| Hele's School | |
| Coordinates: | 50.3924°N -4.0655°W |
| Sister School: | Hele's School Exeter |
| Local Authority: | Plymouth |
| Former Name: | Plympton Grammar School |
| Schooltype: | Academy Converter |
| Religious Affiliation: | N/A |
| Head Label: | Principal |
| Head: | Justine Mason |
| Founder: | From a bequest of Elize Hele |
| Address: | Seymour Road |
| Region: | South West |
| City: | Plympton, Plymouth |
| County: | Devon |
| Country: | England, United Kingdom |
| Postcode: | PL7 4LT |
| Ofsted: | Good (Last inspection: 23 March 2023) |
| Trust: | Westcountry Schools Trust (WesT) |
| Urn: | 136557 |
| Staff: | 187 |
| Enrolment: | 1,386 |
| Years: | Years 7 through 14 |
| Gender: | Mixed |
| Age Range: | 11-18 |
| Hours In Day: | 5 hours, 25 minutes |
| Colours: | Selective Yellow |
| Website: | http://www.heles.plymouth.sch.uk/ |
Hele's School, formerly Plympton Grammar School, is a co-educational Academy school and Sixth Form in the Plympton district of Plymouth, England, 6miles east of Plymouth city centre. Until 31 March 2011, Hele’s was a community school funded by the Local Education Authority (LEA), which is Plymouth City Council. From 1 April 2011, Hele's became an Academy, which among other things gives the school financial and educational independence.[1] The school has a voluntary Combined Cadet Force with Navy, Army and RAF sections. Cadets in the CCF are given the option to take part in the annual Ten Tors Challenge on Dartmoor.
In September 2000, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) designated the school as a specialist Language College. The school has also been designated as a Mathematics and Computing College and has also taken on applied learning specialism.[2]
In June 2010, the government wrote to all schools that had been judged as 'outstanding' by Ofsted, inviting their Governing Bodies to consider converting to Academy status. The Governors of Hele's School consulted with parents and unanimously voted to apply to become an Academy, effective from 1 April 2011.[3] On 1 September 2017, the school joined the Westcountry Schools Trust.[4]
Hele's (pronounced "heals") School was founded as "Plympton Grammar School" in 1658 under a bequest made in the will of the lawyer Elize Hele (1560–1635) of Fardel[5] in the parish of Cornwood, and of Parke[6] in the parish of Bovey Tracey, both in Devon. The school was renamed after him as "Hele's School" when it became a state comprehensive in 1983.[7] Hele's bequest was overseen by Sir John Maynard and also led to the founding of The Maynard School and Hele's School, Exeter.
In 1715 the Reverend Samuel Reynolds was appointed as head master and his son the painter Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) attended the school.[8]
The original building, a grade II* listed building,[9] survives in George Lane, Castle Barbican, in Plympton St. Maurice, but in 1937 the school moved to new premises on Seymour Road, which it still occupies today.[10]
The school maintains an association with the Plympton Grammar School Old Boys field hockey club, formed in 1926.
Students have attained places on the Prime Minister's Global Fellowship programme. The school achieved its first student in the inaugural year of the programme, 2008, and in 2009 had another successful applicant.[11]