THE OLD SIXTH FORM BASE

Upstairs are three Home Ec rooms: one small room for Textiles, and two larger ones for Cooking... These had the designation 6 (eg 61, 62), and the 6n designations remain in use. One of the food labs is connected by flyover to what was once Mr Clarke's Biology lab in Athorpe. A more useful flyover runs from the corridor to the Admin Block, but is for staff only as it enters directly into the Staff Room. An even more useful flyover runs north to Hatfield and Osborne.

With the exception of an extra flyover (and some re-glazing), the Old 6th Form Base is externally identical to Athorpe. It was the first of the bases to be reclad in red plastic-coated aluminium. The elevations above show all the recladding I've seen to date (I've not managed to get a view of the north side yet, but I assume it's all red now). Some reglazing has produced a number of non-standard window arrangements: not just the predictable undisciplined mixture of 3-1-2 and 2-1-3 window panels, but also an exclusive 2-3-1 arrangement on the west face (see here for more crazy talk like this). The 2001 Ofsted report criticised ventilation in the upstairs rooms, and this has been addressed in the reglazing.

In the early '90s, the downstairs was used as a food hall. Following the building's rededication as a 6th Form Base (c.'95), food duties moved to Hatfield. 

In the late '90s, the 6th Form base had a hi-fi, and a massive poster of Pulp's His 'n' Hers sleeve over the "book corner" part of the base ("plush" chairs and a carpet in the corner by the study). Plans were being made by the 6th Form committee (essentially established c.1996, perhaps in connection with Standring's retirement) to purchase a pool table, but they never came to fruition during my time there.

With the advent of the New 6th Form Base in the late '60s, sixth formers were somewhat spoilt for space. But around 1995, the New Base was given over to Art, and so the Old Base was suddenly flooded with students. Quieter accomodation had been hijacked in the form of the Careers Room in the Admin Block which was now the 6th Form Study. 

The Lower School fire was to cause the 6th Form even more space issues, when the Study was requisitioned as a Language Lab. As a consequence of this, the 6th Form Common Room (the hall-space of the Old 6th Form Base) was partitioned to make space for a study.

The new study area, to the east (stairs-side) of the base, was a rather strictly managed affair, and a little too quiet and formal for most tastes, while the common-room was somewhat clique-y. The Library (out beyond the Sports Hall back then) became a popular 6th form haunt as a result. 

The study in the Old 6th Form Base is now apparently an ICT study.

The 2001 Ofsted report was concerned that provision of social and study areas for 6th Formers was insufficient. Certainly, the 6th Form seems to have reduced from two bases and a study in the early '90s to half a base and half a study.