Franklin College opened in September 1990 following the reorganisation of primary, middle and secondary schools within the Borough of Grimsby. School sixth form provision was transferred to the new college based on the site of Chelmsford School which closed as part of the reorganisation. The college is named after Jack and Florence Franklin who, as local councillors, had devoted most of their adult lives to the well-being of the area. The student number plan was for a small college of about 450 students based on the area’s historically low post 16 particiaption of around 35%. The college immediately exceeded the planning number and the 16-19 population now stands at over 1500.The reorganisation of 1990 was carried out by Humberside County Council which had recently completed a similar exercise in Hull with the creation of Wyke and Wilberforce Sixth Form Colleges. Humberside had previously inherited from an ‘excepted district’ of Lincolnshire John Leggott Sixth Form College in Scunthorpe.