Churston Ferrers Grammar School
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Churston Ferrers Grammar School (also known as CFGS) is a selective
coeducation 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 ...
al
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 ...
with
Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
status, situated in the village of Galmpton in
Torbay Torbay is a unitary authority with a borough status in the ceremonial county of Devon, England. It is governed by Torbay Council, based in the town of Torquay, and also includes the towns of Paignton and Brixham. The borough consists of ...
,
South Devon South Devon is the southern part of Devon, England. Because Devon has its major population centres on its two coasts, the county is divided informally into North Devon and South Devon.For exampleNorth DevonanSouth Devonnews sites. In a narrower s ...
, England. It is also a specialist
Humanities College Humanities Colleges are a type of specialist school introduced in 2004 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary and primary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, humanitie ...
. Year 7 annual intake is approximately 130 pupils.


History

The school was founded in 1957 and accommodated around 350 pupils, drawn from the surrounding areas including those of the schools it replaced and as far afield as
Totnes Totnes ( or ) is a market town and civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England, within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is about west of Paignton, about west-southwest of Torquay and ab ...
. Its first headmaster, Donald W. Carter, was head of the Dartmouth Grammar School until its closing in 1957 when Churston opened. He led the school until 1972 when he retired. In 2011, the school became an academy.


Location

The school is next to Churston railway station on the
Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway The Dartmouth Steam Railway, formerly known as the Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway, is a heritage railway on the former Great Western Railway branch line between and in Devon, England. Much of the railway's business is from summer touri ...
. Its main playing fields are separated from the remainder of the school by the railway line and are currently accessible via a path under the railway line at the bottom of the main school playing field, or via Dartmouth road and the pavilions which were opened at the start of 2009.


Buildings

The school has occupied its current buildings since opening and was largely unchanged for the first half of its existence. When the school expanded in the late 1980s, a new classroom block and sports facility was added. Later, in 2001, the school expanded further with a Modern Foreign Languages block. In late September 2008, the school had a new block consisting of: a humanities classroom; a study centre; an IT room and two new departmental offices. This building was named 'The Cube' by the students in a poll from a selection of alternative names. For some time, there was a "maths hut", which was a temporary building that housed two Mathematics classrooms. This was eventually demolished in 2011 to make way for the new Sixth Form Centre which was completed in the summer of 2012. Also in 2016 a remodeling and extension of the Modern Foreign Languages block created a new section of the school for Art and Music.


Academic houses

There are currently five academic houses: Brunel, Christie, Gilbert, Singer and Thompson. All of the houses are named after notable individuals with ties to the local area, South Devon. Each house is represented by an individual crest and colour (Brunel - blue, Christie - green, Gilbert - red, Singer - purple, Thompson - yellow) and a head is appointed to ensure the running of the house system. Each pupil is assigned to a house-based form upon induction and throughout the duration of the pupil's time at CFGS, will compete in both academic and sporting inter-house competitions as determined by an annual calendar of events; house points are subsequently awarded to each form group, contributing towards the yearly House Badge Competition. Students are organised into year groups which are managed by a Head of Year and an Assistant Head of Year. *Brunel House is named after the engineer
Isambard Kingdom Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel ( ; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history", "one of the 19th-century engi ...
(1806–1859) *Christie House is named after the crime-writer
Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving ...
(1890–1976) *Gilbert House is named after the explorer
Sir Humphrey Gilbert Sir Humphrey Gilbert (c. 1539 – 9 September 1583) was an English adventurer, explorer, member of parliament and soldier who served during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and was a pioneer of the English colonial empire in North Americ ...
(c. 1539–1583) *Singer House is named after the sewing-machine pioneer
Isaac Singer Isaac Merritt Singer (October 27, 1811 – July 23, 1875) was an American inventor, actor, and businessman. He made important improvements in the design of the sewing machine and was the founder of what became one of the first American multi-na ...
(1811–1875) *Thompson House is named after the novelist
Flora Thompson Flora Jane Thompson (née Timms; 5 December 1876 – 21 May 1947) was an English novelist and poet best known for her autobiography, semi-autobiographical trilogy about the English countryside, ''Lark Rise to Candleford''. Early life and f ...
(1876–1947)


Headteachers


Academic

There are currently 954 pupils in total, including 240 pupils in the
sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...
that is heavily over-subscribed. Churston Ferrers Grammar School is currently ranked "Good" by Ofsted. The most recent Ofsted inspection was on 19 October 2022. Prior to 2022, Churston Ferrers Grammar School had been ranked Ofsted "Outstanding" on 11 February 2009. Churston A-Level results: 2018 A2 Results: Churston
GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...
results: The school has no present plans to offer sixth formers the option of either the
International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), more commonly known as the International Baccalaureate (IB), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the I ...
or the Pre-U. It does however currently offer the AQA/English Baccalaureate to sixth form students.


Partnerships

Churston Ferrers Grammar School seeks to maintain and grow its local and international ties. CFGS has partnerships with several schools in Torbay, Europe (Erasmus Partnership Project with Portugal, Germany and Norway) and Peru. With cooperation with GlobalEd, Churston Ferrers Grammar has developed its programme of Sustainable Development Education (ESD) with the goal of becoming a Sustainable School. This focus on sustainability has resulted in four of CFGS's feeder primaries pursuing a simultaneous programme of ESD development. Additionally, the ESD programme has seen CFGS establish links to Peruvian schools; in recent years this relationship has manifested itself in triannual trips, some as student exchanges. Various educational development projects conducted by CFGS pupils have made a worthwhile contribution to the partner pupils and in the UK, past activities have seen pupils design calendars in support of the on-going partnership.


Sports and extra-curricular


Basketball

Since the establishment of the CFGS team, the school has twice been crowned National Champions.


Duke of Edinburgh's Award

The Duke of Edinburgh's Award The Duke of Edinburgh's Award (commonly abbreviated DofE) is a youth awards programme founded in the United Kingdom in 1956 by the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, which has since expanded to 144 nations. The awards recognise adolescents and ...
at CFGS has grown increasingly in popularity over the last ten years and CFGS is a Directly Licensed Centre for DofE. Students have the choice to take part in DofE between Years 9 and 13 and approximately 200 students are currently doing either bronze, silver or gold level.


Other

Churston Ferrers Grammar School has historically had a debating presence both on and off site, from the organisation of hustings events for general elections to active participation in South West Academic Trust (SWAT) competitions. Students have in the recent past had available the option of attending a 'Listeners' programme that trained senior students in how to offer well-being support to younger students.


Notable former pupils (Old Churstonians)

Following on the success of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the school, the Old Churstonians' Society was formed and is open to all past students and teachers. * Kirk Brandon,
punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...
musician in the band Theatre of Hate * E. H. H. Green (1958-2006), historian who worked on the history of the 20th-century Conservative Party *
Andy Parsons Andrew John Parsons (born 30 November 1966) is an English comedian and writer. He regularly appeared on '' Mock the Week'' from Series 3 to Series 14. With comedy partner Henry Naylor, he wrote and presented nine series of '' Parsons and Naylor ...
, comedian and writer *
Adam Hart Adam Hart is an English scientist, author and broadcaster, specialising in ecology, entomology and conservation, especially in southern Africa. He has co-presented three BBC TV documentaries on social insects (BBC4's ''Planet Ant: Life Inside ...
, scientist, broadcaster and author *
Giselle Ansley Giselle Anne Ansley (born 31 March 1992) is an English field hockey player who plays as a defender for the England and Great Britain national teams. Biography Ansley was educated at Churston Ferrers Grammar School, Brixham, Devon. She was ...
, Olympic field hockey gold medal athlete * Major General Tom Bewick OBE, senior British Army officer in Army Recruiting & Initial Training Command


References


External links


Official website

Old Churstonians Society
{{authority control Grammar schools in Torbay Academies in Torbay