Kirkham Grammar School is a selective, co-educational

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

day A day is the time rotation period, period of a full Earth's rotation, rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours (86,400 seconds). As a day passes at a given location it experiences morning, afternoon, evening, ...

and

boarding Boarding may refer to: *Boarding, used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals as in a: **Boarding house **Boarding school *Boarding (horses) (also known as a livery yard, livery stable, or boarding stable), is a stable where hor ...

school in

Kirkham, Lancashire Kirkham aka Kirkam-in-Amounderness Hundred, Amounderness is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Borough of Fylde in Lancashire, England, midway between Blackpool and Preston, Lancashire, Preston and adjacent to the ...

, England. It was founded in 1549. Its roots can be traced back to the chantry school attached to St Michael's Church in the 13th century. The school remained in the church grounds until it moved to occupy its present site on Ribby Road in 1911. The front range of the school and the headmaster's house are recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, ...

as a designated Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

School history

In 1585 the Thirty Men of Kirkham, a group which administered parish business, took control of the school. By the early part of the seventeenth century, the school had fallen into disrepair and had been without a master for seven years. Isabell Birley, an alehouse keeper, came to the rescue in 1621, presenting the Thirty Men of Kirkham with £30 for the restoration of the school. In 1655 Henry Colburn, an old boy of the school, left money and land to the school in his will, putting it in the trust of the

Worshipful Company of Drapers The Worshipful Company of Drapers is one of the 111 Livery Company, livery companies of the City of London, formally styled The Master and Wardens and Brethren and Sisters of the Guild or Fraternity of the Virgin Mary, Blessed Mary the Virgin o ...

in London. Then began a long partnership between the company and the school, which has continued to the present day, though the Drapers surrendered control of the school in 1944, having endowed it with large extensions in 1938. The present school building was built between 1909 and 1911 when the front range and the headmaster's house were constructed to a design by the architect F. H. Greenaway of London. In 1944, the school became part of the UK governmental

tripartite system The Tripartite System was the selective school system of State school#United Kingdom, state-funded secondary education between 1945 and the 1970s in England and Wales, and from 1947 onwards in Northern Ireland. It was an administrative implementa ...

as a voluntary-aided boys'

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

. In 1965 a major extension, the Norwood Science Building was opened. In 1979 the Board of Governors took the decision to revert to independent status and Kirkham Grammar School became a

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

school for the first time. The last decade of the 20th century witnessed a rise in pupil numbers from 500 to 900. The school's partnership with

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...

was first established in 1994. In July 2013, the school provided accommodation for teenagers attending BAE Systems' "taster weeks" The school applied to host a Pre-Games Olympic Training Camp before the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, in London.

Andrew Flintoff Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff (born 6 December 1977), is an English television and radio presenter and former international cricketer. Flintoff played all forms of the game and was one of the sport's leading all-rounders, a fast bowler, middle-ord ...

runs a cricket academy at the school. In recent years Kirkham Grammar School has produced a number of rugby players who have appeared at the highest level of the sport, Richard Wigglesworth and Kieran Brookes were part of the 2015 England's Six Nations squad, while Kieran Marmion was part of the

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

squad. In Sevens rugby Daniel Bibby and Richard de Carpentier have represented

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 ...

in the HSBC World Sevens Series where they came across fellow Old Boy Adam Newton playing for

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. In 2016 Daniel Bibby became the first

alumnus Alumni (: alumnus () or alumna ()) are former students or graduates of a school, college, or university. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for groups of women, and alums (: alum) or alumns (: alumn) as gender-neutral alternatives. Th ...

of the school to become an Olympian gaining a silver medal for Great Britain at the Rio Games in Sevens.

Development

The school celebrated its 450th anniversary in 1999 and has undertaken a major development programme with phase one, science laboratories and a classroom project, being completed in November 2005. The second phase, a new £1.5M extension project, was launched in May 2007 to give the school extra facilities with twelve new classrooms. The classrooms, with full

Information technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...

(IT)

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms, such as Text (literary theory), writing, Sound, audio, images, animations, or video, into a single presentation. T ...

teaching aids and access to

laptop A laptop computer or notebook computer, also known as a laptop or notebook, is a small, portable personal computer (PC). Laptops typically have a Clamshell design, clamshell form factor (design), form factor with a flat-panel computer scree ...

s with

wireless Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information (''telecommunication'') between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided transm ...

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

facilities, opened in December. A

time capsule A time capsule is a historic treasure trove, cache of goods or information, usually intended as a deliberate method of communication with future people, and to help future archaeologists, anthropologists, or historians. The preservation of holy ...

was buried in the foundations. In January 2007, the new ''Lawrence House Pavilion'' was officially opened with a performance of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

Much Ado About Nothing ''Much Ado About Nothing'' is a Shakespearean comedy, comedy by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599.See textual notes to ''Much Ado About Nothing'' in ''The Norton Shakespeare'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ) p. ...

''. The pavilion houses a drama studio, changing rooms, kitchen and a lounge area funded by the ''Lawrence House Trust'', together with the ''Katie Caine Trust'', after which the studio was named and also ''The Friends of Kirkham Grammar''. The pavilion cost £220,000. In October 2007, the school's sports pitch was relaid with all weather

AstroTurf AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for pitch (sports field), playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a pile (textile), short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Si ...

, and with floodlights it is also used by local community partners for sports such as

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

. The old pitch was recycled with part of it being used to make new pathways for North Shore Golf Club in

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

Nursery School

The Nursery School is a purpose built

preschool A preschool (sometimes spelled as pre school or pre-school), also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, play school, is an school, educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they ...

which adjoins the junior school. It was opened in September 2003 at a cost of £250,000.

Old Kirkhamians

* Zachary Langton (1698–1788), clergyman *

Ralph Copeland Ralph Copeland FRSE FRAS (3 September 1837 – 27 October 1905) was an English astronomer and the third Astronomer Royal for Scotland. Life Copeland was born at Moorside Farm, near Woodplumpton in Lancashire, England the son of Robert Cope ...

(1837–1905), astronomer *

Eric Laithwaite Eric Roberts Laithwaite (14 June 1921 – 27 November 1997) was an English electrical engineer, known as the " Father of Maglev" for his development of the linear induction motor and maglev rail system after Hermann Kemper. Biography Er ...

(1921–1997), engineer * Ronald Brown (1926–2019), Suffragan Bishop of Birkenhead * Frank Dernie (Formula One Engineer), (born 1950) * Graham Clark (1941–2023), opera singer * Anthony John Lewis (1942–2020), mathematician, sports statistician * Alastair Little (born 1950, died 2022), celebrity chef. *

Clive Tyldesley Clive Tyldesley (born 21 August 1954) is an English television sports broadcaster. He was ITV's senior football commentator from 1998 until 2020. In that role, he led the ITV commentary team at five World Cups and five European Championships an ...

(born 1954), football commentator * Tony Cocker (born 1959), former Chief Executive of

E.ON E.ON SE is a European multinational electric utility company based in Essen, Germany. It operates as one of the world's largest investor-owned electric utility service providers. The name originates from the Latin word '' aeon'', derived from ...

UK * John Buckley (born 1967), Professor of Military History *

Matthew Pateman Matthew Pateman is Professor of Popular Aesthetics and has worked as Head of Department at Kingston and Sheffield Hallam universities, and is now at Edge Hill University. Pateman received his Ph.D. from the University of Leeds where he wrote a th ...

(born 1969), Professor of Popular Aesthetics *

Pat Sanderson Pat Sanderson (born 6 September 1977 in Chester) is a former England national rugby union team, England international rugby union player and a former Flanker (rugby union), flanker for Worcester Warriors, Worcester. He is the brother of the fo ...

(born 1977), rugby union player *

Ranvir Singh Ranvir Singh (born 11 August 1977) is a British journalist and television presenter. She is a newsreader and presenter for '' Good Morning Britain'', presenter of '' Riddiculous'' and a relief presenter of ''Lorraine'' (alongside Christine Lamp ...

(born 1977), television presenter * Tupele Dorgu (born 1977), actress *

Alex Sanderson Alexander Sanderson (born 7 October 1979 in Chester) is an English former rugby union footballer who played in the back row during the 1990s and 2000s for Saracens and Sale Sharks. He is the brother of Pat Sanderson who also played rugby for Li ...

(born 1979), rugby union player * Mark McQueen (born 1980), film & TV director * Richard Wigglesworth (born 1983), rugby union player * Kieran Brookes (born 1990), rugby union player * Richard de Carpentier (born 1990), rugby union 7s player *

Kevin Wolze Kevin Wolze (born 9 March 1990) is a German former professional footballer who played as a defender. Career He joined MSV Duisburg in the summer of 2011, after he spent his youth playing with VfL Wolfsburg and the Bolton Wanderers with his firs ...

(born 1990), German footballer * Daniel Bibby (born 1991), rugby union 7s player (Olympic Silver Medallist, Rio 2016) * Rhys Bennett (born 1991), English footballer * Joshua Morris (born 1991), English footballer * Kieran Marmion (born 1992), rugby union player * Kieran Wilkinson (born 1999), rugby union player *

James Cartmell (actor) James Cartmell is an English actor. After his role in the West End theatre production of ''Milked'', Cartmell became the voice of the titular character in British ''Where's Waldo'' television series. He also voices Gilber Barker in the 2021 Net ...

(born 2000), actor * Ray Ingleby, businessman, entrepreneur

Past Headmasters since 1911

* Reverend Thomas C Walton 1905-1919 * Reverend Cresswell Strange * Dennis Norwood * William H Kennedy * Malcolm J Summerlee * Barrie Stacey *Douglas Walker * Richard Laithwaite * Daniel Berry * Deborah Parkinson * Tallan Gill

References

External links

Official school website

Profile
on the

Independent Schools Council The Independent Schools Council (ISC) is a non-profit lobby group that represents over 1,300 private schools in the United Kingdom. The organisation comprises seven independent school associations and promotes the business interests of its ...

website {{Coord, 53.7814, -2.8886, type:edu_region:GB, display=title Schools in the Borough of Fylde 1549 establishments in England Educational institutions established in the 1540s Private schools in Lancashire Member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference Boarding schools in Lancashire Kirkham, Lancashire