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  • Torquay Boys' Grammar School
    Shiphay Manor Drive
    Torquay
    Devon
    TQ2 7EL
  • Head: Mr Peter Lawrence
  • T 01803 615501
  • F 01803 614613
  • E enquiries@tbgs.torbay.sch.uk
  • W www.tbgs.co.uk
  • A state school for boys aged from 11 to 18.
  • Read about the best schools in Devon
  • Boarding: No
  • Local authority: Torbay
  • Pupils: 1,074; sixth formers: 254 (45 girls)
  • Religion: Non-denominational
  • Open days: September
  • Review: View The Good Schools Guide Review
  • Ofsted:
    • Latest Overall effectiveness Good 1
      • 16-19 study programmes Good 1
      • Outcomes for children and learners Good 1
      • Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good 1
      • Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good 1
      • Effectiveness of leadership and management Good 1
    • 1 Full inspection 22nd September 2021
  • Ofsted report: View the Ofsted report

What says..

Huge choice of clubs and activities at lunchtimes and after school; they even offer mountain-biking, fencing and golf. The orienteering club recently won the national championship, so they’re now off to Turkey to compete in the World Schools competition. Astronomy club is lucky enough to have a refurbished observatory with a brand new Celestron C1400 telescope on site. There’s a boardroom with 25 computers, dual flat screens and Reuters links, all thanks to a previous business and enterprise sponsorship. A good insight into the real thing...

Read review »

What the school says...

For entry into year 7 in September 2024 the test we will be using GL Assessment Test in English and Mathematics, rather than the CEM tests currently used.

As of September 2012 the school became a multi-academy Trust sponsoring Torquay Academy, a neighbouring non-selective school.

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Curricula

International Baccalaureate: diploma - the diploma is the familiar A-level equivalent.

School associations

State grammar school

What The Good Schools Guide says

Head

Since 2014, Peter Lawrence BSc. In his 40s, originally from the Midlands, he studied maths at Exeter University and taught at TBGS for five years in early part of his career. Left to become a head of department and taught in three comprehensives in Devon before moving to teach in Jersey. Returned to TBGS in 2001, taking roles as head of house, assistant head and then pastoral deputy head.

Now firmly settled in south west (Exeter Chiefs season ticket holder), with his wife (she teaches maths at TBGS), he is the sixth head, and modestly proud. He says, ‘it’s a privilege’, something he’s reminded of every morning as he drives into school. His predecessors had long careers. Pete is definitely in for the long haul, but laughed at the thought...

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Please note: Independent schools frequently offer IGCSEs or other qualifications alongside or as an alternative to GCSE. The DfE does not record performance data for these exams so independent school GCSE data is frequently misleading; parents should check the results with the schools.

Who came from where

Who goes where

Special Education Needs

Condition Provision for in school
ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder Y
Aspergers Y
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders Y
CReSTeD registered for Dyslexia
Dyscalculia
Dysgraphia
Dyslexia
Dyspraxia
English as an additional language (EAL)
Genetic
Has an entry in the Autism Services Directory
Has SEN unit or class
HI - Hearing Impairment
Hospital School
Mental health
MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty
MSI - Multi-Sensory Impairment
Natspec Specialist Colleges
OTH - Other Difficulty/Disability
Other SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty
PD - Physical Disability
PMLD - Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty
SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health
SLCN - Speech, Language and Communication
SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty
Special facilities for Visually Impaired
SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty
VI - Visual Impairment

Interpreting catchment maps

The maps show in colour where the pupils at a school came from*. Red = most pupils to Blue = fewest.

Where the map is not coloured we have no record in the previous three years of any pupils being admitted from that location based on the options chosen.

For help and explanation of our catchment maps see: Catchment maps explained

Further reading

If there are more applicants to a school than it has places for, who gets in is determined by which applicants best fulfil the admissions criteria.

Admissions criteria are often complicated, and may change from year to year. The best source of information is usually the relevant local authority website, but once you have set your sights on a school it is a good idea to ask them how they see things panning out for the year that you are interested in.

Many schools admit children based on distance from the school or a fixed catchment area. For such schools, the cut-off distance will vary from year to year, especially if the school give priority to siblings, and the pattern will be of a central core with outliers (who will mostly be siblings). Schools that admit on the basis of academic or religious selection will have a much more scattered pattern.

*The coloured areas outlined in black are Census Output Areas. These are made up of a group of neighbouring postcodes, which accounts for their odd shapes. These provide an indication, but not a precise map, of the school’s catchment: always refer to local authority and school websites for precise information.

The 'hotter' the colour the more children have been admitted.

Children get into the school from here:

regularly
most years
quite often
infrequently
sometimes, but not in this year


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