Plymouth College

The school was established in 1877 and in 1896 it bought out its older rival Mannamead School (founded in 1854), and was temporarily known as Plymouth and Mannamead College (hence the surviving abbreviation PMC).[1]

The School's motto, Dat Deus Incrementum – God Gives The Increase, is the same as that of Westminster School, Marlborough College and Tonbridge School. In 1976, the first girls were admitted to the School's sixth form. It became fully coeducational in 1995, which also saw the end of Saturday morning lessons. In 2004, the School absorbed St Dunstan's Abbey School, an independent school for girls that had been founded by Lydia Sellon.[2] The combined school is still known as Plymouth College and remains at Ford Park, near Mutley Plain, just north of the city centre. The preparatory school is a mile south-west, within the gated Millfields complex at Stonehouse.

Plymouth College is an independent school for pupils from the ages of 3 to 18. Its headmaster is Mr Jonathan Cohen, 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 A levels and the Sports Baccalaureate in the Sixth Form.

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

• Sargents (green)
• Palmers (red)
• Dales (yellow)
• Chaytors (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 (black) and Thompsons (purple). Before 1953, there were four houses: College (black), Palmers (white), Sargents (blue) and Thompsons (green). In 1953, two further houses were created: Chaytors (purple) and Dales (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 were previously 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. Captain's House was closed in 2017, with all boarders now accommodated on the Ford Park site. There has been a preparatory school on various Plymouth sites since the school's foundation; it currently accepts children aged 3 to 11. 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, as well as those who show merit and leadership in Years 10 and 11. There are three sections from which to choose: Army, Navy and RAF.

The school is involved with a wide range of competitive sports. The performance swimming programme won a swimming bronze at the 2008 Olympic Games, and at the 2012 Olympic Games fifteen-year-old Rūta Meilutytė won the gold medal in the 100m breaststroke for Lithuania.[3] The number of pupils who have been selected to swim for England and Great Britain is now well into double figures and the swimming programme is offered in a partnership with the Plymouth Leander Swimming Club.[4][5]

The school also runs a Modern Pentathlon and Fencing Academy which regularly sees athletes compete in world, European and national competitions. The Academy has produced more than 50 national champions in fencing, biathle, biathlon, triathlon, tetrathlon and pentathlon.

The diving partnership with Plymouth Diving saw Tom Daley become World Champion in 2009 and take bronze in the 2012 London Olympics. At the age of 13, Victoria Vincent was the youngest member of Team England in the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

The Whiteworks Outward Bound centre on Dartmoor has a 20-bed bunkhouse[6] and the school owns further grounds featuring rugby and cricket pitches at Delgany, Derriford, about two miles north of the Ford Park campus.

The previous Labour British Government and the Charity Commission indicated that independent schools would lose their charitable status if they could not clearly demonstrate that in addition to having high fees and exceptional facilities they also provide a measurable benefit to the local community and admit or provide places and education for the poor. Plymouth College facilities are widely used by local organisations, bursaries and scholarships are available and there is an evolving pattern of outreach and links with the city and community.[5]

• Henry John Chaytor, headmaster from 1908 to 1919

Former pupils of Plymouth College are known as OPMs (Old Plymothians and Mannameadians). Former pupils of St Dunstan's are now included. The OPM Club has rooms on the campus including a large bar and its own catering facilities with a balcony overlooking the cricket pitches and seaward.

• Paul Ackford (born 1958), England rugby union player and rugby journalist
• Michael Ball (born 1962), singer, actor and presenter[7]
• Steve Banyard (born 1963), football commentator
• Patrick K. Collins (born 1977), Munster rugby union coach
• Chris Constantinou, musician
• Sir Alfred Woodley Croft (1841–1925), Director of Public Instruction, Bengal, Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University (Old Mannameadian)[8]
• William Crossing (1847–1928), antiquary of Dartmoor (Old Mannameadian)
• Richard Deacon (born 1949), sculptor; Turner Prize winner
• Tom Daley (born 1994), diver, 2009 FINA World Champion and 2012 Olympic bronze medallist in 10m platform
• Stephen Davies (born 1976), children's author
• Sir Rolf Dudley-Williams (1908–1987), co-founder and managing director, Power Jets Ltd, 1936–1944, and MP for Exeter, 1951–1966
• John Fabian (born 1976), England 7s rugby union player
• Michael Foot (1913–2010) (Prep School only), Leader of the Labour Party 1980–1983.
• Dawn French (born 1957), comedian and scriptwriter (St Dunstan's Abbey)
• Wilson Harris (1883–1955), journalist and author
• Stuart Hibberd (1893–1983), BBC announcer and presenter, 1924–1964
• Frank Hoar (1909–1976), architect, cartoonist (as Acanthus) and architectural historian
• Jade Howard (born 1995), swimmer, 2012 Olympian
• Philip Jacks (born 1877-1941) land officer Hong Kong, 1905-1935, subject of bestselling biography, Going Native https://web.archive.org/web/20170314000230/http://scholarly.info/book/510/
• William James (born 1976), Wales rugby union player
• Ronald Jasper (1917–1990), Dean of York Minster, 1975–1984, theologian and ecclesiastical historian
• Alexis Kirke (born 1970), composer
• Jamila Lunkuse (born 1997), swimmer, 2012 Olympian
• Alexander Macklin (1889–1967), surgeon on the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
• David Forbes Martyn (1906–1970), radiophysicist
• Sir Alexander Maxwell (civil servant) (1880–1963), Permanent Under-Secretary of State, Home Office, 1938–1948
• Rūta Meilutytė (born 1997), swimmer, 2012 Olympic gold medalist in 100m breaststroke and 2013 FINA World Champion in 100m Breastroke
• Cassie Patten (born 1987), 2008 Olympic bronze medalist swimmer
• Finn Peters (born 1974), jazz musician
• Sir Leonard Rogers (1868–1962), tropical medicine specialist, Professor of Pathology, Bengal Medical College, 1906–1920, and founder of the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine and the British Empire Leprosy Relief Association (now LEPRA)
• Paul Seymour (born 1950), Professor of Mathematics, Princeton University, 1996–present
• Henry Slade (born 1993), rugby union, Exeter Chiefs and England international
• Milos Stankovic (born 1962), army officer accused of treason, writer
• Walter Stoneman (1876–1958), photographer and contributor of some 7,000 portrait photographs to the National Photographic Record
• Mark Tavener (1954–2007), novelist and scriptwriter
• Kavus Torabi (born 1971), rock musician
• John Trevaskis (1923–2002), classicist
• J. C. Trewin (1908–1990), writer and drama critic
• Miles Tunnicliff (born 1968), golfer
• Grace Neutral (born 1989), tattoo artist and presenter
• Jack Alexander Smith (born 1996), swimmer at the University of Iowa in the United States

• Official website
• Profile on the Independent Schools Council website