Plymouth College - Today

Today

Plymouth College is an independent school for pupils from the ages of 11 to 18. Its headmaster is Dr Simon Wormleighton, who is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. The school has a non-selective intake but admission is by way of its annual entrance examination at the age of 11, or by way of Common Entrance at 13, although applications are considered at any other times and are not unusual at the beginning of GCSE courses and the sixth form.

The school offers the International Baccalaureate as the principal sixth-form (years 12 and 13) option, running alongside A level courses. The potential merits and practicalities of the Cambridge Pre-U examination are under continuing review by the governors.

The school has four houses named after past influential masters and headmasters:

Sargent's (green)

Palmer's (red)

Dale's (yellow)

Chaytor's (blue)

Two other houses used to exist but were dissolved and the pupils distributed between the existing ones. This was to increase the strength of the competition. The older houses were College (purple) and Thompson's (black). Before 1953, there were four houses: College (black), Palmer's (white), Sargent's (blue) and Thompson's (green). In 1953, two further houses were created: Chaytor's (purple) and Dale's (yellow). Up to at least 1981, the colours appeared only as the background to the badge on the school cap.

The houses compete against each other in a range of activities throughout the year for the Forsyth Cup.

Boarders at the school, of which about 40% are from abroad, are accommodated in two houses: College House (previously split into Colson House and Mannamead House), situated at Ford Park, and Captain's House for those in the Elite Swimming Programme, near the preparatory school site.

There has been a preparatory school on various Plymouth sites since the school's foundation; it currently accepts children aged 3 to 11, with a roll in excess of 300. In 2005, the prep schools of Plymouth College and St Dunstans's Abbey combined to form Plymouth College Preparatory School, based at the St Dunstan's site.

The school also has a CCF (Combined Cadet Force). Entry is voluntary and takes place at Year 10 for boys and girls. Service is for two years initially, but NCOs are chosen from those cadets who stay into the sixth form. There are three sections from which to choose: Army, Navy and RAF.