Hele's School, formerly Plympton Grammar School, is a co-educational Academy school and Sixth Form in the Plympton district of Plymouth, England, 6 miles (9.7 km) east of Plymouth city centre. Until 31 March 2011, Hele’s was a community school funded by the Local Education Authority (LEA), which is Plymouth City Council. From 1 April 2011, Hele's became an Academy, which among other things gives the school financial and educational independence.[1] The school has a voluntary Combined Cadet Force with Navy, Army and RAF sections. Cadets in the CCF are given the option to take part in the annual Ten Tors Challenge on Dartmoor.
| Hele's School | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
 | |
Seymour Road South West Plympton, Plymouth , Devon , PL7 4LT England | |
| Coordinates | 50°23′33″N 4°03′56″W / 50.392436°N 4.065483°W |
| Information | |
| Former name | Plympton Grammar School |
| School type | Academy Converter |
| Mottoes |
|
| Religious affiliation(s) | N/A |
| Established | 1658 |
| Founder | From a bequest of Elize Hele |
| Sister school | Hele's School Exeter |
| Local authority | Plymouth |
| Trust | Westcountry Schools Trust (WesT) |
| Department for Education URN | 136557 Tables |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Principal | Justine Mason |
| Staff | 187 |
| Years offered | Years 7 through 14 |
| Gender | Mixed |
| Age range | 11-18 |
| Enrolment | 1,386 |
| Classes offered |
|
| Schedule |
|
| Hours in school day | 5 hours, 25 minutes |
| Colour(s) | Selective Yellow |
| Website | http://www.heles.plymouth.sch.uk/ |
Admissions
editIn September 2000, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) designated the school as a specialist Language College. The school has also been designated as a Mathematics and Computing College and has also taken on applied learning specialism.[2]
Academy status
editIn June 2010, the government wrote to all schools that had been judged as 'outstanding' by Ofsted, inviting their Governing Bodies to consider converting to Academy status. The Governors of Hele's School consulted with parents and unanimously voted to apply to become an Academy, effective from 1 April 2011.[3] On 1 September 2017, the school joined the Westcountry Schools Trust.[4]
History
edit
Hele's (pronounced "heals") School was founded as "Plympton Grammar School" in 1658 under a bequest made in the will of the lawyer Elize Hele (1560–1635) of Fardel[5] in the parish of Cornwood, and of Parke[6] in the parish of Bovey Tracey, both in Devon. The school was renamed after him as "Hele's School" when it became a state comprehensive in 1983.[7] Hele's bequest was overseen by Sir John Maynard and also led to the founding of The Maynard School and Hele's School, Exeter.
In 1715 the Reverend Samuel Reynolds was appointed as head master and his son the painter Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) attended the school.[8]
The original building, a grade II* listed building,[9] survives in George Lane, Castle Barbican, in Plympton St. Maurice, but in 1937 the school moved to new premises on Seymour Road, which it still occupies today.[10]
The school maintains an association with the Plympton Grammar School Old Boys field hockey club, formed in 1926.
Prime Minister's Global Fellowship
editStudents have attained places on the Prime Minister's Global Fellowship programme. The school achieved its first student in the inaugural year of the programme, 2008, and in 2009 had another successful applicant.[11]
Notable former pupils
editPlympton Grammar School (1658–1983)
edit- Charles Eastlake, painter
- Kevin Foster, Conservative MP[12]
- Benjamin Haydon, painter and writer[13]
- Patricia Hollis, politician[14]
- Anthony Nicholls (physicist), entrepreneur, based in USA
- James Northcote, painter
- John Parker, 1st Earl of Morley (1772-1840) of nearby Saltram House[15]
- Charles Morice Pole, naval officer and politician[16]
- Sir Joshua Reynolds, painter[17]
- Samuel Rowe, topographer[18]
- Parson John "Jack" Russell, clergyman, sportsman and dog breeder[19]
- Sir Gordon Shattock, Conservative Party's Western-area Chairman, who survived the 1984 Brighton bombing[20]
- Harry Trelawny, dissenting minister, Church of England clergyman, and Roman Catholic priest[21]
Hele's School (1983–Present)
edit- Lewis Gregory, cricketer[22]
References
edit- ^ "Hele's School Academy statement". Retrieved 5 July 2016.
- ^ "Specialist Schools Home". Department for Children, Schools and Families. Archived from the original on 3 August 2006. Retrieved 13 September 2007.
- ^ Academy Consultation Parents Letter. Retrieved 2011-06-14
- ^ "WESTCOUNTRY SCHOOLS TRUST - GOV.UK". www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
- ^ Prince, John, (1643–1723) The Worthies of Devon, 1810 edition, London, p.487; also as inscribed on his ledger stone in Exeter Cathedral, as recorded in Prince, p.488
- ^ Copy lease, Elize Hele of Parke, Bovey Tracey, Esq, 12th August 1618, Plymouth and West Devon Record Office [1]. The mansion house of Parke is today the headquarters of Dartmoor National Park
- ^ Robinson, Chris (4 July 2023). "Plymouth's historic treasure in the heart of a Stannary town". Plymouth Live. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
- ^ Moseley, Brian (26 January 2007). "Plympton Grammar School". The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History. Plymouth Data. Archived from the original on 27 October 2007. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
- ^ old Plympton Grammar School, British Listed Buildings
- ^ "Hele's School". Royal Navy. Archived from the original on 10 July 2007. Retrieved 13 September 2007.
- ^ British Council website "Fellows" Archived 2011-09-12 at the Wayback Machine accessed 10 November 2009.
- ^ ‘FOSTER, Kevin John’, Who's Who 2016, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2016
- ^ "Haydon, Benjamin Robert (1786–1846)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/12750. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Who's Who 2007. A & C Black. 1912. ISBN 978-0-7136-7527-6.
- ^ "Grammar School". Plympton St. Maurice. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
- ^ "Pole, Sir Charles Morice". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/22444. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ "Reynolds, Sir Joshua (1723–1792)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/23429. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ "Rowe, Samuel (1793–1853)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/24206. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ "Russell, John [Jack] [called the Sporting Parson] (1795–1883)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/24326. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Sir Gordon Shattock - Telegraph
- ^ "Trelawny, Sir Harry, seventh baronet (bap. 1756, d. 1834)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/48167. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ "Lewis Gregory". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 21 January 2024.