| Truro School | |
 |
|
| Location | |
|---|---|
| Truro, Cornwall | |
| Information | |
| Type | Co-educational Independent |
| Established | 1880 |
| Headmaster | Mr Paul Smith |
| Staff | 65 |
| Number of students | 819 |
| Website | www.truroschool.com |
Truro School is a mixed independent school located in the city of Truro, Cornwall, UK. The current Headmaster is Paul Smith. Deputy Headteachers are Simon Price and Anita Firth. There were 819 pupils (526 boys, 293 girls) in the 2008–2009 academic year and 25% (209) were enrolled as sixth form students
Contents |
History
The school was originally founded by Methodists in 1880. Its original name was “Truro Middle Class College for Boys” and it became fully co-educational in 1990 after the introduction of sixth form girls into the school. In 2005, a book was produced commemorating 125 years of the school. Entitled High on the Hill, the 208 page book, written by the school archivist Joanna Wood, is published by Blue Hills: ISBN 0954900510.
Admission and fees
Pupils must sit an entrance exam, the equivalent of an 11+ exam, although some pupils take the equivalent 13+ exam as certain local schools still teach up to year 9 (year 3). Academic, and occasionally music, artistic or sports scholarships, are also awarded as are means-tested bursaries as part of an established assisted place scheme. Current fees range from £4,360 per term for day pupils to £6,460 per term for boarders.[1]
In November 2005 the school was one of 50 private schools found guilty of running an illegal price-fixing cartel, exposed by The Times, which had resulted in them increasing fees for thousands of parents.[2] Each school was required to pay a nominal penalty of £10,000 and all agreed to make an ex-gratia payment, collectively totalling £3 million, into a trust designed to benefit pupils who attended the schools during the period where the fee information was shared.[3] Headmaster Paul Smith said that the school had acted "unwittingly".[4]
Site and facilities
Built on a hilltop overlooking the city of Truro and its nineteenth century Cathedral, its facilities include the school chapel, Burrell Theatre (named after Derek Burrell, headmaster from 1959 - 1986), a covered and heated swimming pool, two gymnasiums, 40 acres (160,000 m2) of sports fields, a running track, tennis and squash facilities, and an astro-turf pitch. The school is almost entirely situated on a hill and therefore has limited disabled facilities with only two of the buildings having disabled access lifts.
Form and house system
The school uses the traditional numbering system for year groups: the lower school - years 1 to 5, and the sixth form - lower- and upper-sixth years. This is equivalent to years 7 to 13 in modern state schools. Years 1 to 3 are split into forms for most lessons although Maths and Foreign languages are structured into sets according to ability. For the GCSE (years 4 and 5) forms are sub-divided into smaller sets for most subjects. This continues into the sixth form.
Each pupil is placed into a school 'house' used for intra-school competitions and sports matches:
- School (green) (Head of House: Mr D. Meads)
- Smith (blue) (Head of House: Mr D. O'Neil)
- Vinter (gold) (Head of House: Miss V. Cobner)
- Wickett (red) (Head of House: Miss L. Owen)
The four houses compete for the Opie Shield over many varied sporting events for boys, girls and mixed teams across all year groups. Deputy Head Anita Firth recently introduced non-sporting events such as the "Top House" competition, an inter-house quiz along the lines of University Challenge. The shield is presented annually on Speech Day by the Headmaster to the captains of the house accruing the most number of points across the disciplines. The Opie Shield has been won by Smith House for six consecutive years but in the academic year 2008-09 by the smallest margin for some time.
Boarding
Though the majority of students are day-pupils, there are also about 45 boarders, of whom a quarter are from overseas, including a dozen German temporary students who spend up to three terms in the Lower Sixth.
The school has three boarding houses - one for boys and two for girls:
- Trennick - Boys - years 2 - 6
- Pentreve - Junior Girls - years 1 - 5
- Malvern - Senior Girls - sixth form
Trennick is the only boarding house situated in the school's original main building, although the other two are still on the campus. They are family-run communities with married house staff and other teachers who live on site. Temporary and 'Flexi-boarding' is also available.
Preparatory and pre-preparatory school
Truro School has its own feeder school for age groups 3 - 11. Founded in 1936 and formerly known as "Treliske School", it is situated within the grounds of Truro Golf Course, near Treliske Hospital. It has recently been renamed Truro School Preparatory School, or TruroPrep. It became co-educational in 1989 and the building to accommodate the Pre-Preparatory School Willday House, originally located in Trennick Lane, was added in 1991. There were 240 pupils (135 boys, 105 girls) in the 2008 - 2009 academic year and current fees range from £2150 - £3045 per term. The headmaster is Matthew Lovett.
School uniform
The school uniform for the lower years consists of a blue with brown and white diagonal striped tie and navy blazer with the white school crest on the breast pocket. Until recently, ties were awarded for performance in activities which could either be full or half colours; these featured a plain blue tie with a crest on it (previously a full colour pattern of the schools crest). Also, clubs and societies within the school offered similar ties, however this was mainly through sporting activities and the School's Christian Union. This system has been changed to one of 'badges', worn on the blazer (lower school) or jacket (sixth form), awarded for music, drama and sports. The rest of the uniform consists of a white shirt/blouse with black trousers or a school kilt for girls. In 2004, the sixth form moved away from traditional dress to a more smart casual style. Jackets must still be worn, with a formal shirt and tie for boys and plain blouse for girls.
Curriculum
The school teaches the full range of arts, science and social science subjects to GCSE and A-Level. The sciences are taught as three separate subjects as it is considered that this allows students a greater choice of options at A-Level and beyond. For the school year 2007/2008 the three separate sciences became compulsory subjects for GCSE in place of the previous option to take up a combined science course in the 4th year. Geology has also been introduced as a GCSE option - previously pupils had to have extracurricular lessons for Geology at GCSE level. French and German are both taught in the 1st year and students also have the further option to take up Spanish in year 3.
School publications
The students produce three magazines: Apparatus Criticus (English), Rigor Mortis (History) and Spark (Current Affairs), the latter being established by Upper Sixth pupils in September 2008. All students receive a copy of Terraces, a magazine highlighting events from the previous year, at the beginning of September. This magazine is produced within the school by a member of staff. A twice yearly newsletter is also sent to the homes of pupils.
Notable alumni
See also Old Truronians (category)
- Michael Adams, Chess Grandmaster
- Ben Ainslie, Olympic sailor and gold medallist
- John Kendall-Carpenter, England Rugby International and Captain (23 Caps).
- Julia Goldsworthy, Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament MP.
- Geoffrey Healey, car designer
- Derek Holman, composer
- Benjamin Luxon, opera singer and baritone
- Sir Archie Pellow Marshall, High Court Judge (presided over the trial of Stephen Ward in 1963)
- Tom Middleton, recording artist, music producer, remixer and DJ
- Paul Myners, businessman - appointed a Life Peer and government City Minister in 2008.
- Alan Opie, opera singer and baritone.
- David Penhaligon, former Liberal MP (1974 - 1986)
- Mark Prisk, Conservative Party MP
- John Rhys-Davies, actor. Films include The Lord of the Rings, Raiders of the Lost Ark
- Robert Shaw, novelist and actor. Films include From Russia with Love, The Sting, Jaws
- Charlie Shreck, First Class County Cricketer with Nottinghamshire
- Matthew Taylor, Liberal Democrat MP former pupil at TruroPrep (then Treliske Prep)
- Roger Taylor, drummer and vocalist for pop group Queen
- Nigel Terry, Shakespearean actor. Films include Excalibur, The Lion in Winter and Troy
- Luke Vibert, musician and recording artist within the electronica genre
- Sir Hugh Walpole, novelist. Knighted in 1937.
- Sir Brian Williamson, former Chairman of LIFFE. Knighted in 2001.
References
- ^ "Fees". Truro School website. Truro School. http://www.truroschool.com/school/admissions/fees.asp. Retrieved 2009-04-22.
- ^ Independent schools face huge fines over cartel to fix fees - Times Online
- ^ The Office of Fair Trading: OFT names further trustees as part of the independent schools settlement
- ^ "Truro School fined £10,000". The Truro Packet. Newsquest Media Group. 2 March 2006. http://archive.truropacket.co.uk/2006/3/2/52712.html. Retrieved 2009-04-22.
External links
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