Principal's Introduction

Queen Elizabeth’s Community College is a High Performing Specialist School offering additional expertise in Technology and Humanities. We are also a Training School and Devon’s only state boarding school.

Queen Elizabeth’s has been serving the people of mid-Devon for nearly four hundred and sixty years. This is a college with history, but also with a strong sense of its future at the heart of a Crediton learning community that encompasses people’s educational needs from the age of three to one hundred and three.

We have some 1570 students and over 260 staff and stand at the heart of a thriving educational community that includes thirteen partner primary schools spread across hundreds of square miles of rolling Devon countryside. Our schools together form the Crediton Learning Community. As a body we meet regularly to make sure we give the best possible education to the children who live in our area, from cradle to university and beyond.

The Western Road site covers a large area at the western end of Crediton and includes the ancient and familiar façade of College House, the old boys’ grammar school. This is now our Sixth Form Centre which has been extensively refurbished over the past few years with a new Library, re-furbished rooms, extra computer facilities and a brand new Sixth Form Cafe. On the Western Road site, older students can concentrate on their studies away from the exuberance of Years 7 and 8.

As well as the emphasis on Technology and Humanities we have as a specialist school, we of course offer the full range of subjects and are particularly strong in the Sports and Arts areas. This is evident in our achieving Sportsmark 2008 with and Artsmark Silver in recognition of the excellence of our provision in these areas.

We believe that schools are about people. We aim to get the absolute best out of all the people we work with - staff and students - by focusing on the quality of the learning experience we provide and always looking for ways to improve it. This is recognised in our status as a Training School. This means that with our partner Training School, Pilton Community College, we are helping to create the next generation of teachers and teaching assistants. Your children will benefit from the sharp focus it brings to our skills as teachers and the new ideas and fresh approaches that new entrants bring with them.

We are also a very inclusive College. We invest a huge amount in our Learning Support Service which includes a very successful Specific Learning Difficulties Centre which deals with students with dyslexia from all over the county. We pull out all the stops to help all our students, whatever their ability, physical or intellectual. We are particularly proud of the achievements of our students who have had to struggle against the odds.

We believe that learning should be an inspiring and enjoyable experience for both students and teachers. We see ourselves as equipping our young people with the skills they will need to be happy and successful adults and that means much more than just success with exams. We want to educate students to have real skills and understanding which will stay with them for life, not just while they are in the exam room.

Richard Newton-Chance - Principal