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Welcome to Colyton Grammar School.

In 1546 our school was established "for the goodly and virtuous education of children forever”. Today, Colyton Grammar School continues to be a high-performing state secondary school for academically able students. Our goal is to create excellence through intellectual curiosity and creativity and to enable our students to thrive as they take their next steps into the world of university and the workplace. Our values and mission have not really altered from those of our Tudor founders in that we want our young men and women to be people of great principle, integrity and character who are equipped to become the future leaders of their community.

The School has a reputation for academic success and the overwhelming majority of our students progress to the most highly selective universities and places of learning in the UK including Oxford, Cambridge and the Royal College of Music. Our success is built on high expectations, hard work and the fact that we are an inclusive school built on meritocracy. We are a school for every academically able child regardless of social-economic background, ethnicity or gender, with additional support and bursaries where they are needed.

Core Visions and Values

School Purpose

Why do we exist: We are not simply here to ensure exceptional outcomes at GCSE and A level. Our Core Purpose is ‘to enable all students, regardless of background, to flourish on highly selective courses at elite institutions and in their future lives’

Core Values

Our core values of scholarship, humility and service are at the heart of our work and of our decision-making process. We define our core values as:

Scholarship – the focus on acquiring and questioning knowledge and understanding. Not simply in class but through wider reading and wider experiences through competition and application of knowledge. CGS has students who dream big, set themselves high targets and upon meeting them set higher ones.

Service – We have people who want to go out into the world and make a difference, make it better for others and not just more comfortable for themselves. They want to make the CGS community a better, more inclusive school. They are willing to listen to others, are respectful of others and desire to grow as people.

Humility – This is not being arrogant and pretending to be something that you are not. You are ‘other’ centred. In addition, you do not lack confidence as Humility is about ‘Truth’, knowing and being confident about what you are good at. Remember C S Lewis says that Humility is:

“Not thinking less of yourself but thinking about yourself less”.

We have students and colleagues who keep going, they get over setbacks, they help develop and improve the reputation of the school, and they leave a legacy. They are people who recognise that they are not complete, they recognise they have much to learn and work with others, in the school community, to develop their knowledge and understanding. They do everything they can to get better, in academia, professionally and in their personal growth.

It is often quoted that the great ancient philosopher Socrates stated that he was wise due to his statement that ‘I know that I know nothing’. It is likely that this was never spoken by the philosopher but in Plato’s Apology, the character Socrates says:

‘I am wiser than this man for neither of us appears to know anything great and good; but he fancies he knows something, although he knows nothing; whereas I, as I do not know anything, so I do not fancy I do. Hence, I appear to be wiser that he, because I do not fancy, I know what I do not know.’

The meaning is that we all have limits to our knowledge, and we should have the humility to accept this. No matter how deeply we study we will never sound the depths of the subject and no matter how widely we read there will always be things of which we know little. We should aspire not to know nothing, rather to having extensive and exact scholarship, but we should know that all our learning makes but a molehill on the side of the great mountain of universal knowledge. There are always more wonders to find and hence we must have academic and personal humility.

Through the values of scholarship, humility and service we hope to enable our students to be full of joy and to flourish in their next steps.

Just as we are committed to ensuring that each of our students meets their potential, so too is this true of our commitment to our colleagues – both teaching and support. We actively encourage continuing professional development in a working environment which seeks to push boundaries and celebrate success, actively embracing innovation, initiative and new ideas in a collegiate way.

Colyton Grammar School is an Ofsted-rated ‘Outstanding’ school and a Teaching School Hub, and it is located in one of the most beautiful parts of the country.

As a society, we have become increasingly aware of environmental issues, climate change and the need to create a more sustainable future, and young people have helped to raise awareness of the challenges we face.

We believe that Colyton Grammar School has a crucial role to play in achieving environmental sustainability because we can help our students to understand the world around them and to develop skills and attitudes that will enable them to live fulfilled lives as responsible citizens.

Following COP26 in April 2022, the Department of Education (DfE) released their Sustainability & Climate Change Strategy for Education, envisioning the UK as the world-leading education sector in sustainability and climate change by 2030.

The strategy has four aims:

• Excellence in education and skills for a changing world
• Net Zero
• Resilience to climate change
• A better environment for future generations

At Colyton Grammar School, we believe that environmental sustainability is a challenge that all societies face during the 21st century. Our pupils are entitled to an education that equips them with knowledge, values and skills that will enable them to think critically about the climate change situation and increase their capacity to solve the problems that they will encounter in their lifetimes. Our school/trust's approach to environmental sustainability encompasses all aspects of school life, learning and management.

We have already made great progress but are fully aware of the need for further future developments.

For more information on some of the initiatives that we have already implemented please click here.