Devizes School
{{Use British English|date=February 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{Infobox school
| name = Devizes School
| image = Southbroom House, Devizes School (geograph 5922226).jpg
| caption = Southbroom House, Devizes School
| image_size =
| coordinates = {{coord|51.3505|-1.9874|type:edu_region:GB-WIL_dim:100|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| motto =
| established = 1969
| type = Academy
| president =
| head_label = Executive Headteacher
| head = David Cooper{{Cite web |title=Devizes School |url=https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/Establishments/Establishment/Details/138630 |website=GOV.UK: Schools |access-date=2 December 2023}}
| r_head_label =
| r_head =
| chair_label =
| chair =
| founder =
| address = The Green
| city = Devizes
| county = Wiltshire
| country = England
| postcode = SN10 3AG
| ofsted = yes
| urn = 138630
| dfeno = 5411
| staff =
| enrolment = 1,211
| enrolment_as_of = November 2023
| gender = Coeducational
| lower_age = 11
| upper_age = 18
| houses = Avebury, Roundway, Silbury
| colours =
| publication =
| free_label_1 =
| free_1 =
| free_label_2 =
| free_2 =
| free_label_3 =
| free_3 =
| website = {{Official URL}}
}}
Devizes School is a mixed comprehensive school in Devizes, Wiltshire, England, for children and young people aged 11 to 18. The school is near the centre of the town, next to the Leisure Centre, between the A342 and A360. In September 2012, the school became an academy, and it joined The White Horse Federation Multi-academy Trust in 2017. The school is the only secondary school in the town of Devizes and also serves many surrounding villages. Built around the Georgian Southbroom House, the school now comprises additional teaching blocks of a more modern style, set within its own sports fields. Ofsted has graded the school Good in each of the past six visits, the latest in October 2024.
Admissions
The school has been awarded specialist Sports College and ICT College status.
{{cite web
| title = School Profile
| publisher = Directgov
| url = http://schoolsfinder.direct.gov.uk/8655411/school-profile/
| access-date = 13 December 2012
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121024040140/http://schoolsfinder.direct.gov.uk/8655411/school-profile/
| archive-date = 24 October 2012
|url-status = dead
| df = dmy-all
}}
Traditions
Devizes School has a house system comprising three (used to be four) houses, which each student in Year 7–13 belongs to: Avebury, Silbury and Roundway (previously Apollo, Asclepius, Artemis and Athena Previously also known as Gandhi, King, Mandela and Teresa.)
The names of the houses were changed in 2019, now changed again in 2024. Each house has its own house colour: Silbury is green, Avebury is red and Roundway is yellow.
History
The school was formed in 1969 by the merging of two schools to form a comprehensive school. These were the co-educational Devizes Grammar School, built on Bath Road in 1906,{{cite web|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/School/Details/485|title=Devizes Grammar School|website=Wiltshire Community History|publisher=Wiltshire Council|access-date=29 September 2018}} and the Southbroom Secondary School (at first a Wiltshire County Council senior school, later a secondary modern) which was established in 1925{{cite web|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/School/Details/487|title=Southbroom Secondary School|website=Wiltshire Community History|publisher=Wiltshire Council|access-date=29 September 2018}} around Southbroom House, a Grade II* listed mansion built in 1773.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1252378|desc=Southbroom House|access-date=29 September 2018}}
The new school used the Southbroom site; the Grammar School's lower school was taken over by St. Peter's School{{cite web|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/School/Details/506|title=St. Peter's Church of England Aided School|website=Wiltshire Community History|publisher=Wiltshire Council|access-date=29 September 2018}} (which left the site in 2012){{Cite web|url=https://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/12972299.homes-plan-for-devizes-school-site-agreed/|title=Homes plan for Devizes school site agreed|last=Moore|first=Joanne|date=26 May 2015|website=The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald|access-date=29 September 2018}} while the upper school, Braeside, became a residential education centre.{{Cite web|url=http://rightchoice.wiltshire.gov.uk/Services/4016|title=Braeside Education & Conference Centre|website=Wiltshire Council: Right Choice|access-date=10 December 2018}} The Southbroom buildings were enlarged and by January 1973 there were 1,373 pupils on the school roll. Further new buildings were erected and in 2002 there were 1,065 pupils with a sixth form of around 150.{{cite web|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/School/Details/488|title=Devizes School|website=Wiltshire Community History|publisher=Wiltshire Council|access-date=29 September 2018}}
In 1980, two Chipperfield's Circus lions found their way onto the grounds of Devizes.{{cite web|url=https://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/8128729.school-reunion-will-remember-lion-terror/ |date=29 April 2010|title=School reunion will remember lion terror |author=Lewis Cowen}}
On 8 August 1990, the Queen attended the school to open the swimming pool at the adjacent Devizes Leisure Centre.
Shelley Rudman, the Olympic skeleton silver medallist, worked at the school as a classroom manager.
In February 2005, a 52-year-old builder, David Evans, was taunted by some teenage boys at the school. He confronted two of them, pushing two of them. Next day the boys reported him to their headmaster, Malcolm Irons, who reported him to the police. Next day, Evans hanged himself.{{Cite web |last=Parsons |first=Tony |date=2005-05-01 |title=Idiots like this hand use over to yob rule |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/idiots-like-this-hand-us-over-to-yob-544568 |access-date=2023-12-02 |website=The Mirror |language=en}}
In May 2013, the sixth form moved into their new, enlarged Sixth Form Centre. Phil Bevan was appointed head teacher in April 2016 and the school became a member of The White Horse Federation, a multi-academy trust, in February 2017.
Plans were put forward in December 2019 to sell 5.7 acres of the school's playing fields, to be used for housing.{{Cite web|url=https://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/18081240.houses-built-part-devizes-schools-playing-field/|title=Devizes School wants to sell-off land to pay for facelift|last=Moore|first=Joanne|date=5 December 2019|website=The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald|language=en|access-date=2020-01-17}} Private Eye reported that the school had a large deficit and a repairs backlog when it joined the federation.Private Eye, 21 December 2019, p40
Academic performance
Alumni
;Devizes Grammar School
- Ian Bishop (born 1962), Anglican priest, bishop of Thetford
- Prof Malcolm Godden,{{citation needed|date=July 2023}} Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon 1991–2013 at the University of Oxford
- Sandra Howard, wife of Michael Howard{{Cite web |date=2006-11-09 |title=Passed/Failed: An education in the life of Sandra Howard, writer and former model |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/passed-failed-an-education-in-the-life-of-sandra-howard-writer-and-former-model-423478.html |access-date=2023-12-02 |website=The Independent |language=en}}
- William Saunders,{{citation needed|date=July 2023|reason=source on that page only says "a school in Devizes"}} Liberal MP 1885–86 for Kingston upon Hull East and 1892–95 for Newington Walworth
- Angela Wilkinson, (Secretary General & CEO at World Energy Council){{cite web |date=2024-02-01 |title=Angela Wilkinson |url=https://www.worldenergy.org/about-us/our-people/entry/angela-wilkinson |access-date=2024-02-01 |website=World Energy Congress |language=en}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20071010082231/http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/gallery/school/devizes_picF0046.jpg Images of Devizes School Main Building, Southbroom House, front], [https://web.archive.org/web/20071010082500/http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/gallery/school/devizes_picF0042.jpg and rear], [https://web.archive.org/web/20071008063939/http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/gallery/school/devizes_picF0043.jpg and the Sports Hall], [https://web.archive.org/web/20071012164755/http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/gallery/school/devizes_picF0045.jpg some classrooms and Science Block]
{{Devizes}}
{{Schools in Wiltshire}}
{{authority control}}
Category:Academies in Wiltshire
Category:Educational institutions established in 1969