Ford Park Cemetery Trust
Cemetery of Choice

"A Working Cemetery in the Heart of Plymouth"

New Logo Inverted 300px

Tel 01752 665442    

Schools

118460893 3301889116555612 1594713878884546142 oschoolsIn the week that most schools across the country are finally re-opening, we are starting a new online exhibition about Plymouth Schools.

Over the next two months we will featuring some schools that disappeared before the Second World War, some that have been reborn and others that are still educating the children of today. We hope that you will find the exhibition educational and, perhaps, a little nostalgic.

We also wish all of the pupils that are returning this week a safe and rewarding experience.

121041837 3414604271950762 1486110718846255236 oToday's featured school is Devonport High School for Boys, based in the old Military Hospital which once looked over Stonehouse Creek.

The creek now has been filled in to provide excellent playing fields for the school.

Devonport High for GirlsThe penultimate poster of our Schools exhibition features

Devonport High School for Girls

122008952 3443821262362396 4001216114856481355 oOpen Air schools were an innovative idea that started in Germany and quickly spread to other countries.

In Plymouth Little Efford House was chosen as a suitable site for an open air school because of its rural setting.

A second site was chosen soon after, known as Mount Tamar Open Air School, but the two were amalgamated after the war.

118765652 3308122519265605 214360846312617044 oThe first school that we are featuring in our latest online exhibition is Grey Coat School. It was opened in 1714 in Woolster Street, survived the blitz, but was finally closed in 1972 after educating the children of Plymouth for more than 250 years.

121471136 3432875140123675 4194864830598468875 oHyde Park was opened in 1904 as three schools, today there are two - Infants and Juniors.

Both are heavily oversubscribed, rated as outstanding by Ofsted.

122819529 3468142236596965 5542196948484914916 oLaira Green School opened in 1892. After the war it became Laira Green Secondary Modern but closed in 1985 when pupils were sent to Lipson Comprehensive.

The site is now used as Laira Green Primary School.

118980306 3320712461339944 9046702786003047483 oToday our poster is on Notre Dame which was originally established next to the Roman Catholic Cathedral. These days the Convent of Notre Dame and the Secondary School are situated in Looseleigh lane, Derriford.

119123594 3326750497402807 2362237459610330869 oOur next school no longer exists as the school I remember during my childhood. That school was Oxford Street Primary School. During the 1970's a decision was taken that this lovely old Victorian building needed to be replaced by a more modern design and so, in 1983/4, the school reopened under a new name, Pilgrim Primary School.

122168325 3451623594915496 5271575137409361240 oPlymouth High School for Girls opened in 1874 in Tavistock Road and moved to purpose-built premises at North Hill 28 months later where it remains to this day.

Their motto is 'For life, not school we learn'.

120761486 3402138026530720 4968866428564708726 oToday's school is Prince Rock built in 1908 and situated on an island surrounded by three very busy roads. It remains a very active and very popular school.

119921463 3364755296935660 1536723677204668916 oPublic Secondary was opened in Coburg Street in 1927 but the school buildings now form part of Plymouth University

119599284 3342485329162657 1736070498533388259 oWe continue with St Dunstans Abbey after the Second World War and its move to Millfields in 1996.

120130054 3371056259638897 309644594670963523 oSalisbury Road School was built on the site of an old farmhouse in the last decade of the nineteenth century.

It was used as a 280 bed temporary hospital during the First World War.

The school closed in 1985 when the new Lipson Comprehensive opened.

120372513 3386965418047981 4786627258341075527 oToday we feature the Stoke Damerel Infants and Junior School in Stoke.

The original premises were on the corner of Somerset Place but were closed in 1988 when new premises opened in Collingwood Road.

119102888 3333158986761958 710459058663545856 oToday we take a look at the early years of St Dunstans Abbey, originally known as St Angela's, where it dominated the western end of North Road.

120193370 3377628412315015 7196911154384988642 oStoke Damerel High School for Girls was a familiar landmark on the Stoke skyline.

It closed in 1986 but the building remains and these days its roof seems to be a favourite spot to set up mobile phone masts

119882727 3354966974581159 4670223087419180068 oA primary school that still educates our children today is Stuart Road Primary School. The school was built in the last decade of the 19th century and opened by Lord St Levan in July 1893.

120472078 3393149737429549 6716077555637659576 oSutton High School in Regent Street, a well-respected grammar school during the post war years that finally closed its doors in 1986.

Tamar High School Our final poster for this Exhibition of Plymouth Schools is Tamar High which closed in 1990

122581626 3459690170775505 527334992073743531 oWe feature three schools on today's poster - Plymouth Truant School, Camel's Head Elementary School and East Street Board School

121226258 3420898844654638 1407431856432587119 oThree schools on today's poster: Plymouth College, Mannamead School and Moorfield School for Girls.