King James I Academy (formally known as King James I Community Arts College) is a medium size

academy school An academy school in England is a 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 individual Academy Funding Agreements. 80% ...

and

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 ...

centre for mixed gender aged 11–18 in the town of

Bishop Auckland Bishop Auckland ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham, England, Durham. M ...

in County Durham in northeast England. It traces its history to the early 17th century. The site currently consists of two large two-storey buildings as well as a few small cabins, including the "Kings Feast" which is used to sell food at breaks, lunches and special occasions. The others are used as classrooms or form rooms similar to the rooms inside the other buildings.

History

Opened in 1605, by

King James I of England James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

it went through multiple transformations and renaming. It was mainly known as ''King James 1st Grammar School'' and became the first secondary school in south-west Durham to be upgraded to academy status. In an interview, Elizabeth Varley (Chair Of Governors For The Academy and former student) described how many years ago, students had to pass a test to be able to attend the academy since at the time it was a Grammar School where boys and girls were educated separately. She also revealed that the current Art block was not part of the original Middle School building, and that it was added at a later date to house a school swimming pool (which has since been blocked up). In 2022 there were 944 students in the academy, with 136 of them being sixth formers. Its staff including representatives from Connexions and the

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

Ofsted inspections

As of the last inspection in 2022, Ofsted reports this in regards to attending the school:

Uniform

The uniform exists for students in years 7 to 11 and consists of: * Black trousers or skirt. * A blazer with the King James logo or a plain black v-neck jumper. * Smart, black shoes. (No trainers or sandals). * A plain white t-shirt or shirt. * A school tie (black, blue and gold in colour).

Notable former pupils

William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong, (26 November 1810 – 27 December 1900) was an English engineer and industrialist who founded the Armstrong Whitworth manufacturing concern on Tyneside. He was also an eminent scientist, inventor and phi ...

, who founded

Armstrong Whitworth Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. With headquarters in Elswick, Tyne and Wear, Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Armstrong Whitworth built armaments, ships, locomot ...

Keith Hampson Keith Hampson (born 14 August 1943) is a former Conservative party politician in the United Kingdom. Hampson was educated at King James I Grammar School, Bishop Auckland, where he was head boy, the University of Bristol and HarvardMatthew Par ...

, Conservative MP from February 1974 - 1983 for

Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Within the boundaries of the historic West Riding of Yorkshire, the ...

, then Leeds Northwest from 1983 to 1997 * Harold Heslop, writer * Derek Hodgson, priest *

Stan Laurel Stan Laurel ( ; born Arthur Stanley Jefferson; 16 June 1890 – 23 February 1965) was an English comic actor, director and writer who was in the comedy double act, duo Laurel and Hardy. He appeared with his comedy partner Oliver Hardy in 107 sh ...

, comedian * Andrew Nelson, footballer for

Dundee F.C. Dundee Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Dundee, Scotland, founded in 1893. The team are nicknamed "The Dark Blues" or "The Dee". The club plays its home matches at Dens Park and currently play in the . The ...

Harold Orton Harold Orton (23 October 1898 – 7 March 1975) was a British dialectologist and professor of English language and Medieval Literature at the University of Leeds. Early life Orton was born in Byers Green, County Durham, on 23 October 1898 and ...

, Professor of English Language and Medieval English Literature from 1946 to 1964 at the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

* Tom Stanage, Bishop of Bloemfontein from 1982 to 1997 * Thomas Wright, astronomer

References

External links

King James I Academy
official website
King James I Academy, Bishop Auckland
''Gov.UK'' {{authority control Academies in County Durham Educational institutions established in the 1600s 1605 establishments in England Secondary schools in County Durham Bishop Auckland