Churston Ferrers Grammar School (also known as CFGS) is a selective coeducational Grammar School with Academy status, situated in the village of Galmpton in Torbay, South Devon, England. It is also a specialist Humanities College. Year 7 annual intake is approximately 130 pupils.
History
The school was founded in 1957 and accommodated around 350 pupils, drawn from the surrounding areas including those of the schools it replaced and as far afield as Totnes. Its first headmaster, Donald W. Carter, was head of the Dartmouth Grammar School until its closing in 1957 when Churston opened. He led the school until 1972 when he retired.
In 2011, the school became an academy.
Location
The school is next to Churston railway station on the Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway. Its main playing fields are separated from the remainder of the school by the railway line and are currently accessible via a path under the railway line at the bottom of the main school playing field, or via Dartmouth road and the pavilions which were opened at the start of 2009.
Buildings
The school has occupied its current buildings since opening and was largely unchanged for the first half of its existence. When the school expanded in the late 1980s, a new classroom block and sports facility was added. Later, in 2001, the school expanded further with a Modern Foreign Languages block. In late September 2008, the school had a new block consisting of: a humanities classroom; a study centre; an IT room and two new departmental offices. This building was named 'The Cube' by the students in a poll from a selection of alternative names. For some time, there was a "maths hut", which was a temporary building that housed two Mathematics classrooms. This was eventually demolished in 2011 to make way for the new Sixth Form Centre which was completed in the summer of 2012. Also in 2016 a remodeling and extension of the Modern Foreign Languages block created a new section of the school for Art and Music.
Academic houses
There are currently five academic houses: Brunel, Christie, Gilbert, Singer and Thompson. All of the houses are named after notable individuals with ties to the local area, South Devon. Each house is represented by an individual crest and colour (Brunel - blue, Christie - green, Gilbert - red, Singer - purple, Thompson - yellow) and a head is appointed to ensure the running of the house system.
Each pupil is assigned to a house-based form upon induction and throughout the duration of the pupil's time at CFGS, will compete in both academic and sporting inter-house competitions as determined by an annual calendar of events; house points are subsequently awarded to each form group, contributing towards the yearly House Badge Competition. Students are organised into year groups which are managed by a Head of Year and an Assistant Head of Year. Brunel House is named after the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806–1859) Christie House is named after the crime-writer Agatha Christie (1890–1976) Gilbert House is named after the explorer Sir Humphrey Gilbert (c. 1539–1583) Singer House is named after the sewing-machine pioneer Isaac Singer (1811–1875) Thompson House is named after the novelist Flora Thompson (1876–1947)
Heads of the House System
Headteachers
Academic
The school features favourably in the school league tables results. There are currently 954 pupils in total, including 240 pupils in the sixth form that is heavily over-subscribed.
Churston Ferrers Grammar School is currently ranked "Good" by Ofsted. The most recent Ofsted inspection was on 19 October 2022. Prior to 2022, Churston Ferrers Grammar School had been ranked Ofsted "Outstanding" on 11 February 2009.
Churston A-Level results:
2018 A2 Results:
Churston GCSE results:
The school has no present plans to offer sixth formers the option of either the International Baccalaureate or the Pre-U. It does however currently offer the AQA/English Baccalaureate to sixth form students.
Partnerships
Churston Ferrers Grammar School seeks to maintain and grow its local and international ties. CFGS has partnerships with several schools in Torbay, Europe (Erasmus Partnership Project with Portugal, Germany and Norway) and Peru.