King Edward VI Community College
King Edward VI Community College (KEVICC) is a state comprehensive school in Totnes, Devon, 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 1000 students, 400 of whom are at the Kennicott Sixth Form centre adjoining the main site.
King Edward VI Community College | |
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Address | |
Ashburton Road , , TQ9 5JX England | |
Coordinates | 50°26′17″N 3°41′46″W |
Information | |
Type | Foundation school |
Motto | Ready, respectful, safe. |
Founded | 2018 |
Local authority | Devon |
Department for Education URN | 113520 Tables |
Ofsted | Reports |
Gender | Coeducational |
Age | 11 to 18 |
Enrolment | 1000 |
Website | http://www.kingedwardvi.devon.sch.uk |
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),[1] 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.
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.
School uniforms
In 2003,[2] the governors of the school abolished the school uniform policy. Kate Mason, the principal, stated that the administration believed that too much teaching time was spent on correcting dress code violations. She also believed that insisting on uniforms while also praising diversity is sending mixed messages.[3]
The school reintroduced a school uniform in 2012, having abolished any uniform for pupils in 2003. The school stated that a consultation found that the majority were in favour of a uniform, however some disputed the validity of this consultation. Students protested, and some were punished for what the school described as truancy, leading to concerns from some parents that communication with the school had broken down. The head teacher was quoted as saying that students who refused to wear the new uniform could be expelled. Kate Mason is no longer the principal of this school.[2][4][5]
Notable former teachers
- Thomas Peter Snape OBE (4 June 1925 - 30 April 1997), headmaster from 1964–83; General Secretary from 1983-88 of both the Secondary Heads Association and the Headmasters’ Conference.[6]
Notable former pupils
- Joanna Briscoe, novelist
- Ben Howard, singer-songwriter
- Toby Young (briefly), who wrote How to Lose Friends and Alienate People and is a leading advocate of the Free Schools movement in England
- Hester Goodman, musician; member of The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain[7]
- Joseph Mount, of the band [[Metronomy]
- Sam and Sophie Tolchard, bowls players and 2014 Commonwealth Games medallists
- Cosmo Jarvis (attended sixth form), singer-songwriter
- Kieffer Moore, footballer
- Ryan Stevenson, cricketer
Pupils of the Boys' Grammar school
- Charles Babbage, inventor of the computer
- Philip Furneaux, an English independent minister.[1]
- Benjamin Kennicott, an English churchman and Hebrew scholar.[1]
- Edward Lye, an 18th-century scholar of Old English and Germanic philology.[1]
References
- Carlisle, Nicholas (1818). A Concise Description of the Endowed Grammar Schools in England and Wales. 1. London: Baldwin, Craddock and Joy. pp. 360–361. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
- "KEVICC uniform protest detentions: Parents slam 'spiteful' crackdown". BBC News. 17 July 2012. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
- Northen, Stephanie (18 January 2011). "School uniform does not improve results – discuss". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
- KEVICC uniform protests: Students 'face expulsion'. BBC News.
- Totnes KEVICC parents complain about uniforms. BBC News.
- Dancy, John (19 May 1997). "Obituary: Peter Snape". The Independent. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
- Interview with Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, Outline Magazine; retrieved 4 June 2013.
External links
- "King Edward VI Community College (KEVICC) Totnes". www.kingedwardvi.devon.sch.uk. Retrieved 1 October 2009.
- Old Totnesians Society