Philip Morant School and College

Philip Morant was born in 1700 and died in 1770. Morant's most notable work is the detailed History of Essex, which remains a standard work of reference. A copy of his History, in two volumes dated 1768, is on permanent loan to the School by the Essex Archaeological Society.[3]

The school badge is surrounded by a design of brickwork as a reminder of the parish (St Marys-at-the-Walls) in which Morant lived and worked for over thirty years and in which the school stands. The quartering of the badge is formed by the representation of a cross signifying both Morant's work as a churchman and also the School's spiritual life. The emblems in the quarters are:

• A crown from the arms of the Borough of Colchester (on which the crown of the Three Kings appear to commemorate the work of Helena, patron saint of Colchester).
• A torch, to signify learning and endeavour in games and sports.
• A chevron (part of the arms of the Morant family)
• An open book (both to commemorate Morant's great interest and achievements in the field of history and to represent the academia within the school)[3]

The school's motto is "Hold fast to that which is good".

During Ms Hutley's tenure as headteacher, the motto was briefly changed to "Aspiration, Success, Kindness", which had an associated logo that comprised a circle with a thought box circumscribing the text "ASK".

Norman Way was originally planned in the 1960s to be an inner ring road for Colchester with the "Norman Way School" (and several neighbouring schools) facing onto the road. Instead the metalled road was truncated a short distance before the school for safety reasons, and a footpath set on the original route. The alternative vehicular route requires driving through narrow residential streets. Several times since then the school has applied to have Norman Way extended along part or all of the original route so that pupils and visitors would not have to walk the extra 100m, but each time this was vetoed by the Council after vigorous protests against the increased traffic expected by the local residents.

In the summer of 2009, the school again applied to extend the road through fields in the southern residential area, but this time it was to be linked to a £130m government-funded expansion of the school which would allow it to take on pupils from other two schools. Council policy was set in October 2009 to allow the road extension if it can be proven that the grant is genuinely conditional on the altered road access.[14] In mid-2010 it was announced that there would be no cash for the school expansion from Building Schools for the Future programme. However, Colchester council has not announced that it will halt its road building programme, in spite of local demands to preserve the green space.[15]

In July 2015, the school once again caused controversy when it erected a metal fence across a stretch of the Norman Way footpath without consulting residents.[16]

In 2016, Philip Morant decided to ban traditional homework and take a different approach to out-of-school learning.[17]

At the start of the 2016/2017 academic year, the school implemented their new homework policy: 'Prove It +'. The idea 'Prove It +' is to give students the opportunity to make their own decisions concerning what tasks they complete as a substitute to traditional homework. Students can select tasks from the Prove It + website,[18] and then submit the task to their teacher either using a 'digital postcard' which is sent directly to the member of staff's email inbox, or complete a Prove It + card along with the task completed.

The decision to ban traditional homework has caused mixed views on the idea. Some parents describe the move to ban traditional homework as "creating a generation who will flunk their GCSE's",[19] however others agree with the move from traditional homework and continue to support the idea of "Prove It +".

In 2018 homework was reintroduced by the Acting Headteachers.[20]