Tavistock College is a

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

secondary school and

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

located in

Tavistock Tavistock ( ) is an ancient stannary and market town within West Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy from which its name derives. At the 2011 census the three electoral wards (North, South and South West) had a population of 13 ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

, England. There were (as of April 2020) approximately 1800 students attending. The schools draws students from a catchment area of about radius. The college has links with Japan,

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

, Spain, Swaziland, Peru, France and India where staff exchanges and student visits and projects take place.

Success

In 2013, a Japanese teacher won the so-called "teachers' Oscar" for secondary school teacher of the year.

Ofsted Reviews

In early 2010, the school received a "notice to improve" from Ofsted, the national school inspection agency. After a failure to improve, the following year Tavistock College was placed under special measures. The school was placed into special measures in September 2011 and underwent a change in head teacher fairly soon after. The result of the changes made by school leadership led to an improvement in grades in the next years GCSEs. Following the success in 2012 and 2013, the school came out of special measures and has been progressing well.

History

Tavistock grammar school was founded in 1552. In the 1930s it stood "on the Plymouth road, a modern block with splendid playing fields" but was later moved to the current site to allow for expansion as Tavistock and surrounding areas grew in population. The college motto was traditionally “Crescit sub pondere virtus” (Virtue flourishes under a burden); this is also the motto of the

Earl of Denbigh Earl of Denbigh (pronounced 'Denby') is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1622 for William Feilding, 1st Viscount Feilding, a courtier, admiral, adventurer, and brother-in-law of the powerful Duke of Buckingham. The title is ...

. However, the school motto was changed to “Together: we care, we challenge, we excel” Previously a community school administered by Devon County Council, in January 2018 Tavistock College converted to academy status. The school is now sponsored by the Dartmoor Multi-Academy Trust.

Curriculum

In 1996 Tavistock College began requiring year 7 and 8 students to take courses about the

Japanese language is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ...

, the first school in England to have such a requirement.

Other activities

Since 2006, the college has organised concerts locally under the name of ParkLife; a ParkLife festival was held in 2007 and 2008. Tavistock College regularly takes students to remote regions of the world on expeditions with companies such as Camps International The college has also participated in fundraising activities and community tasks such as dog shows, the school sports day, local athletics competitions hosted on the extensive track and PE facilities.

Sports

Over £1.1m has been invested in new sporting facilities - an all-weather pitch, competition standard athletics track, and a football pitch development comprising seven pitches over the past years. The college Rugby and Football teams all extensively utilise these facilities as well as allowing local clubs such as Tavistock FC to train on the Astro on a regular basis. The track and other athletics facilities are regularly used for athletics clubs and for hosting competitions. Most years the college engages in school “Sports Tours” with the Rugby, Football and netball teams to foreign destinations such as France, Italy or America where the teams compete over multiple tournaments during the trip.

Notable former pupils

* Trevor Colman politician, a Member of the European Parliament for South West England * Graham Dawe, rugby union player * Robert Hingley, pioneering

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

musician *

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Rosie Alice Huntington-Whiteley (born 18 April 1987) is an English model and actress. She is best known for her work for lingerie retailer Victoria's Secret, formerly being one of their brand "Angels", for being the face of Burberry's 2011 bran ...

, actress/model, came from a nearby farm; she is known for '' Transformers: Dark of the Moon'' *

Jack Derges Jack Derges is a British actor known for portraying the role of Andy Flynn in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. Career Derges made his acting debut in the 2007 '' Casualty'' episode "Core Values" as Private Haydon; he returned to the show i ...

, Actor, he is known for playing

Andy Flynn Andy Flynn may refer to: *Andy Flynn (footballer) Andrew Flynn (1895 – ?) was an English professional footballer who played as a full back. He played for Mexborough, Exeter City, York City and Boston Town. Career Born in Sheffield, West ...

in EastEnders * Sam Lakeman,

Seth Lakeman Seth,; el, Σήθ ''Sḗth''; ; "placed", "appointed") in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mandaeism, and Sethianism, was the third son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, their only other child mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible. Ac ...

and

Sean Lakeman Sean Lakeman (born 29 January 1974) is an English folk musician and record producer. Early life Sean was born and brought up as the first of three boys in Buckland Monachorum, near Yelverton, Devon with his brothers, fellow folk musicians Se ...

, folk musicians * Greg Parker, Professor of Photonics at Southampton University

References

External links

Official website

Ofsted report on Tavistock College

{{authority control Secondary schools in Devon Academies in Devon Tavistock