Paston College
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Paston College is a sixth form college in North Walsham, Norfolk, England.
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[edit] Paston Grammar School
The College started life as The Paston School; a grammar school founded in 1606 by Sir William Paston, a libertarian, local magistrate, landowner and a member of an important local family. The school was built on land made available by a fire that destroyed a large proportion of North Walsham's Town Centre, The site itself is believed to have been a monastic school attended by William Paston himself in Old Churchgate in the centre of the town(1).
The emblem of the school was the Griffin, which along with 6 Fleur de lys featured on the school coat of arms along with the motto "Di Mieux en mieux pour tout" or "From good to better everywhere"(1).
Famous pupils include Admiral Lord Nelson, who attended the school with his brother William in the late 18th century, later expelled he went on to join the Royal Navy at 13 and achieved national fame in later life. The college still holds a small collection of artefacts relating to Nelson and Trafalgar. Thomas Tenison Archbishop of Canterbury - 1891 - 1715, Henry Wharton - Historian and Writer, William Hoste - distinguished Naval Commander who achieved fame st Lissa in 1811, These four comprise the Houses at the Grammar School(1).
In more recent times the actor and writer Stephen Fry who was not so much at the school as near it, inhabiting a small café round the corner for most of his short academic career there(2), also Alan Smethurst, The Singing Postman.
Transition to the Sixth Form Centre started in 1980 with the induction of the first female students, by 1986 the school had become a sixth form college with no pre-sixteen school intake, The Grammar school combined with the Girls High School to form under two separate sites, now known as the Griffins and the Lawns, what is now the Paston College.
[edit] Paston College
The college still occupies its original buildings (though they have been modernised), together with newer buildings. The majority of students are aged between sixteen and nineteen, and the college offers over thirty AS and A level subjects, as well as vocational courses.
In 2005, Paston was among the top ten colleges in England and Wales for AS-level results, and in the top twenty-five for A-level results. The college also managed a pass rate of 97 per cent at A-level and 90 per cent at AS-level — both figures exceeding the national average for all colleges and sixth forms. Fifteen of the twenty-five A-level courses and eight of the thirty-one AS-level courses had 100 per cent pass rates.
[edit] Notable ex-pupils
- Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson
- Stephen Fry
- Allan Smethurst Singing Postman
- Captain Sir William Hoste
- Clive Baker Clive Baker
- Thomas Tenison Archbishop of Canterbury - 1891 - 1715,
- Henry Wharton - Historian and Writer,
- William Hoste - Naval Commander
[edit] External links
- Paston College Website
- The alternative Paston School website — ex-Grammar school students
- Nelson's experience at Paston Grammar School
[edit] Sources
1. A History of the Paston School - Charles Forder, second edition 1975
2. Moab is my Washpot - Stephen Fry
| Norfolk Schools |
|---|
| Comprehensive Schools: Cromer High School | Smithdon High School | Lynn Grove High School | Litcham High School Wymondham College |
| Sixth Form Colleges: Paston College | Notre Dame High School (Norwich) |
| Special Schools: None yet on Wikipedia |
| Former Schools: Norfolk County School | Watts Naval School |
| Independent Schools: Frisby's English School |
| Public Schools: Gresham's School | Norwich School | Norwich High School for Girls |
