Peter Symonds College

Headmasters and Principals

• Revd Telford Varley, 1897 to 1926
• Dr "Doc" Freeman, 1926 to 1957
• John Shields, 1957 to 1963
• John Ashurst, 1963 to 1973
• Stuart Nicholls, 1973 to 1993
• Neil Hopkins, 1993 onwards

Origins

Peter Symonds[?], inspired by the Christ's Hospital[?] foundation in London which helped needy London boys, made provision in his will (date 1586) for the creation of Christes Hospitall[?], a foundation for people of all age in Winchester.

By May 1897 enough money had been raised from the sale of land to the railways to expand the educational side of the foundation with a secondary school for boys. The money was used to open Peter Symonds' School on 39 Southgate Street with Telford Varley (later Revd) as the headmaster.

He retired in 1926 and was succeeded by Dr Freeman, know as "Doc". Freeman wanted to turn Peter Symonds into a public school.

John Shields, taking over in 1957 after Freeman's death, created the science laboratories, gymnasium and the Varley buildings.

John Ashurst, who became headmaster in 1963, probably did something, but the local history library does not contain any references to him.

Stuart Nicholls became headmaster in 1973 and was the man who turned Peter Symonds' School into Peter Symonds College, a new sixth form college. Girls was admitted for the first time and the Hampshire specialist music course[?] was created.

Neil Hopkins has been headmaster since 1993. He saw the construction of the new science laboratories which was opened in 1996 by the Duke of Gloucester, and the Paul Woodhouse student's building opened in 1998 by Prince Andrew[?].

Achievement

From 1998 Peter Symonds has been the top sixth form college in Hampsire, and the third in the country. The A-level pass rate in 2002 was 95.5%, with 41 students going up to Oxford and Cambridge colleges.

External Links

• Peter Symonds College offical website (http://www.psc.ac.uk/)
• Old Symondians' Society (http://www.oldsymondianssociety.co.uk/)