in the Midlands region.
Beacon activity
WQEIC has worked with other providers on the development of effective quality assurance systems and self-assessment processes with a particular focus on the use of value-added measures. A significant amount of work was also done in the field of Student Support and Guidance and Student Services. As an innovation project the college has led the development of a common Virtual Learning Environment across post-16 providers in the Leicester area. The college has also forged links at departmental level with counterparts in local schools and colleges. The focus was on sharing good practice, progression issues and collaborative working in the interests of improving quality.
