Marling School
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Marling School is a
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 ...
with academy status for boys, with a co-educational
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 ...
located in
Stroud Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021. Sited below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the ...
,
Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...
, England. It is on the Cainscross Road, the main route out of Stroud towards the M5, and is situated next to the girls' grammar school, Stroud High School, with which it shares some facilities.


History

Marling School is the oldest secondary school in
Stroud Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021. Sited below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the ...
, having been founded in 1887 by Sir Samuel Marling, a local cloth manufacturer and former Liberal Member of Parliament, along with Sir Francis Hyett and Mr S.S. Dickinson. In 1882, Sir Samuel Marling offered £10,000 towards the building of the school, and the school also inherited a number of endowments from the Red Coat School which was founded in 1642 by Thomas Webb, the St Chloe School founded at Amberley by Nathaniel Cambridge in 1699, and the educational charities established in the 17th and 18th centuries by William Johns and Robert Aldridge. The new school opened to fee-paying pupils, which included some boarding students, in 1889. In 1909, under a new scheme the school became a public secondary school. Its endowments, along with those of the Stroud School of Science and Art and the Stroud High School for girls, were placed under the administration of a body called the Stroud Educational Foundation. The old school houses were built shortly after the school's foundation, designed by W. H. Seth-Smith. In 1965, the school was amalgamated with the Stroud Technical School for Boys which had been founded on a neighbouring site in 1910. The Technical School buildings now form the Art and Drama departments. The head teacher David Lock was dismissed for gross misconduct in 2007 after allegations of bullying. Following the appointment of Dr Stuart Wilson as the new headteacher in 2010, Marling School converted to an
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 ...
in August 2011. In November 2023, Stroud News and Journal reported that the headteacher Glen Balmer had resigned. In January 2024, it was announced by the Cotswold Beacon Academy Trust that Jules Godfrey will be appointed as headteacher of Marling School from April 2024, becoming the school’s first ever permanent female headteacher. The left hand side of the school shield contains the Marling family crest while the right hand side relates to the marriage of Samuel Stephens Marling to Margaret Williams Cartwright of Devizes.


Facilities

Marling School has a programme of rebuilding and refurbishment to improve the learning environment. Following a successful bid to the EFA, the school was awarded a grant of £3.5 million to build a new block, named 'West Block' (or ‘WB) which houses the Geography, Mathematics and Religious Education departments and a new dining hall overlooking the cricket pitch and pavilion. The Design and Technology block incorporates teaching rooms for
food technology Food technology is a branch of food science that addresses the production, preservation, quality control and research and development of food products. It may also be understood as the science of ensuring that a society is food secure and ha ...
, graphical products, resistant materials and
electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...
. This building is shared with Stroud High School. The South Block (or ‘SB’) built in 2005 houses English, Foreign Languages and Computing Science. The old gymnasium has been refurbished and repurposed as a library and school archive. In late 2019, old, derelict original school buildings were refurbished and the History department now occupies them, moving out of the South Block and making way for more English and Maths. These new refurbished buildings are called 'East Block'. The Science department is situated in three buildings, near East Block, one being shared with Stroud High School, and another, which was built later and is more modern. A modern sixth form block serves the students of both the Marling School and Stroud High School. This was the building used by Downfield Sixth Form until the two schools split into having their own sixth forms. A separate Sports Hall is used along Cainscross Road, where students attend PE and sport-related clubs. Its facilities include a large indoor hall, where basketball, volleyball, and other indoor games are played, and grass pitches where games such as Football and Rugby are played.


Notable alumni

* Peter Barnes - Dramatist * Eugene Paul Bennett - Soldier, recipient of the
Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...
* Mark Chappell - Writer * Reginald Clarry - Member of Parliament * Rory Cowlam - Vet and TV presenter * Prof Philip Dee Physicist * Patric Dickinson - Genealogist and herald * Professor Brian Gardiner, palaeontologist and zoologist. * Giles Harrison - Physicist * Peter Hennessy, Baron Hennessy of Nympsfield - Historian and political journalist * Jack Lee - Film director * Laurie Lee - Poet, Novelist and screenwriter * Tim McInnerny - Actor * Roderick Oliver Redman - Professor of Astrophysics and past President of the
Royal Astronomical Society The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is a learned society and charitable organisation, charity that encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, planetary science, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. Its ...
* Christian Ribeiro - Footballer * Carl Trueman - Theologian * Colin Walker - Cellist * Sir Michael Angus - Ex-chairman of
Unilever Unilever PLC () is a British multinational consumer packaged goods company headquartered in London, England. It was founded on 2 September 1929 following the merger of Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie with British soap maker Lever B ...


References


External links


School website

School Virtual Learning Environment
{{authority control Schools in Stroud Grammar schools in Gloucestershire Academies in Gloucestershire 1887 establishments in England Educational institutions established in 1887