Devizes School is a mixed comprehensive school in Devizes, Wiltshire, England, for young people aged 11 to 18. The school is near the centre of the town, next to the Leisure Centre, between the A342 and A360. Since September 2012, the school has been an academy. The school is the only secondary school in the town of Devizes and it also serves many surrounding villages. Built around the Georgian Southbroom House, the school now comprises additional teaching blocks of a more modern style, set within its own sports fields. Ofsted has graded the school Good in each of the past four visits, the latest in 2015.
Admissions
The school has been awarded specialist Sports College and ICT College status. School enrolment in 2012 was 1,181 students.
Traditions
Devizes School has a house system comprising four houses, which each student in Year 7–13 belongs to: Gandhi, King, Mandela and Teresa. Each house is named after a historical figure who worked towards understanding using peaceful methods. The names of the houses were selected by a vote. Each house has its own house colour: Gandhi is green, King is blue, Teresa is red and Mandela is yellow.
History
The school was formed in 1969 by the merging of two schools to form a comprehensive school. These were the co-educational Devizes Grammar School, built on Bath Road in 1906, and the Southbroom Secondary School which was established in 1925 around Southbroom House, a Grade II* listed mansion built in 1773. The new school used the Southbroom site; the Grammar School's lower school was taken over by St. Peter's School while the upper school, Braeside, became a residential education centre. The Southbroom buildings were enlarged and by January 1973 there were 1,373 pupils on the school roll. Further new buildings were erected and in 2002 there were 1,065 pupils with a sixth form of around 150. In 1980, two Chipperfield's Circus lions found their way onto the grounds of Devizes. On 8 August 1990, the Queen attended the school to open the swimming pool at the adjacent Devizes Leisure Centre, when the headmaster was Colin Isted. Shelley Rudman, the Olympic skeleton silver medallist, worked at the school as a classroom manager. In February 2005, a 52-year-old builder, David Evans, was taunted by some teenage boys at the school. He confronted two of them, pushing two of them. Next day the boys reported him to their headmaster, Malcolm Irons, who reported him to the police. Next day Mr Evans hanged himself. In May 2013, the sixth form moved into their new, enlarged Sixth Form Centre. Mr Phil Bevan was appointed head teacher in April 2016 and the school became a member of The White Horse Federation, a multi-academy trust, in February 2017. Plans were put forward in December 2019 to sell 5.7 acres of the school's playing fields, to be used for housing. Private Eye reported that the school had a large deficit and a repairs backlog when it joined the federation.
Academic performance
Results in 2018: At A-level, 65.7% of the grades were A*–C and 25.9% were grades A*–B. At GCSE level, 54.2% of students achieved 9-4 grades in English and Mathematics.
