Ifield Community College

Ifield Community College (ICC) is a maintained comprehensive secondary school in Crawley, England, for pupils aged 11 to 18.

Admissions

It caters for around 1000 pupils in years 7 to 13, including over 100 in its sixth form. It is situated in the west of Crawley, next to the A23. Ifield railway station is nearby to the south.

The school is entirely comprehensive, providing education for around 1000 pupils aged between 11 and 18 of all abilities.

Most pupils attending the school live within the catchment area, and transfer from one of the local primary schools:

• The Mill Academy School
• Waterfield Primary School
• West Green Primary School
• The Bewbush Academy
• Gossops Green Primary School
• Langley Green Primary School
• St.Margarets Primary School

History

The school has history dating back to 1852 – nearly 100 years before the coming of the

At this time, the secondary modern school shared a campus with the newly opened Ifield County Grammar School, built in 1955. The schools worked closely together, eventually merging in 1966 to become Ifield comprehensive school following retirement of F.W. Wilmott, the Headmaster at the Sarah Robinson school.[2] A headmaster, Mr Bomford, was brought in to oversee the transition and he introduced a new formality, with senior teachers wearing gowns in assemblies for the first time. Ifield had a considerable reputation for sport, particularly football and athletics. The pupils at this time included Jeff Bryant, who went on to be a professional footballer with Wimbledon and Alan Minter, a future World Boxing Champion.^{[citation needed]}

By 1984 there were some 1600 pupils on roll^[3] - including Keith Newell who went on to play cricket for Sussex County Cricket Club.

Developments in the early 1980s saw the two separate buildings co-locating, with former buildings becoming the home of Ifield Middle School in 1985. In 2005, a new school building opened in the centre of the campus, with the old buildings being demolished.^[4]

Campus

The campus for the school was set aside in the masterplan for Crawley New Town along the eastern edge of the neighbourhood of

Ifield Community College had a choir made up of students from all age groups in the school. In 1996 it was the subject of a film by SVC television, directed by Andrew Vere.[6] The choir, led by Patrick Allen (music educator), has performed at European venues including St Mark's Basilica in Venice (2008), the Royal Festival Hall, London, Barcelona Cathedral, the Auditorium Stravinski in Montreux and a recent (June 2011) collaboration with the BBC Singers saw them performing and recording at Maida Vale Studios.^[7] They have been six times finalists at the National Festival of Music for Youth, most recently in 2009, 2010 and 2014.^[8] The choir was the subject of a feature on BBC Radio 3's Music Matters in May 2011, focusing on the integration of the choir's Chagossian Drummers.^[9] The choir also represented the UK in The Let The People's Sing Gala Concert, broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in October 2011.^[10] The choir broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 in March 2012 as part of the Voice's Now festival from The Roundhouse, London.^[11]

References