Devonport High School for Boys is an 11–18 boys grammar school and academy in Plymouth, Devon, England. It has around 1,150 boys, and its catchment area includes southwest Devon and southeast Cornwall as well as Plymouth. Pupils are accepted on the basis of academic aptitude.
The school catchment area draws boys from a wide area extending beyond Plymouth, with the numbers of boys being entitled to free school meals being well below average. The proportion of boys attending the school from minority ethnic groups is below the national average, although there are a number who speak English as an additional language.[3]
School history
The school was founded by Alonzo Rider on Albert Road, Stoke, Devonport, on 16 January 1896 to meet the needs of boys in Devonport and the surrounding area who sought a career in the Royal Navy, as engineers and civil servants. In 1906, the Devonport Borough Council took over the school and over the next thirty years it continued to teach boys who came from the city or in by train from the Tamar Valley and Cornwall. Old Boys went on to careers both locally and nationally – and especially in the MoD.
In 1941 the school was evacuated to Penzance because of World War II and in 1945 returned to the present site, the former Stoke Military Hospital on Paradise Road, which had been built in 1797.[4] A book by former student and teacher Henry Whitfeld called A Torch in Flame, chronicles the history of the school from its founding to the death of headmaster Dr Cresswell in 1974. Since 1904, there has also been an annual school magazine made by pupils with the purpose of keeping students, parents and Old Boys informed about developments and information concerning the school, although this has never been well-publicised or documented.
The school has held specialist Engineering status since 2002, and was awarded High Performing Secondary Schools for specialisms for languages in 2007 and Applied Learning in 2009.[5]
Overview
Academic attainment
In 2002, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) designated the school as one of the first four specialist engineering colleges in England. In 2006, it was judged to be a High Performing Specialist School (HPSS) and rebid successfully for a second 4-year period of Engineering Specialism. In April 2007, it took up a second specialism in languages.
After the OFSTED inspection in October 2007, the school successfully gained redesignation for Engineering and, with its HPSS status re-affirmed, successfully applied a third specialism "Applied Learning" which commenced during 2009. This specialism encouraged subject teaching to make reference to relevance in the world of work.
The school was inspected again in February 2011, and was designated as an "Outstanding" school, paving the way for the school's conversion to "Type Two" Academy Status in early March 2011, under the Coalition Government's Academy scheme. The school's academic performance can be assessed on the UK government's DfES website.[6]
The 2011 OFSTED report for Devonport High School for Boys concluded that attainment of boys across the school was "consistently high", further highlighting that "all groups of students, including those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities enjoy their learning and respond well to the varied learning activities offered to them.[7] Current achievement is excellent throughout the school for all groups of students. Most make much better-than-expected progress towards their personal targets". Pupils in the Sixth Form at the school were said to achieve "outstanding results", with teaching across the school being at least good and often outstanding.[8]
School houses
Looking west along the Colonnade
Until the merger with Tamar High School at the end of the 1980s there were three 'forms' of pupils who were separate during their first three years, then began to mix as they opted into different subjects (North, South and West or N, S and W). Forms after O-Levels or GCSEs were also somewhat disrupted into new tutor groups each year. The merger with Tamar generated a new form of mixed pupils from both schools: East.
Actual 'houses' being more sport-oriented or social, took longer to coalesce. Before the 2009 changes these were Drake, Raleigh, Gilbert and Grenville. From 2009-2024 there were six: Campbell, Edison, Newton, Priestley, Smeaton and Winstanley. Since 2024, there has been seven: Turing, Leslie, Windsor, Scott, Attenborough, Fleming and Johnson.
The houses continue to compete each year for the St Levan's Shield, i.e. relating to west Cornwall, and also St Levan Road, which is the boundary between Stoke and the new working suburb of Devonport, Keyham, Plymouth which had been built of the reclaimed Keyham Creek.
School buildings
Based within what was once the Stoke Military Hospital, the school buildings and blocks are all named after notable people with links to Plymouth. The names of these buildings are shortened to their initial for the designation of classroom numbers. Blocks A–E are all connected via an arched colonnade and balcony, while Blocks A and F are connected via an enclosed bridge.
Clive Burrows, a late English and Drama teacher at the school. Note, this block was previously a drama classroom but was changed to an art room in 2021.
The school had a residential centre in the French town of Uzel in Brittany. This offered pupils the opportunity for work experience with local companies as well as the chance to improve their French and enjoy activities like horseriding and canoeing. The house was bought for the token amount of 1 Franc in 1991, from the Mayor of Uzel. From its opening in 1992, until its closure in 2009 over 250 boys visited the house each year. The Friday Choir also took pupils from two other Plymouth grammar schools, Plymouth High School for Girls and Devonport High School for Girls, to Uzel for an opportunity to sing to the locals. These, and many other Friday Choir tours, were organised by music teacher Trefor K Farrow. Mr Farrow joined DHSB in 1965 and completed his fortieth and final year in 2006. In 2010 there were concerns about the House's long-term sustainability as a result of the recession. Ownership of the house was lost during the tenure of Kieran Earley.
Head Teachers
Devonport High School staff and pupils at Penzance in July 1945
Sir Austin PearceCBE (1921–2004), former chairman of British Aerospace from 1980 to 1987 and chairman of the trustees of the Science Museum, who captained DHSB's athletics and rugby teams during his time there. Also Chairman of Esso UK from 1972 to 1980 and President of the Institute of Petroleum from 1968 to 1970.
