Plymstock School is a state comprehensive secondary school in Plymstock, a suburb of Plymouth, Devon, England. It was the first West Devoncomprehensive school and is now a Specialist Sports College. it has 1,626 students, of whom 240 are in the sixth form. In April 2011, the school became an academy. Plymstock School was maintained by Devon County Council until 1 April 1967, when it was transferred to Plymouth City Council which has maintained it until April 2011. In 2003 it underwent what was reported as a budget crisis, forcing redundancies and reduced spending on new classrooms to replace temporary facilities. The school offers AS and A levels as the sixth form option, having no plans despite the large pupil numbers, to teach the International Baccalaureat or the pre-U despite the IB now being offered in many leading schools in the city and county including, Plymouth High School for Girls, Plymouth College and Exeter School on the basis that such qualifications are not essential in England. Many of the last school ratings in local, and national newspapers, have claimed Plymstock to be in the top 5 of Plymouth, with the higher ranked schools being Private and within the top 800 of England.. As of the 2009, OFSTED report, this school has been rated as 'Outstanding'. Plymstock's local feeder primary schools include: Elburton Primary; Hooe Primary; Dunstone Primary; Pomphlett Primary; and Oreston Primary.
History
The school was opened on 26 April 1911 as the Plymstock Senior Mixed School, and replaced the Dean Cross Elementary School for Boys. The first headmaster was T. F. Jarvis. Its name was changed to Plymstock County Senior Mixed School, and then to Plymstock County Secondary School, and in September 1961 to its current name. In 1965, it became a comprehensive school, and the buildings were extended between 1969 and 1970 to accommodate a further 300 pupils. On 4 April 2006, the school achieved a Guinness World Record for "Most people playing parachute" when 1,547 children played with 58 parachutes at the same time. The world record stood until 30 June 2011, when it was beaten by children from the Gaza Strip with 3520 people.
