Cotham School is a

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

with

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

status in Cotham, a suburb of

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The catchment area for this school is Cotham, Clifton, Kingsdown, Southern Redland, Bishopston, St Paul's and Easton. The school shares a

sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

, the North Bristol Post 16 Centre, with nearby Redland Green School. The Cotham campus is situated in Charnwood House, although sixth form lessons also take place at the main school site. Construction on a new teaching and dining block was finished in 2018 and increased the school's capacity significantly. Cotham School is one of the few schools in the UK to have educated two Nobel laureates:

Paul Dirac Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac ( ; 8 August 1902 – 20 October 1984) was an English mathematician and Theoretical physics, theoretical physicist who is considered to be one of the founders of quantum mechanics. Dirac laid the foundations for bot ...

, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1933, and Peter Higgs, who received the same award in 2013.

History

Cotham School was established in 1856. Its predecessor was the Merchant Venturers' School. Until the academic year 2000/01, Cotham was a grammar school. It became a comprehensive in 2001, and an

in September 2011. A £20m redevelopment and expansion was completed in 2012, using funding from the Building Schools for the Future programme. The

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

drama Thirteen was filmed here in 2015.

Notable alumni

* Tony Badger, Master of

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the Unive ...

, 2003–14; Paul Mellon Professor of American History,

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, 1992–2014. *

Lucasian Professor of Mathematics The Lucasian Chair of Mathematics () is a mathematics professorship in the University of Cambridge, England; its holder is known as the Lucasian Professor. The post was founded in 1663 by Henry Lucas (politician), Henry Lucas, who was Cambridge U ...

from 1932 to 1969 at the

, who won the 1933

Nobel Prize in Physics The Nobel Prize in Physics () is an annual award given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for those who have made the most outstanding contributions to mankind in the field of physics. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the ...

with

Erwin Schrödinger Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger ( ; ; 12 August 1887 – 4 January 1961), sometimes written as or , was an Austrian-Irish theoretical physicist who developed fundamental results in quantum field theory, quantum theory. In particul ...

for work on

quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is the fundamental physical Scientific theory, theory that describes the behavior of matter and of light; its unusual characteristics typically occur at and below the scale of atoms. Reprinted, Addison-Wesley, 1989, It is ...

. * Wallace Fox, Professor of Community Therapeutics from 1979 to 1986 at the Cardiothoracic Institute, Royal Brompton Hospital; did important work on

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

* David Garmston, journalist * Peter Higgs, Professor of Theoretical Physics from 1980 to 1996 at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

; received the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics with

François Englert François, Baron Englert (; born 6 November 1932) is a Belgian theoretical physicist and 2013 Nobel Prize laureate. Englert is professor emeritus at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), where he is a member of the Service de Physique Thé ...

for his work on

subatomic particle In physics, a subatomic particle is a particle smaller than an atom. According to the Standard Model of particle physics, a subatomic particle can be either a composite particle, which is composed of other particles (for example, a baryon, lik ...

s including the

Higgs boson The Higgs boson, sometimes called the Higgs particle, is an elementary particle in the Standard Model of particle physics produced by the excited state, quantum excitation of the Higgs field, one of the field (physics), fields in particl ...

; * Maya Jama, TV presenter * John James, businessman and philanthropist * Martyn Jarrett, Bishop of Beverley 2000–2012; Bishop of Burnley from 1994 to 2000 * Laya Lewis, actress * Gary Mabbutt, professional footballer for Bristol Rovers F.C., Tottenham Hotspur F.C. and

* Arthur Milton, cricketer and footballer * John Mortimore, cricketer * Michael Parsons, designer of bridges including the Severn and Humber Bridges * John Perry, musician and author. Guitarist The Only Ones * Greg Poole, artist * Derek Robinson, novelist * John Saxbee,

Bishop of Lincoln The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury. The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of Nort ...

2001–2011;

Bishop of Ludlow The Bishop of Ludlow was an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Hereford, which is within the Province of Canterbury, England. The See of Ludlow was erected under the Suffragans Nomination Act 1888 by O ...

from 1994 to 2001 * Julian Sedgwick, actor * John Tidmarsh, journalist * Amy Willerton, contestant on '' I'm a Celebrity 2013'' and contestant in Miss Universe * Russell Wood, cricketer

References

External links

* {{authority control Secondary schools in Bristol Academies in Bristol Educational institutions established in 1856 1856 establishments in England

History

Notable alumni

See also

References

External links