Fairfax Academy (formerly Fairfax 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 status in the Royal Town of

Sutton Coldfield Sutton Coldfield or the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield ( ), is a town and civil parish in the city of Birmingham, West Midlands County, West Midlands, England. The town lies around 8 miles northeast of Birmingham city centre, 9 miles south of L ...

, near

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. The school was established in 1959. The school has a sixth-form.

History

The School opened in 1959; the founding Headmaster was Mr G Philpott. He was followed by Don Field. The School became a

grant maintained Grant-maintained schools or GM schools were state schools in England and Wales between 1988 and 1998 that had opted out of local government control, being funded directly by a grant from central government. Some of these schools had selective ad ...

, under the headship of Mr Richard Metcalfe, it then transitioned to become a

foundation school In England and Wales, a foundation school is a state-funded school in which the school governor, governing body has greater freedom in the running of the school than in Community school (England and Wales), community schools. Foundation schools ...

under the

School Standards and Framework Act 1998 The School Standards and Framework Act 1998 was the major education legislation passed by the incoming Labour government led by Tony Blair. This Act: * imposed a limit of 30 on infant class sizes. * abolished grant-maintained schools, introduci ...

. The School converted to become an

Academy (English school) An academy school in Education in England, England is a State school, state-funded school which is directly funded by the Department for Education and independent of local authority control. The terms of the arrangements are set out in individu ...

on 1 July 2011 under the headship of Mrs S Calvert. Calvert had been appointed headteacher in September 2006, and left in December 2011. Mr A Bird was appointed as headteacher from the start of the Spring Term 2011/12. On 1 November 2014 Fairfax School became part of the Fairfax Multi Academy Trust; Mr Bird became the Executive Head and Deborah Bunn was Headteacher. The school was later renamed Fairfax Academy. Bournville School, Smith's Wood Academy and Erdington Academy are also members of the Fairfax Multi-Academy Trust.

School performance

As of 2024, the school's most recent inspection by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

was in May 2024, a two-day inspection with a judgement of Good.

Notable alumni

* Myles Edwards, rugby union player * Nigel Pulsford, musician, and original guitarist with Bush * Bradley Simpson, lead singer of The Vamps.

References

External links

Fairfax Academy Website
{{authority control Academies in Birmingham, West Midlands Sutton Coldfield Secondary schools in Birmingham, West Midlands 1959 establishments in the United Kingdom