The Park Community 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

Barnstaple, Devon Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town and civil parish in the North Devon district of Devon, England. The town lies at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool from ...

, England.

History

The school was founded in 1910 as Barnstaple Grammar School, and was the first secondary school to be built by

Devon County Council Devon County Council is the county council administering the English county of Devon. The council is based at Devon County Hall in the city of Exeter. The area administered by the county council is termed the non-metropolitan county, which is ...

, educating the youth of much of North Devon. The school's name was changed to The Park School in 1973 when the school became a comprehensive. From 2002 to 2003 the school underwent extensive remodelling with a new maths and science building linking the old North and South Buildings, and a new food hall was also built whilst many of the old classrooms were redesigned and refurbished. 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

, in February 2019 The Park Community School converted to academy status. The school is now sponsored by the Tarka Learning Partnership.

Notable former pupils

Barnstaple Grammar School *

Michael Bowering Michael Ernest Bowering (25 June 1935 – 25 April 2015) was Archdeacon of Lindisfarne from 1987 until 2000. Bowering was educated at Barnstaple Grammar School; Kelham Theological College; and York St John University College. After curacies in ...

, archdeacon *

Ann Cleeves Ann Cleeves (born 24 October 1954) is a British mystery crime writer. She wrote the Vera Stanhope, Jimmy Perez, and Matthew Venn series, all three of which have been adapted into TV shows. In 2006 she won the Duncan Lawrie Dagger for her ...

, novelist *

Jonathan Hanmer Jonathan Hanmer (1606–1687) was an English ejected minister. Life A younger son of John Hanmer (alias Davie, died April 1628), and Siblye Downe his wife, he was born at Barnstaple in Devon, and baptised there on 3 October 1606. He attended Bar ...

(1606–1687), minister *

Nicholas Hooper (1654–1731) Sir Nicholas II Hooper (1654-1731) of Fullabrook, Braunton and Raleigh, Pilton in Devon, was a lawyer who served as Tory Member of Parliament for Barnstaple 1695-1715. Origins He was the son of Nicholas I Hooper of Fullabrook, Braunton, Devon, ...

, lawyer and member of parliament *

Charles Johnston (priest) Charles Francis Harding Johnston (b Barnstaple, 6 October 1842 -d Warrington 22 August 1925) was Archdeacon of Bombay from 1888 until 1890. Johnston was educated at Barnstaple Grammar School and Christ's College, Cambridge; and ordained in 1867. ...

John Johnston (priest) John Octavius Johnston (1 November 1852 – 6 November 1923) was a British Anglican priest and theologian. Life Johnston was born in Barnstaple, Devon, and educated at Barnstaple Grammar School, before studying at Keble College, Oxford, from 1874 ...

Thomas Lee (1794–1834) Thomas Lee (Jnr) (1794 – 5 September 1834), the son of Thomas Lee of Barnstaple, Devon, was an England, English architect. He was educated at Barnstaple Grammar School and left to train briefly in 1810 at Sir John Soane's office, where his fa ...

, architect *

Gervase Frederick Mathew Gervase Frederick Mathew (11 February 1842 – 10 February 1928) was an English naval officer and entomologist. Gervase Mathew was born in Barnstaple and educated at Barnstaple Grammar School and Blundell's School. He entered the Royal Navy as A ...

, naval officer and entomologist *

Cuthbert Mayne Cuthbert Mayne (c. 1543–29 November 1577) was an Catholic Church in England and Wales, English Catholic priest executed under the laws of Elizabeth I of England, Elizabeth I. He was the first of the seminary priests trained on the Continental ...

, martyr *

David Shepherd (umpire) David Robert Shepherd (27 December 1940 – 27 October 2009) was a first-class cricketer who played county cricket for Gloucestershire, and later became one of the cricket world's best-known umpires. He stood in 92 Test matches, the last ...

David Spiegelhalter Sir David John Spiegelhalter (born 16 August 1953) is a British statistician and a Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge. From 2007 to 2018 he was Winton Professorship of the Public Understanding of Risk, Winton Professor of the Public Under ...

, statistician *

David Vine David Martin Vine (3 January 1935 – 11 January 2009) was an English television sports presenter. He presented a wide variety of shows from the 1960s onwards, most notably covering major snooker tournaments for the BBC. Early life Born in Newt ...

, commentator

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Park Community School Secondary schools in Devon Buildings and structures in Barnstaple Academies in Devon