The King Edward VI School, Morpeth

The King Edward VI School
The school's current logo
Established 1552
Type Academy
Headteacher Ms Clare Savage
Chair of Board of Directors Mr Paul Carvin
Location Cottingwood Lane
Morpeth
Northumberland
NE61 1DN
England
55°10′30″N 1°41′35″W / 55.1750°N 1.6930°W / 55.1750; -1.6930Coordinates: 55°10′30″N 1°41′35″W / 55.1750°N 1.6930°W / 55.1750; -1.6930
Local authority Northumberland
DfE URN 137746 Tables
Ofsted Reports
Students 1400
Gender Mixed
Ages 13–18
Houses Hollon, Turner, Collingwood, and De Merley
Specialisms Arts and Technology
Website kevi.the3rivers.net

King Edward VI School, Morpeth is a voluntary controlled academy school located in Morpeth, Northumberland, England. It was established by a royal charter as Morpeth Grammar School and later as King Edward VI Grammar School.[1] The school became a comprehensive school in the 1970s and became an academy in December 2011.[2] It is locally known as "KEVI" or simply "King Edward's". In 2011, the school became part of The 3 Rivers Learning Trust.[3]

History

The refoundation of the school is frequently associated with William Turner (c. 1508–1568), nonconformist divine. He is known as the "Father of English Botany", a native of Morpeth, and is believed to have attended the grammar school before attending Cambridge and later to have returned to be its headmaster.

Morpeth Grammar School was the plaintiff in a lawsuit of the longest duration in English legal history. The case started in 1710 and concerned the recovery of lands granted to the school by Edward VI and later leased to the Thornton family. The case was reopened in 1833, advanced in 1847, and determined in 1870.[4] By the 1960s the school was known as King Edward VI Grammar School.[1]

The school lost its status as a grammar school in the educational reforms of the 1970s and became a comprehensive. A new school building was opened in 1967 to accommodate the boys and girls grammar schools, although they remained segregated until the new educational reforms took effect.

Present day

The King Edward VI School was awarded Beacon School status in 2003, and Leading Edge status, in 2004. The school officially gained academy status on 1 December 2011.[2] The current building was constructed in 1973. The school was one of the first few schools that had two specialisms.

Management

The headteacher is Ms Clare Savage.[5]

Ofsted

At the last Ofsted report, on the 1st of May 2014, the school was judged as outstanding in all five Ofsted categories.[6]

Senior students

At the forefront of the School Council and representing the school's student body are its head boy, deputy head boy, head girl and deputy head girl. Its senior students are elected on an annual basis.[5]

Exam results

In 2016, Year 11 students achieved excellent GCSE results, the best in Northumberland. Eighty per cent of students achieved five or more passes at Grades A*–C, with 80 per cent gaining five or more including English and Maths, which was the highest percentage in Northumberland. Over 250 students from Year 11 have now moved into the 6th Form at King Edwards. In the same year, A Level students at the King Edward VI School produced excellent results. There was an increase in the percentage of A*–B grades to 53 per cent, an improvement of 5 per cent over the previous year. The overall A*–E pass rate increased to 99 per cent. The average points score per student came out at 838.9, which was the highest of any school in Northumberland.[7]

Observatory

In 2014, students from the school's space club, known as KEVISA (KEVI Space Agency) designed and built an astronomical observatory on the school's ex-ski dry ski slope, securing funding from several sources. Housing an 11-inch telescope, the Observatory is used by the club for enrichment activities invloving students, and events throughout the year where members of the public can learn about astronomy.[8][5]

New buildings

The school, to accommodate a rising number of students, installed portacabins to house extra classes and registration forms. They have also recently renovated the old caretaker's house into a new music school, which is one of the main drawing points for the school. They have also recently built a new science block - with two laboratory classrooms - known as the Mulberry Science Centre.

Music department

The school music department hosts many music clubs, including a three choirs, a jazz band, steel pan band, ceilidh band and full community orchestra formed of students, parents and other local musicians.[5] The department also works to produce the biennial school musicals.[9] The department has a number of practice rooms, an Apple Mac computer classroom, recording studio and rehearsal room.

Year 9 commemoration service

The school stands at the top of Collingwood lane and, in a long-standing tradition,[10] all Year 9 students take part in a commemoration service in St. James's Church which sits at the bottom of Collingwood Lane. It is intended to give students a short history of the school and introduce them to the school's values and ideals. The service consists of a number of short readings from staff and students, accompanied by songs from the school choir.[11]

School arms

The school arms are: Argent masoned gules, a tower triple-turreted within a bordure of the second charged with eight martlets of the first.

Notable former pupils

References

  1. 1 2 "Old pictures of Morpeth down the years". The Chronicle. 24 July 2013. Archived from the original on 10 June 2018. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Schools join forces to form academy". 1 December 2011. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017.
  3. ↑ "The Three Rivers Learning Trust". The Three Rivers Learning Trust Website. Archived from the original on 9 March 2018. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  4. ↑ Law Journal for the Years 1832-1949. Google Books.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Our School". The King Edward VI School Website.
  6. ↑ "Ofsted Report for The King Edward VI Academy". Archived from the original on 2018-06-12. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  7. ↑ "KEVI Exam Results (for 2016)". The King Edward VI School Website. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017.
  8. ↑ "KEVISA Facebook Page". www.facebook.com.
  9. ↑ "KEVI Music Twitter Page". www.twitter.com.
  10. ↑ "The Church of St James the Great: History". Archived from the original on 21 March 2017.
  11. ↑ "Mr Nick Rowark, The King Edward VI School Commemoration Service 2016". soundcloud.com. Retrieved 2018-06-08.

Sources

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.