NEIL Hopkins is stepping down this summer after 20 years at Peter Symonds Sixth Form College in Winchester – all of them as principal.

He has set the bar high for his successor, vice principal Stephen Carville, who takes over the top job in September.

Peter Symonds is consistently in the top ten of England’s sixth form colleges.

The 59-year-old former maths teacher said: “I genuinely believe it is the best sixth form college in the country – with apologies to my neighbouring principals.

“Not only are we in the top ten in the country for results, but other colleges near the top of the league table are much more selective. We don’t select by ability.

“It is possible to study A-levels here with just five GCSEs at grade C – although not many students do.”

When he arrived at the college as “boy principal” in 1993, the sixth form college had 1,400 pupils.

Today numbers have nearly tripled to 3,500.

He has overseen six major building projects, including a new science centre which is being extended this summer, sports hall and a huge learning resource centre, which will be a library with computers.

His proudest achievement is maintaining a high quality education while increasing student numbers. Teenagers come from across the county to study there.

But nobody has travelled further – 8,000 miles – than the students from the Falkland Islands.

Peter Symonds is the official sixth form college for the Falklands along with Chichester College. About 18 students are boarders.

Mr Hopkins, who lives in Whitchurch, admits a driving force behind increasing student numbers had been financial.

The married father-of-three said: “There have been a number of savage cuts over the past 20 years from successive governments for post-16 education.”

He added: “Because we get less money per head, we have increased the number of heads.”

In this way, the college has maintained its budget and avoided making teachers redundant – but staff had to work harder, he says.

The Adult Continuing Education (ACE) Centre in Stoney Lane, Weeke, run by Peter Symonds, has also grown.

Today it has 1,500 full and part-time students, including some studying for degrees.

Mr Hopkins is only the third principal to run the sixth form since Peter Symonds became a college for 16 to 18- year-olds in 1974.

The sixth form was previously a boys-only grammar school.

His 39-year career in education started when he taught maths at a comprehensive school in Humberside.

He went on to teach at a sixth form college in Salford before becoming vice principal of a sixth form college in Rutland.

“It was really quite a contrast to Salford. The Rutland sixth form college was next door to a polo ground and you don’t get many of those in Salford.”

Now he is looking forward to taking up a new part-time job as executive director of the Maple Group of top performing sixth form colleges, including Peter Symonds.

He says the post will ease him into full-time retirement, when he is looking forward to spending more time with his grandchildren and buying a holiday home in the Lake District.