Thomas Adams School

Thomas Adams School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form in Wem, Shropshire, England. The school takes pupils from ages 11–18 and currently has just over 1,400 on roll. Unusually for a state-funded school there is a boarding unit. The school has the Schools for Health Award and in 2002 obtained Media Arts College status.[1] Adams Grammar School merged with Wem Secondary Modern School in 1976 to form Adams School, later named Thomas Adams School.

The Thomas Adams School
Thomas Adams School Crest
Address
Lowe Hill Wem , Shropshire , SY4 5UB England
Coordinates	52.8589°N 2.7301°W / 52.8589; -2.7301
Information
Type	Academy
Established	1650 (1650)
Founder	Sir Thomas Adams
Department for Education URN	123589 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Chair of Governors	Jo Hickson
Headteacher	Mark Cooper
Deputy Headteacher	Gavin Sterry
Gender	Coeducational
Age	11 to 18
Houses	Clee, Lawley, Haughmond, Caradoc, Corndon, Hawkstone & Grinshill
Colour(s)	Blue, White
Affiliations	Keele University Drapers' Company of London
Former names	The Free School of Wem, Adams Grammar School Wem
Website	http://www.thomasadams.org.uk/

The school is rated (in 2014 and 2017) by Ofsted to be good.[2] The school has a strong connection with the Drapers Company, an ancient London guild who nominate two governors to sit on the school's governing body. The Drapers Company is well known for its educational connections and charitable contributions, it helps support a number of schools and universities which have historical links with the company.

The school was founded in 1650 by Sir Thomas Adams, the Lord Mayor of London in 1645, who was described by the diarist Samuel Pepys as a "comely old alderman". He was a Sheriff of London, Master of the Company of Drapers and an MP. He was a staunch royalist, who was imprisoned in the Tower of London for his royalist sympathies but was later sent by Parliament to the Hague in 1660 to wait upon King Charles II who was about to be restored to the throne. He also paid for the Bible to translated into Persian.

Notable past-pupils of the Thomas Adams School include Paul Jones (footballer, born 1967), Neil Thomas (gymnast), the comedian Greg Davies, the actor Peter Jones, the golfer Sandy Lyle, General Sir Charles Warren and lawyer/politician Sir Henry Maddocks.

Although there is no active alumni association, over 1,200 ex-pupils of Adams Grammar School, Wem Modern School, Adams School and Thomas Adams School are members of the Facebook group Adams School Wem Nostalgia Group.[3]

In March 2020 the school joined The Priory Trust.[4]