Truro School

• Name — Truro School • Motto — Esse quam videri (Latin) To be, rather than to seem to be • Established — 1880 • Type — Public school Private Day and boarding • Religious Affiliation — Methodist • Head Label — Headmaster • Head — Andy Johnson • Address — Trennick Lane • City — Truro • County — Cornwall • Country — England • Postal Code — TR1 1TH • Enrolment — 1050~ (2011) • Gender — Coeducational • Lower Age — 3 • Upper Age — 18 • Houses — 4 • Alumni — Old Truronians • Website — http: www.truroschool.com/

Truro Wesleyan Middle Class College (referred to as Truro College) was founded by Wesleyan Methodists in November 1879, and on 20 January 1880 lessons began at sites in River Street and Strangways Terrace, Truro. The present site was completed in 1882. The school was founded as an alternative to the Church of England's ancient Truro Grammar School. The name Truro College was changed to Truro School in 1931 when it was considered that it was "pretentious...to claim the style of "College" if its pupils are for the most part below the age of 18". The preparatory department was opened in 1936. Girls were admitted into the sixth form in 1976, and it became fully co-educational in 1990. In 2005, a history of the school entitled High on the Hill was produced by Joanna Wood to commemorate its 125th anniversary. There have been 12 headmasters appointed since the foundation of the school 141 years ago: • George Turner (1880–1887), • Thomas Jackson (1887–1890), • Herbert Vinter (1890–1921), • Egbert H. Magson (1921–1946), • A. Lowry Creed (1946–1959), • Derek Burrell (1959–1986) • Barry Hobbs (1986–1991), • Brian Jackson, Acting Headmaster (1991–1992), • Guy Dodd (1992–2001), • Paul Smith (2001–2012), • Andrew Gordon-Brown (2013–2020) • Andy Johnson (2020–)

Pupils must sit an entrance exam, the equivalent of an 11+ exam, although some pupils take the equivalent 13+ exam as certain local schools still teach up to year 9 (year 3). Academic, and occasionally music, artistic or sports scholarships, are also awarded as well as are means-tested bursaries. Current fees per term range from £3,200 - £4,500 at the Prep School for Nursery and Prep day pupils to £4,900 for senior school day pupils and £9,700 - £10,600 for full boarders. In November 2005 the school was one of 50 private schools found guilty of running an illegal price-fixing cartel, exposed by The Times, which had resulted in them increasing fees for thousands of parents. Each school was required to pay a nominal penalty of £10,000, and all agreed to make an ex-gratia payment, collectively totalling £3 million, into a trust designed to benefit pupils who attended the schools during the period where the fee information was shared. Headmaster Paul Smith said that the school had acted "unwittingly". "This... systematic exchange of confidential information as to intended fee increases was anti-competitive and resulted in parents being charged higher fees than would otherwise be the case," the Office of Fair Trading said.

Each pupil is placed into a school 'house' used for inter-school competitions and sports matches: • green School • blue Smith • yellow Vinter • Wickett The four houses compete for the Opie Shield over many sporting events for boys, girls and mixed teams across all year groups.

Though the majority of students are day-pupils, there are also some 80 boarders, of whom half are from overseas, including German exchange students who spend up to three terms in the Lower Sixth. The school has three boarding houses, one for boys and two for girls: • Malvern – Senior girls, Sixth form, ages 16–18 • Pentreve – Junior girls, first–fifth year, ages 11–15 • Trennick – Boys, first–fifth year, and Sixth form, ages 11–18 Trennick is the only boarding house situated in the school's original main building, although the other two are on the campus. They are family-run communities with married resident house staff and other teachers who live on site. Temporary and 'flexi-boarding' are also available.

Notable alumni of Truro School include: • Robert Shaw, actor • Roger Taylor, Queen drummer • John Rhys-Davies, actor. • Nigel Terry, actor. • Lawrence Ng, actor. • Geoffrey Healey, automobile designer. • Benjamin Luxon, opera singer. • Alan Opie, opera singer. • John Kendall-Carpenter, England international rugby union captain. • George Eustice, former member of Parliament. • Paul Myners, businessman and former government minister. • John Curtice, professor of politics at University of Strathclyde. • Ben Ainslie, olympic sailor and four times gold medallist. • Michael Adams, chess grandmaster. • Patrick Vallance, chief scientific adviser to the government of the United Kingdom • Ros Atkins, BBC journalist, broadcaster and DJ