Plymouth High School for Girls

Plymouth High School for Girls is a selective girls' grammar school founded in 1874, with a motto that still does useful work: For Life Not School We Learn. The school has about 795 pupils in total; its own homepage describes 600 girls in Years 7 to 11 and a sixth form, open to both girls and boys, that has grown to more than 200 students.

The school presents academic tradition and personal development as part of the same story. Its curriculum pages point to subject depth, pastoral curriculum and careers education, while the history curriculum is a good example of the tone: pupils are expected to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence and develop judgement. The school is part of Thinking Schools Academy Trust, and student voice is visible through its student-led publication Hear Me Out.

The co-curricular life is described more briefly than at some larger grammars, but the official news stream and admissions pages show a school with real activity beyond the timetable: Ten Tors, music and art, Duke of Edinburgh, sport, student leadership and sixth-form preparation all appear in the current school material. Facilities named in existing official records include library and art and design spaces.

For Year 7 entry, the published admission number is 120. The 11-plus is provided by Quest Assessments and uses multiple-choice English comprehension and mathematics papers, with no verbal, non-verbal, spatial reasoning or free-writing element. Looked-after and previously looked-after candidates, and up to 12 FSM, Pupil Premium or Ever 6 candidates, can be considered at scores up to five marks below the adjusted cut-off; other places are ranked by 11-plus score. Recent official benchmarks show Ofsted Good, Progress 8 of +0.24, 96.1% grade 5+ in English and maths and 14.8% AAB or better at A level.