Education
Barnstaple is well served by all types of education. There are a selection of well-regarded primary and secondary state schools, independent schools and a tertiary college in the Barnstaple area.
In 2007 the county of Devon 46.6% of students achieved 5 GCSEs grade A* to C. The UK average is 46.7%.
| School Name | Type | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Park Community School | State | 37% | 38% | 44% | 41% | 38% | |
| Pilton Community College | State | 50% | 50% | 48% | 46% | 47% | |
| West Buckland School, 8 miles (12.9 km) | Independent | 75% | 84% | 89% | 78% | 87% | |
| Grenville College, 9 miles (14.5 km) | Independent | 48% | 63% | 59% | 66% | 54% |
Petroc (formerly North Devon College) is a large tertiary college providing a wide range of vocational and academic further education for more than 3,000 young people over 16. The college was due to spend £100 million on a new campus, to be opened on Seven Brethren in 2011, but this fell through when the LSC removed its £75 million funding in January 2009.
Petroc was launched in September 2009 – a year after NDC merged with Tiverton's East Devon College.
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Famous quotes containing the word education:
“Do we honestly believe that hopeless kids growing up under the harsh new rules will turn out to be chaste, studious, responsible adults? On the contrary, by limiting welfare, job training, education and nutritious food, won’t we plant the seeds for another bumper crop of out-of-wedlock moms, deadbeat dads and worse?”
—Richard B. Stolley (20th century)
“Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not; it is the first lesson that ought to be learned; and however early a man’s training begins, its probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“Statecraft is soulcraft. Just as all education is moral education because learning conditions conduct, much legislation is moral legislation because it conditions the action and the thought of the nation in broad and important spheres of life.”
—George F. Will (b. 1941)