King Edward VI Community College (KEVICC) 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 ...

and

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 ...

located in

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 ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, England. It is located in the Dart Valley on the A385 Ashburton Road and serves Totnes and the surrounding area. It has a large campus with around 900 students, 200 of whom are at the Kennicott Sixth Form centre adjoining the main site.

History

The school was founded in 1966 as the King Edward VI Comprehensive School, an amalgamation of the King Edward VI Grammar School for boys (founded 1554), the Redworth Secondary Modern School and the Totnes High School for Girls. The new school was located on the sites of the Redworth Secondary Modern and the neighbouring Totnes High School for Girls. The grammar school had been on a different site ("The Mansion" on Fore Street), which was too small to accommodate the new comprehensive school. The school received its most recent Ofsted report in 2019, where it scored a 'Good'. Previously a community school administered 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 ...

, in September 2022 King Edward VI Community College converted to academy status. The school is now sponsored by Education South West.

Curriculum

The school curriculum follows the National Curriculum of England and Wales and offers French and Spanish for a compulsory modern foreign language. Students choose 4 GCSE subjects, alongside Maths, English Language, English Literature, Science and Physical Education, which are all compulsory. Students also have the option of studying the English Baccalaureate (EBacc). The school also has Kennicott sixth form for students to take A Levels, AS Levels, BTEC National Diplomas and EPQs.

College houses

The school currently has five houses: Babbage, Davis, Gyles, Scott and Snape. These took over from the previous four-school house system of Rea, Smythe, Jeffrey and Scott in 2001.

Notable former teachers

* Thomas Peter Snape OBE (4 June 1925 - 30 April 1997), headmaster from 1964 to 1983; General Secretary from 1983 to 1988 of both the

Secondary Heads Association The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), formerly the Secondary Heads Association (SHA), is a UK professional association and trade union for leaders of schools and colleges. History The Association of Head Mistresses (AHM) was foun ...

and the Headmasters’ Conference.

Notable former pupils

* Cressida Bowyer, musician and scientist *

Joanna Briscoe Joanna Briscoe (born 1963) is an English writer who has written six novels and several short stories and has worked as a freelance journalist. Her first novel, ''Mothers and Other Lovers'', won a Betty Trask Award in 1993, and her third, ''Slee ...

, novelist *

Jimmy Cauty James Francis Cauty (born 19 December 1956), also known as Rockman Rock, is an English artist and musician, best known as one-half of the duo the KLF, co-founder of the Orb and as the man who K Foundation Burn a Million Quid, burnt £1 million ...

, musician and artist * Miracle Chance, stage actress and singer * Helen J. Cooper, chemist and professor at the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

* Hester Goodman, musician; member of The Ukulele Orchestra of Great BritainInterview with Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain
''Outline Magazine''; retrieved 4 June 2013. *

Cathryn Harrison Cathryn Mary Lee Harrison (25 May 1959 – October 2018) was an English actress. Early life Harrison was the daughter of the actor and singer Noel Harrison and Sara Lee Eberts, and the granddaughter of actor Sir Rex Harrison. Career Harr ...

, actress *

Ben Howard Benjamin John Howard (born 24 April 1987) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and composer. His self-released debut extended play (EP) ''Games in the Dark'' (2008) was followed by two more EPs, '' These Waters'' (2009) and '' Old Pine'' ...

, singer-songwriter *

Cosmo Jarvis Harrison Cosmo Krikoryan-Jarvis (born ), known as Cosmo Jarvis, is an English actor and former singer-songwriter. He has starred in the films '' Lady Macbeth'' (2016), '' Calm with Horses'' (2019), ''Persuasion'' (2022), and ''Warfare'' (2025). ...

(attended sixth form), singer-songwriter * Warwick Lightfoot, Conservative politician *

Kieffer Moore Kieffer Roberto Francisco Moore (born 8 August 1992) is a professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for club Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United and the Wales national football team ...

, footballer *

Mary Nightingale Mary Nightingale (born 26 May 1963) is an English journalist and television presenter. She has presented the '' ITV Evening News'' since 2001. Education and early career Nightingale was born in Scarborough, the third of four daughters. She mov ...

, journalist and news presenterToffs at the top
Press Gazette, 16 June 2006 *

Guy Singh-Watson Guy Singh-Watson (''né'' Watson; born 1960) is a British farmer and founder and creator of Riverford, an organic farm and UK-wide organic vegetable box delivery company. Biography Singh-Watson was born in Totnes. He was brought up on Riverford ...

, organic farmer, Riverford Farm * Ryan Stevenson, cricketer * Sam and Sophie Tolchard, bowls players and

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

medallists *

Toby Young Toby Daniel Moorsom Young, Baron Young of Acton (born 17 October 1963), is a British social commentator and life peer. He is the founder and director of the Free Speech Union, an associate editor of ''The Spectator'', creator of '' The Daily S ...

, son of Lord Young of Dartington, journalist Pupils of the Boys' Grammar school *

Charles Babbage Charles Babbage (; 26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English polymath. A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer. Babbage is considered ...

, inventor of the computer *

Philip Furneaux Philip Furneaux (1726–1783) was an English independent minister. Early life Furneaux was born in December 1726 at Totnes, Devon. He attended Totnes Grammar School, where he formed a lifelong friendship with Benjamin Kennicott. In 1742 or 1743 ...

, an English independent minister. *

Benjamin Kennicott Benjamin Kennicott (4 April 171818 September 1783) was an English churchman and Hebrew scholar. Life Kennicott was born at Totnes, Devon where he attended Totnes Grammar School. He succeeded his father as master of a charity school, but the ge ...

, an English churchman and Hebrew scholar. *

Edward Lye Edward Lye (1694–1767) was an 18th-century scholar of Old English and Germanic philology. His ''Dictionarium Saxonico et Gothico-Latinum'', published posthumously in 1772, was a milestone in the development of Old English lexicography, surpas ...

, an 18th-century scholar of Old English and Germanic philology. *

George Jackson Churchward George Jackson Churchward (31 January 1857 – 19 December 1933) was an English railway engineer, and was chief mechanical engineer of the Great Western Railway (GWR) in the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1922. Early life Churchward was born at ...

, Locomotive Superintendent of the Great Western Railway * Gartrell Parker, a flying ace of the Second World War

References

External links

*
Old Totnesians Society
{{authority control Secondary schools in Devon Academies in Devon Totnes King Edward VI Schools Educational institutions established in 2018 2018 establishments in England