The history of the Fowey Grammar School Foundation

1690 – Fowey granted a new Charter – John Rashleigh appointed Recorder for life – John Treffry one of five gentlemen nominated as Free Burgesses. One of the early acts of the new Corporation was to found a Grammar School.

1692 – John Treffry conveyed to John Rashleigh and Shadrack Vincent of Roselyon a house, garden and meadow… for the better preservation of a free school to be erected there; Shadrack Vincent guaranteed that when the school was built he would provide £500 to purchase land that would yield £30 per annum to be a perpetual fund for the purpose of educating thirty poor children of Fowey and surrounding places. The engraved tower bell of 1693 from the original school is the property of the Fowey Grammar School Trust, and is on loan to Fowey Primary School for display in the entrance foyer of the school. A second smaller bell, similarly engraved, is on loan to the Fowey Museum Trust.

1838 – The Charity Commissioners, having visited Fowey, reported that the quay and pavements were decayed, the salary of the master of the Grammar School in arrears and the rents of the Town Lands had not been collected for many years. An official receiver was appointed to administer the Town’s charities.

1856 – The Chancery Court approved a new scheme whereby the assets and income of the Town Lands Trust and of charities endowed by John Treffry and Nicholas Sawle were settled on the Grammar School Trust.

1870 – The school started by the John’s bequest in 1773 was taken over as a Board School under the Education Act.

1876 – A new school building was erected on part of the Grammar School site.

1879 – A new Grammar School, designed by Silvanus Trevail, was built above the site of an old quarry near Daglands.

1903 – Charity Commissioners determined that the total endowment was held solely for educational purposes – except for an annual sum of £30 for church maintenance.

1909 – A new Scheme was established.

1922 – The County Council took over the running of the Schools and two charities were set up. The first was the Fowey Grammar School Site Foundation which had the County Council as the sole trustee and the School land and buildings as its assets for as long as the School was in use as an educational establishment. The second charity, the Fowey Grammar School Exhibition Foundation, had eleven trustees, one of whom was the Lord of the Manor ex officio, two of whom were nominated by the County Council and eight co-opted to represent the local communities that benefited from the work of the charity. The charity’s assets were the remaining property and investments of the original (1909) Charity. The Exhibition Foundation provided money for the School for items not normally provided by the Education Authority and also provided assistance to those ex-pupils of the School who were continuing in education or training.

1957 – Reorganisation of Secondary Education in Cornwall. A new Secondary Modern School was opened at the Windmill for children between the ages of eleven and fifteen. The Board School was re-designated as a Primary School for children between the ages of five and eleven. The Grammar School continued to provide education for selected pupils from age eleven to eighteen.

1970 – Introduction of Comprehensive education. All children at the age of eleven transferred to the Secondary Modern School which was renamed Fowey Comprehensive School. The Primary School took over the former Grammar School building, retaining the Board School as an annex.  The Fowey Comprehensive School was deemed the successor school to the former Fowey Grammar School.  Income from the assets of the Fowey Grammar School Foundation Trust were to be applied for the benefit of the Comprehensive School and its pupils.

1989 – The new Primary School opened at the Windmill and the Grammar School and Board School buildings were no longer required for educational purposes. However, as both schools had been set up by permanently endowed charities, the proceeds from any sale of these assets was required by law to remain as a permanent charitable endowment serving the same or similar purposes as the original charities.

1992 – The Site Foundation was renamed the Fowey Community School Charity, still with the County Council as trustee but with a new Scheme which allowed, inter alia, the charity to sell its assets. A new Scheme was also drawn up for the Exhibition Foundation which was much the same as the 1922 Scheme and continued in operation until 2007.

1997 – The School buildings and land were sold as three lots. Lots 1 & 2 (The Board School) were sold for £150,000 and lot 3 (The Grammar School) was sold for £225,690. The terrace of houses known as Troy Court was developed from the buildings and grounds of the 1897 Grammar School.

1999 – The County Education Committee minutes recorded that the money received from the sale of lot 3 was to be used for the benefit of the Community College. The money received from the sale of lots 1 and 2 was to be divided in the ratio of one-third for the benefit of the Primary School and two-thirds for the benefit of the Community College. (This ratio was intended to reflect the comparative roll numbers of each of the schools). A further charity, “The Fowey Primary School Trust”, was set up. This Trust and the Community School Charity were to be administered by the County Council.

Between 1997 and 2007 the original endowment of £375,690 earned a total of £235,453 in interest. Also during that period the Primary School drew £20,478 from the fund while the Community College took nothing from the fund.

2007 – The Charity Commissioners agreed to a new Scheme for “The Fowey Grammar School Foundation; which combined the Exhibition Foundation, the Primary School Trust, and the Community School Charity under one board of trustees. The Trustees were the existing Exhibition Foundation Trustees together with representatives of the Primary School and the Community College. The Scheme allowed the board to set up two sub-committees: one to administer the income earned by that portion of the 1997 endowment allocated for the benefit of the Primary School: the other to administer the income earned by that portion of the 1997 endowment allocated for the benefit of the Community College together with the income from the 1922 endowment of the Fowey Grammar School Exhibition Foundation.

2014– The Charity Commission confirmed that there was no objection to the trustees’ decision that the relationship between the charity and the school would remain unchanged when the college became Fowey River Academy.