Philip Morant School and College

Philip Morant School and College
Address
Rembrandt Way Colchester , Essex , CO3 4QS England
Coordinates	51°52′53″N0°52′18″E / 51.881423°N 0.871590°E / 51.881423; 0.871590
Information
Type	Academy
Motto	"Hold fast to that which is good"
Established	1965
Department for Education URN	146794 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Chair of Governors	Lorna Kean
Executive Headteacher	Scott Holder
Gender	Coeducational
Age	11to 18
Enrolment	1,775
Houses	Aylward, Ryder, Churchill, Nuffield, Faraday
Colour(s)	Dark green
Website	https://pmsc.school/

Philip Morant School and College (originally known as Norman Way School) is a secondary school and sixth form with academy status located within the Prettygate suburb of Colchester, Essex. The school is named after Philip Morant, a local 18th-century historian and archaeologist ^[1] who was chosen as the school's eponym a few months after its achieving technology college status in 1994. ^{[2] [3]} In November 2011 the school became an academy. After Sue Cowan's retirement, Roger Abo Henrikson became Headteacher for two academic years. During the school's 50th year, Rob James was appointed Acting Headteacher and is largely credited for returning the school to a 'good' OfSTED rating, which took place two terms after Catherine Hutley's appointment as Executive Headteacer. Philip Morant School joined the Sigma Trust in 2018, moving from the then defunct Thrive Partnership, ^[4] which it co-founded.

History

The school was founded in September 1965 as a comprehensive secondary school and for the first two years it was located in the Greyfriars area of Colchester where it only took on first and second year pupils (Years 7 and 8).^{[ citation needed ]} During this time the current House Block, Hall and Gym were built in Prettygate. Thereafter the school expanded in several stages but the main work took place in 1974 and 2003. In 1993 the school became a specialised Technology College and in 1996 a sixth-form college was added to the school. The school converted to academy status in 2011 but continues to have technology as a specialism.

Philip Morant

Philip Morant was born in 1700 and died in 1770. Morant's most notable work is the detailed History of Essex, which remains a standard work of reference. A copy of his History, in two volumes dated 1768, is on permanent loan to the School by the Essex Archaeological Society. ^[5]

Badge

The school badge is surrounded by a design of brickwork as a reminder of the parish (St Marys-at-the-Walls) in which Morant lived and worked for over thirty years and in which the school stands. The quartering of the badge is formed by the representation of a cross signifying both Morant's work as a churchman and also the School's spiritual life. The emblems in the quarters are:

• A crown from the arms of the Borough of Colchester (on which the crown of the Three Kings appear to commemorate the work of Helena, patron saint of Colchester).
• A torch, to signify learning and endeavour in games and sports.
• A chevron (part of the arms of the Morant family)
• An open book (both to commemorate Morant's great interest and achievements in the field of history and to represent the academia within the school) ^[5]

Motto

The school's motto is "Hold fast to that which is good".

During Ms Hutley's tenure as headteacher, the motto was briefly changed to "Aspiration, Success, Kindness", which had an associated logo that comprised a circle with a thought box circumscribing the text "ASK".

Students

There are around 1600 students (as of 2008) who are divided into 5 houses: Aylward, Churchill, Faraday, Nuffield, and Ryder. There was a sixth house, Mandela, but this was removed after a single year of existence from 2018-19. Each house has around 300 students. A certain day of the week is allocated to each house for when Prefect duties are undertaken. Each house also has a 'House Manager' to provide pastoral support to students alongside their tutor.

Houses

Name	Motto	Namesake
Aylward	"Be Straight - Be True"	Gladys Aylward, missionary
Churchill	"Service before Self"	Sir Winston Churchill, former PM
Faraday	"To thine own self be true"	Michael Faraday, scientist
Nuffield	"Out of Difficulties grow Miracles"	Lord Nuffield, motor manufacturer and philanthropist
Ryder	"It takes courage to care"	Sue Ryder

Ofsted reports

Currently, the school is awaiting an Ofsted inspection since the school left the Thrive Partnership and joined the Sigma Trust.

The most recent inspection under the Thrive Partnership resulted in an “Inadequate” rating from Ofsted (4/4), the lowest rating available. This took place shortly after Nardeep Sharma's (CEO of Thrive) and Catherine Hutley's suspension from their roles. Both later resigned.

Since 2001, when the school was described as "Outstanding ... with many excellent features and no significant weaknesses", the school has seen mixed results from the inspections until 2018, as shown below:

Type		Year	Result		Headteacher
Academy [6]		2023	X	Awaiting report	Mrs S Neil
		2018 [7]	4	Inadequate	Catherine Hutley (Executive Headteacher) Colin Green & Michele Myers (Acting Headteachers)
		2015 [8]	2	Good	Catherine Hutley
		2013 [9]	3	Requires Improvement	Roger Abo Henriksen
Foundation [10]		2010 [11]	2	Good	Sue Cowans M.Sc.
		2006 [12]	3	Satisfactory
		2001 [13]	"Outstanding"		Russell Moon

Notable alumni

• Mark Felton, author and historian ^[14]
• Neil Foster, professional cricketer
• Amanda Root, actress ^[15]
• Omar Sowunmi, professional footballer
• Jeremy Spake, television personality^{[ citation needed ]}
• Connor Wickham, professional footballer

Controversies

Planning

Norman Way was originally planned in the 1960s to be an inner ring road for Colchester with the "Norman Way School" (and several neighbouring schools) facing onto the road. Instead the metalled road was truncated a short distance before the school for safety reasons, and a footpath set on the original route. The alternative vehicular route requires driving through narrow residential streets. Several times since then the school has applied to have Norman Way extended along part or all of the original route so that pupils and visitors would not have to walk the extra 100m, but each time this was vetoed by the Council after vigorous protests against the increased traffic expected by the local residents.

In the summer of 2009, the school again applied to extend the road through fields in the southern residential area, but this time it was to be linked to a £130m government-funded expansion of the school which would allow it to take on pupils from other two schools. Council policy was set in October 2009 to allow the road extension if it can be proven that the grant is genuinely conditional on the altered road access. ^[16] In mid-2010 it was announced that there would be no cash for the school expansion from Building Schools for the Future programme. However, Colchester council has not announced that it will halt its road building programme, in spite of local demands to preserve the green space. ^[17]

In July 2015, the school once again caused controversy when it erected a metal fence across a stretch of the Norman Way footpath without consulting residents. ^[18]

Homework policy

In 2016, Catherine Hutley decided to ban traditional homework and take a different approach to out-of-school learning. ^[19]

At the start of the 2016/2017 academic year, the school implemented their new homework policy: 'Prove It +'. The idea 'Prove It +' was to give students the opportunity to make their own decisions concerning what tasks they complete as a substitute to traditional homework. Students can select tasks from the Prove It + website, ^[20] and then submit the task to their teacher either using a 'digital postcard' which was sent directly to the member of staff's email inbox, or complete a Prove It + card along with the task completed.

The decision to ban traditional homework has caused mixed views on the idea. There was no consultation with either the teaching staff or parents. Some parents describe the move to ban traditional homework as "creating a generation who will flunk their GCSEs", ^[21]

In 2018, after declining results, homework was reintroduced by the Acting Headteachers. ^[22]

See also

• Thrive Partnership

References

1. "The Right Reverend Philip Morant". Archived from the original on 10 March 2010. Retrieved 19 March 2010.
2. Simon Webb (2013). The Colchester Book of Days. Cheltenham: The History Press. ISBN   9780752489087.
3. "The Philip Morant School & College". educationbase.co.uk. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
4. "Under-fire schools to be taken over by new trust". Gazette. 19 July 2018. Archived from the original on 29 July 2018. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
5. "{title}" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 December 2013. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
6. Ofsted Communications Team (31 December 2018). "Find an inspection report and registered childcare". reports.ofsted.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 13 September 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
7. https://files.api.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50006444 ^{[ bare URL PDF ]}
8. https://files.api.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/2473992 ^{[ bare URL PDF ]}
9. https://files.api.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/2217755 ^{[ bare URL PDF ]}
10. Ofsted Communications Team (8 April 2019). "Find an inspection report and registered childcare". reports.ofsted.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 13 September 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
11. https://files.api.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/957065 ^{[ bare URL PDF ]}
12. https://files.api.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/843363 ^{[ bare URL PDF ]}
13. https://files.api.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/763063 ^{[ bare URL PDF ]}
14. "Silver screen comes calling for Colchester author". Gazette. 7 April 2015. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
15. "Colchester actress nominated for US showbiz award". 7 May 2009.
16. Colchester: Council cabinet agrees to release schools' land - with conditions Archived 3 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine , Essex County Standard
17. Colchester: Give up field! Archived 3 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine Essex County Standard, 19 November 2010
18. http://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/13522954.Row_after_school_blocks_up_pathway/ Archived 24 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine Colchester Gazette 3 August 2015
19. "The secondary school that is banning homework". Independent.co.uk . 28 September 2016. Archived from the original on 15 March 2018. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
20. "{title}". Archived from the original on 15 March 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
21. Noble, Jason (6 February 2018). "Parents voice fears over Philip Morant School's no-homework stance warning it is allowing pupils to fail". Archived from the original on 15 March 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
22. "Parents welcome news that homework is back". Gazette. 11 June 2018. Archived from the original on 17 June 2018. Retrieved 17 June 2018.

External links

• Philip Morant Ofsted reports
• Philip Morant website