A MUCH-NEEDED sixth form college could be built in Rayleigh, education bosses have revealed.

The FitzWimarc School in Hockley Road is planning to build a £5million sixth form, which headteacher Jim Fuller has said could be open as early as September next year.

At present, the town of about 33,000 people has no sixth form and most Rayleigh youngsters take A-levels at Seevic College in Thundersley or South East Essex College in Southend.

But thanks to a glowing Ofsted report, which rated FitzWimarc as “outstanding” virtually across the board, the schoo’s prospects are looking good, according to Mr Fuller.

He said when a school gets a grade one rating from Ofsted, it is considered a high-performing school and gets an automatic right to open a sixth form through a “presumption arrangement”.

Mr Fuller said: “We’ve estimated to do it here we would need £5-5.5million to create our own sixth form centre.

“We’ve got to the point of designing it and drawing up a curriculum as part of the previous bid.

“We’ve identified a spot separate to the rest of the school.

“Our vision is to call it Rayleigh Sixth Form and invite other students to join us.”

Mr Fuller was not able to say where exactly the building would be, but said it would have a common room, a lecture theatre, training facilities and classrooms.

It would have a capacity of about 250-270 people.

He said: “My dream in the ten years I’ve been at the school is to have a sixth form in Rayleigh.

“This report guarantees this can happen. We hope to open in 2010. We think we can populate the sixth form fully in a few years’ time.”

The school had already put a bid in to the Government’s Learning and Skills Council.

If it gets the go-ahead, the school will draw up plans with architects and apply to Rochford District Council for outline planning permission.

The chairman of Rayleigh Town Council, Dave Sperring, said: “I think it would be ideal and a really positive thing for the town. It would encourage kids to stay in the town.

“If the kids can carry on in an environment close to where they live, it’s got to be a plus for them.”

Rayleigh has not had a sixth form since the early 1970s when the old Sweyne School closed its block.