The college's roots date back to 1604, when the Free Grammar School of King James I was founded at the Chantry House in Henley. The charity school, which was more vocational than academic, was endowed by Dame Elizabeth Periam in 1609. The two schools were amalgamated in 1778.[1] The two colleges from which The Henley College was formed, King James's College and the South Oxfordshire Technical College, were controlled by Oxfordshire County Council. The merger of the two led in 1987 to a newly incorporated tertiary college responsible to the Further Education Funding Council (FEFC) for running its own affairs. In 2010 the college applied for sixth form college status, which was granted.
Current campus
The college offers a range of academic and vocational courses including more than 60 A-Levels, BTEC and other courses and also a number of vocational and part-time day and evening courses. Among the sports on offer are rugby union, football, basketball, netball and rowing. College rugby is linked with the London Wasps academy. A recently completed sports hall has been built at a cost of £2 million. Since its foundation the college has more than doubled in size and its catchment area has extended to cover a large part of the Thames Valley. The college was awarded Beacon status in 2010.
The college consists of two campuses, Deanfield and Rotherfield. A third campus, Southfield, was demolished in 1998 and the land sold to fund improvements to the rest of the site, notably a new building on the Deanfield campus.
Notable college alumni
This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations. (September 2023)
