| Plymouth College | |
 |
|
| Motto | Dat Deus Incrementum |
| Established | 1877 |
| Type | Independent School |
| Head | Dr S Wormleighton |
| Chairman of Governors | Sir Robert Hicks |
| Founder | Mr FH Colson and Mr LF Griffiths |
| Location | Plymouth Devon England |
| Staff | 60 full time, 15 part time.[1] |
| Students | 565 (approx.)[2] |
| Gender | Co-educational |
| Ages | 3 to 18 including Preparatory School |
| Houses | 4 |
| Colours | Black Green Red |
| Former pupils | Old Plymothians and Mannameadians (OPMs) |
| School song | Carmen Collegii Plymothiensis |
| Website | www.plymouthcollege.com |
Plymouth College (PMC) is a co-educational independent school in Plymouth, Devon, England, for day and boarding pupils from the ages of 11 to 18. It was founded as a boys' school in 1877 and became coeducational in 1995.
Contents |
History
The school was established in 1877 and in 1896 it bought out its older rival Mannamead School (founded in 1854), and was temporarily known as Plymouth and Mannamead College (hence the surviving abbreviation PMC).[3]
In 1976 the first girls were admitted to the school's sixth form. It became fully coeducational in 1995, which also saw the end of Saturday morning lessons. In 2004 the school absorbed St Dunstan's Abbey School, a local but older independent school for girls. The combined school is still known as Plymouth College and remains at Ford Park, near Mutley Plain, just north of the city centre. The preparatory school is a mile south west within the gated Millfields complex at Stonehouse.
Today
Plymouth College is an independent school for pupils from the ages of 11 to 18. Its headmaster is Dr Simon Wormleighton who is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. The school has a non-selective intake but admission is by way of its annual entrance examination at age 11, or by way of Common Entrance at 13 although applications are considered at any other times and are not unusual at the beginning of GCSE courses and the sixth form.
The school offers the International Baccalaureate as the principal Sixth Form (years 12 and 13) option, running alongside A level courses. The potential merits and practicalities of the Cambridge Pre-U examination are under continuing review by the governors.
The school has four Houses which are named after past influential masters and headmasters: Sargents (Green), Palmers (Red), Dales (yellow) and Chaytors (Blue). The houses compete against each other throughout the year for the Forsyth Cup.
Boarders at the school, of which about 40% are from abroad, are accommodated in two houses: College House (previously split into two school houses, Colson House and Mannamead House), situated at Ford Park, and Captain's House for those in the Elite Swimming Programme, near the preparatory school site.
There has been a preparatory school on various Plymouth sites since the school's foundation; it currently accepts children aged 3 to 11, with a roll in excess of 300. In 2005, the prep schools of Plymouth College and St Dunstans's Abbey combined to form Plymouth College Preparatory School, based at the St Dunstan's site.
Sport
The school is involved with a wide range of competitive sports with impressive results. The Elite Swimming programme has produced pupils who have competed nationally and internationally breaking over fifty British and English records. Cassandra Patten won a swimming bronze at the 2008 Olympics. The number of pupils who have been selected to swim for England and Great Britain is now well into double figures and the swimming programme is offered in a partnership with the Plymouth Leander Swimming Club.[2] As well as swimming the school also offers modern pentathlon and has the benefit of having a rifle range within the grounds. Other sports at the College include rugby union, rugby sevens, hockey, cricket, athletics, cross country, badminton, basketball, canoeing, golf, squash, tennis, netball, Rugby Fives, sailing, and kayaking.
The Whiteworks Outward Bound centre on Dartmoor has a 20 bed bunkhouse[4] and the school owns further rugby and cricket pitches at Delgany, Derriford, about two miles north of the Ford Park campus.
Fees
Annual day fees: £10,350 - £11,160, Annual weekly boarding: £20,250 - £21,060, Annual full boarding £20,370 - £21,180.[5]
Various scholarships and bursaries are available for high achievers and those with proven potential in academic, sporting and other fields.
Charitable status
The present British Government and the Charities Commission have indicated that independent schools will lose their charitable status if they cannot clearly demonstrate that in addition to having high fees and exceptional facilities they also provide a measurable benefit to the local community and admit or provide places and education for the poor. Plymouth College facilities are widely used by local organisations, bursaries and scholarships are available and there is an evolving pattern of outreach and links with the city and community.[2]
Notable OPMs
Former pupils of Plymouth College are known as OPMs (Old Plymothians and Mannameadians). Former pupils of St Dunstan's are now included. Some of those who have come to public attention:
- Sir Alfred Woodley Croft (1841–1925), Director of Public Instruction, Bengal, Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University
- William Crossing (1847–1928), antiquary of Dartmoor (Old Mannameadian)
- Eden Phillpotts (1862–1960), writer (Old Mannameadian)
- Sir Leonard Rogers (1868–1962), tropical medicine specialist, Professor of Pathology, Bengal Medical College, 1906–1920, and founder of the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine and the British Empire Leprosy Relief Association (now LEPRA)
- Sir Alexander Maxwell (1880–1963), Permanent Under-Secretary of State, Home Office, 1938–1948
- Wilson Harris (1883–1955), journalist and author
- Alexander Macklin (1889–1967), surgeon on the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
- Stuart Hibberd (1893–1983), BBC announcer and presenter, 1924–1964
- Major-General Sir Alexander Bishop (1897–1984), army officer and High Commissioner in Cyprus, 1964–1965
- Frank Coles Phillips (1902–1982), geologist
- David Forbes Martyn (1906–1970), radiophysicist
- J. C. Trewin (1908–1990), writer and drama critic
- Sir Rolf Dudley-Williams (1908–1987), co-founder and Managing Director, Power Jets Ltd, 1936–1944, and MP for Exeter, 1951–1966
- Frank Hoar (1909–1976), architect, cartoonist (as Acanthus) and architectural historian
- Robert Clark (1909–1970), historian and Egyptologist
- Sir David Serpell (1911–2008), Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Transport, 1968–1970, Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Environment, 1970–?
- Michael Foot (born 1913), Leader of the Labour Party, 1980–1983 (Prep School only)
- Ronald Jasper (1917–1990), Dean of York Minster, 1975–1984, theologian and ecclesiastical historian
- Brigadier Denis Ballantyne (1919–2004), army officer
- John Trevaskis (1923–2002), classicist
- Ian D. W. Wright (born c.1934), inventor of racketball and racketball champion
- Roger Vielvoye (1942–1992), energy journalist
- David King (1947–2004), developer of the CT scanner
- Gerry Hillman (born 1948), landscape painter
- Richard Deacon (born 1949), sculptor and Turner Prize winner
- Paul Seymour (born 1950), Professor of Mathematics, Princeton University, 1996–
- Mark Tavener (1954–2007), novelist and scriptwriter
- Dawn French (born 1957), comedian and scriptwriter (St Dunstan's Abbey)
- Paul Ackford (born 1958), England rugby union player and rugby journalist
- Michael Ball (born 1962), singer, actor and presenter[6]
- Steve Banyard (born 1963), football commentator
- Milos Stankovic (born c.1963), army officer accused of treason, writer
- Miles Tunnicliff (born 1968), golfer
- Major Jason Ward (1969–2003), joint highest-ranking British casualty of Operation Telic
- Kavus Torabi (born 1971), rock musician
- Simon Edwards (born 1972), journalist and author
- Finn Peters (born 1974), jazz musician
- John Fabian (born 1976), England 7s rugby union player
- William James (born 1976), Wales rugby union player
- Stephen Davies (born 1976), children's author
- Patrick K. Collins (born 1977), Munster rugby union coach
- Cassie Patten (born 1987), 2008 Olympic bronze medallist swimmer
The OPM Club has rooms on the campus including a large bar and its own catering facilities with a balcony overlooking the cricket pitches and seaward.
References
- ^ "Plymouth College". www.isbi.com. http://www.isbi.com/isbi-viewschool/48-PLYMOUTH_COLLEGE.html. Retrieved 2008-03-12.
- ^ a b c "ISI Inspectorate Report 2007". www.plymouthcollege.net. http://www.isi.net/reports/2007/0838_07.pdf. Retrieved 2008-04-12.
- ^ Chris Robinson, 'Plymouth College, The First Hundred Years', 2005, Pen & Ink.
- ^ "Commercial Welcome". www.plymouthcollege.net. http://www.plymouthcollege.net/plymouthcollege/commercial/commercial_index.asp. Retrieved 2008-03-12.
- ^ "Plymouth College". www.plymouthcollege.net. http://www.plymouthcollege.com/our-school/admissions/fees.asp. Retrieved 2008-04-12.
- ^ Ball referred to the school during his BBC Radio 4 Desert Island Discs interview (broadcast on 2 March 2008) and described his time as a boarder as a "horrible experience". "Desert Island Discs with Michael Ball". Desert Island Discs. BBC. Radio 4. 2008-03-02.
External links
- Plymouth College
- Plymouth Leander Swimming
- Inspectorate report
- International Baccalaureate
- OPM Club Online
- OPM Hockey Club
- OPM Lodge
Coordinates: 50°23′03″N 4°08′14″W / 50.38417°N 4.13722°W
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