Humphry Davy School is a comprehensive school in

Penzance Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, England. The school teaches 11 to 16-year-olds.

History

The oldest part of the main school building was completed in 1909. It was originally called the Penzance County School and opened with an enrolment of 130 boys on 24 January 1910. It later became known as the Humphry Davy Grammar School for Boys. It shared a canteen with the Penzance Girls Grammar School (PGGS), further up the hill, and, in the late 1970s, a joint upper sixth form block was added on the playing fields to the North East of the school, South West of PGGS. In 1980 it merged with PGGS and Lescudjack schools, becoming a co-educational comprehensive school, with the name Humphry Davy School. Much of the original building has been preserved and, in the summer of 2013, the school received funding worth over £300,000 to replace the sash windows with handmade modern versions. In 2005 the school gained

specialist status Specialist schools in the United Kingdom (sometimes branded as specialist colleges in England and Northern Ireland) are schools with an emphasis or focus in a specific specialised subject area, which is called a specialism, or alternatively in t ...

, as a

Music College A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger ins ...

Notable former pupils

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, Olympic gold medal and World Champion rower *

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, Actor and musician

Humphry Davy Grammar School for Boys

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, religious writer known as the 'Alist' * Sir David Collins, educational administrator *

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, theatre director, Tony Award winner *

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, Ambassador to Thailand since 2007, and to

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from 2002 to 2006 *

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, whose bravery during the 9/11 attack saved hundreds of lives at the cost of his own * Jack Richards,

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

cricketer

References

Secondary schools in Cornwall Foundation schools in Cornwall Educational institutions established in 1910 Buildings and structures in Penzance 1910 establishments in England {{Cornwall-school-stub Specialist music colleges in England