Colyton Grammar School facts for kids

Colyton Grammar School (commonly abbreviated to 'CGS') is a co-educational grammar school located in the village of Colyford in East Devon, England that teaches students from years 7 to 13 (ages 11 to 18). The school has been classified by Ofsted as 'Outstanding' in three successive reports.

The school has an open campus style setting situated on a site of over 18 acres (7.3 ha) in total. There have been a number of improvements to the campus in recent years.

The School has 826 students and just over 50 teaching staff and a similar number of support staff. Paul Evans became headteacher in 2008, succeeding Barry Sindall, who had held the position of headteacher for 18 years. Evans left that post at the end of the 2014-15 academic year and was replaced by Mrs J Wainwright. Mr T Harris joined the school as the new headteacher at the start of the 2016-17 academic year.

History

The school was founded in 1546 by a group of twenty yeomen and merchants who bought some land from the crown "for the benefit of Colyton". Their first act was to endow a grammar school "for the goodly and virtuous education of children in Colyton for ever".

The school was situated in a single room over the porch of the parish church until the Feoffees hired a room in the town and the school was moved. In 1612, the school moved to the Church House, which had been enlarged by having another storey built on to it.

The first headmaster on record was William Hull, who joined the school in 1603, for a salary of £5 a year. The first headmistress – Mrs. Susanah Stokes – was appointed in 1792. It was only in 1875 that the school was established as a day and boarding school with its current name – Colyton Grammar School.

On 20 June 1876, the school population reached a record low of just one pupil. Numbers steadily increased again and by August 1884, there were 33 pupils. The school was closed in 1900 due to a lack of pupils and remained closed until 1905, when it was re-opened with a new headmaster.

In 1913, a change in the school's constitution allows girls to be admitted for the first time and the school officially becomes a co-educational grammar school. A Board of Governors with fifteen members was instituted in 1914. In 1929, the school moved to its present site in Colyford.