Welbeck Defence Sixth Form College (stylised as Welbeck – The Defence Sixth Form College), formerly named and often referred to as simply Welbeck College, was an independent, selective sixth form college in Leicestershire, England. While run as a sixth form college, the school was an institution of the Ministry of Defence and part of the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom. Founded in 1953, the school was originally based at Welbeck Abbey, where it provided A-level education for boys planning to join the technical branches of the British Army. By 2004, the school accepted both male and female students for all three branches of the armed forces and in 2005, the school was re-opened and relocated to a purpose-built site in Leicestershire, where it also began admitting potential civil servants for the Defence Engineering and Science Group within the Ministry of Defence. The school closed on 3 July 2021. History Foundation Recognising a decline in the number of cadets passing to Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, particularly from the north of England, in 1951 the Army Council appointed a committee to consider ways to attract young boys to take commissions in the army. The committee concluded that either a system of scholarships should be established to encourage boys to stay at school until they were 18 before graduating to Sandhurst, or that the army should open a school of its own. The second method was preferred by the council, who appointed a second committee which selected Welbeck Abbey—previously an army college for adults—as the site for the new school. The report was approved by the council, and in the autumn of 1952, work commenced to convert the abbey, which was let by the Duke of Portland to the Ministry of Defence, into a teaching facility. Following several meetings throughout September 1953 to finalise some last details, Welbeck College, The Army Sixth Form was officially opened on 25 September 1953. Expansion and re-opening In 1992, female students were permitted to join the school for the first time. In 2002, the Defence Training Review resulted in a decision to expand the school to accommodate candidates for the engineering branches of the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force, starting from 2004. Having operated out of Welbeck Abbey for half a century, the review also resulted in the decision to close the school at the abbey and open a new Defence Sixth Form College