Rye College, formerly known as Thomas Peacocke Community 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 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 ...

with academy status, located in

Rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is grown principally in an area from Eastern and Northern Europe into Russia. It is much more tolerant of cold weather and poor soil than o ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement ...

, England.

History

The school developed from earlier schools in Rye such as Rye Grammar School which was founded by Sir Thomas Peacocke in 1636. It became a

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 (or before) 1969.

Ofsted judgement and academic performance

The school was judged Good by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

in 2023. Performance at

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 ...

in 2017 was average compared to national results, based on the Progress 8 measure.

Future plans

As of November 2018, Rye College joined the Aquinas Church of England Education Trust, whilst retaining its Community school terms of reference. It is a non-faith school.

Notable former pupils

Of Thomas Peacocke Community College: * Simon Nelson, 10th Earl Nelson * Mark Edwards, best-selling fiction writer *

James McCartney James Louis McCartney (born 12 September 1977) is an English musician and songwriter. He has released several recordings in his own name and contributed to albums by his parents Paul and Linda McCartney. Early life James Louis McCartney was ...

, musician and songwriter *

Mary McCartney Mary Anna McCartney (born 28 August 1969) is an English photographer, documentary filmmaker, plant-based and vegetarian cookbook author, and activist. She is the Global Ambassador for Meat Free Monday. Early life Mary Anna McCartney was born ...

, photographer and

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

cookery writer *

Stella McCartney Stella Nina McCartney (born 13 September 1971) is an English fashion designer. She is a daughter of English singer-songwriter Paul McCartney and American photographer and animals rights activist Linda McCartney. Like her parents, McCartney is ...

, fashion designer Of Rye Grammar School: * Prof Percival Allen, Professor of Geology from 1952–1982 at the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

, and President from 1978–1980 of the

Geological Society of London The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe, with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...

* Prof Ted Paige, expert on

surface acoustic wave A surface acoustic wave (SAW) is an acoustic wave traveling along the surface of a material exhibiting elastic (solid mechanics), elasticity, with an amplitude that typically decays exponentially with depth into the material, such that they are c ...

s at the

Royal Radar Establishment The Royal Radar Establishment was a research centre in Malvern, Worcestershire in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1953 as the Radar Research Establishment by the merger of the Air Ministry's Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE ...

from 1955–1977, and Professor of Electrical Engineering from 1977–1997 at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. His research had great use for airborne radar used by the RAF from the 1970s. *

Harry Peulevé Henri Leonard Thomas Peulevé DSO MC (29 January 1916 – 18 March 1963) was a Special Operations Executive agent who undertook two missions in occupied France and escaped from Buchenwald concentration camp. Early life Peulevé, son of Leo ...

DSO MC *

Mark Saville, Baron Saville of Newdigate Mark Oliver Saville, Baron Saville of Newdigate, (born 20 March 1936) is a British judge and former Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. Early life Saville was born on 20 March 1936 to Kenneth Vivian Saville and Olivia Sarah Fra ...

, chaired the

Bloody Sunday Inquiry The Bloody Sunday Inquiry, also known as the Saville Inquiry or the Saville Report after its chairman, Lord Saville of Newdigate, was established in 1998 by British Prime Minister Tony Blair after campaigns for a second inquiry by families of ...

References

{{authority control Secondary schools in East Sussex Academies in East Sussex

College A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...