Sir James Smith's School 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
A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...
located in the town of
Camelford, North
Cornwall
Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
, England. The
headteacher
A headmaster/headmistress, head teacher, head, school administrator, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school.
Role
While s ...
is Marc Cooper.
History
The school was founded as a
grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...
in 1679 by Sir
James Smith the local
member of parliament, at a property overlooking the town. In 1879 a new school was built at a central town location on what was named College Road. The school in 1962 became the first
comprehensive school
A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is restricted on the basis ...
in Cornwall when it moved further out to a purpose built site on Dark Lane. The new school was designed by the county architect, F. K. Hicklin, and Kenneth Sprayson continued to be headmaster. (The former school building at College Road, built in 1879 and extended twice before being abandoned was subsequently used as offices for the
Camelford rural district council.)
Previously a
foundation school
In England and Wales, a foundation school is a state-funded school in which the school governor, governing body has greater freedom in the running of the school than in Community school (England and Wales), community schools.
Foundation schools ...
administered by
Cornwall Council
Cornwall Council ( ), known between 1889 and 2009 as Cornwall County Council (), is the local authority which governs the non-metropolitan county of Cornwall in South West England. Since 2009 it has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary ...
, in October 2018 Sir James Smith's School converted to
academy status. The school is now a member of the Westcountry Schools Trust.
Geography
The catchment area for Sir James Smith's is largely
rural
In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically desc ...
and covers an extensive and sparsely populated district of north Cornwall, stretching along the coast from
Crackington Haven to
Boscastle,
Tintagel
Tintagel () or Trevena (, meaning ''Village on a Mountain'') is a civil parishes in England, civil parish and village situated on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village and nearby Tintagel Castle ...
, and
Port Isaac. Inland
Delabole,
St Teath and
St Breward and the isolated hamlets and farmsteads of
Bodmin Moor
Bodmin Moor () is a granite moorland in north-eastern Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is in size, and dates from the Carboniferous period of geology, geological history. It includes Brown Willy, the highest point in Cornwall, and Rough To ...
are included. This area is one of the most economically deprived in
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
. Available employment is frequently part-time and/or seasonal and the average wage is the lowest in the UK; whereas property and living costs are among the highest.
21st century
The school has 602 pupils aged 11–16 (as of 2023).
The last decade has seen an extension to the adult education building; the Salon United for careers in hair and beauty therapy (2007); the West End music and drama suite (2004); a new reception and office suite (2003); a new Mathematics block (2001) and The
Princess of Wales
Princess of Wales (; ) is a title used since the 14th century by the wife of the Prince of Wales. The Princess is the apparent future queen consort, as "Prince of Wales" is a title reserved by custom for the heir apparent to the Monarchy of the ...
Design Centre (Arts and Technology) (1992). The school however closed the hair salon extension, which has subsequently become the offices for Camelford police, a part of
Devon and Cornwall Police
Devon and Cornwall Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the ceremonial counties of Devon and Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly) in South West England. The force serves approximately 1.8 million people over an ...
.
In 2005 Sir James Smith's School became the first specialist humanities college in Cornwall.
In October 2007 it was announced that the school's Sixth Form block would be closing with immediate effect. No new students were to be admitted in the following September. Students continuing their education now travel to other Sixth Form centres at
Bude
Bude (, locally or ; Cornish language, Cornish ) is a seaside town in north Cornwall, England, in the civil parish of Bude-Stratton and at the mouth of the River Neet (also known locally as the River Strat). It was sometimes formerly known as ...
,
Bodmin
Bodmin () is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated south-west of Bodmin Moor.
The extent of the civil parish corresponds fairly closely to that of the town so is mostly urban in character. It is bordered ...
or
Truro College.
Deme system
In 2004 the ''deme'' system was introduced:
Deme
In Ancient Greece, a deme or (, plural: ''demoi'', δήμοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Classical Athens, Athens and other city-states. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside existed in the 6th century BC and earlier, bu ...
being a Latin term for a house or group. The first elements of the names are derived from common place-name elements in Cornish: ''chy'' (house), ''tre'' (farmstead), ''pol'' (pool), and ''lan'' (originally an enclosure, but in placenames usually combined with the name of a saint to refer to a church). The demes are equivalent to the house system followed by many neighbouring schools. (A division into Drake House (green) and Wallis House (red) was in existence at one time in the grammar school; then Bottreaux, Carew, Grenville and Molesworth houses in the comprehensive school.) An in-school competition followed to name them: those selected were all from the
Cornish language
Cornish (Standard Written Form: or , ) is a Southwestern Brittonic language, Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language family. Along with Welsh language, Welsh and Breton language, Breton, Cornish descends from Common Brittonic, ...
, with ''deme'' added to the end.
* Chydeme - blue
* Tredeme - orange
* Poldeme - purple
* Landeme - yellow
Although the school had a 'vertical' tutoring system for a number of years, where forms consisted of a single deme and students from years 7 - 11), it has since reverted to the more traditional year group form system.
Magazine
The pupils produced a school magazine in the 1950s and 1960s called ''The Camel'': the issues for 1957-1962 are numbered Vol. I, no. VI - XI and 1964 is not numbered.
Notable former pupils and staff
*
Trevor Colman —
UKIP
The UK Independence Party (UKIP, ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member ...
MEP for
South West England
South West England, or the South West of England, is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England in the United Kingdom. Additionally, it is one of four regions that altogether make up Southern England. South West England con ...
, 2008-2014
*Derek Pooley — chief executive,
United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, 1994-97
*
Jenny Rowe —
civil servant
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...
and chief executive of the new
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (initialism: UKSC) is the final court of appeal for all civil cases in the United Kingdom and all criminal cases originating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as some limited criminal cases ...
[‘ROWE, Jennifer, (Mrs J. Ellis)’, Who's Who 2015, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2015; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014; online edn, Oct 201]
accessed 2 Dec 2014
/ref>
* Tom Jago — liquor executive and marketeer
* Sheila Oates Williams — mathematician in Australia
* Carole Vincent (1939-2019) — painter, sculptor and teacher; taught at the school
References
External links
Official website
2006 Sir James Smith's School results on BBC Education
{{authority control
Secondary schools in Cornwall
Academies in Cornwall
Camelford
1679 establishments in England