King Edward VI School, Lichfield

King Edward VI School, Lichfield, is a co-educational comprehensive school near the heart of the city of Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. The school is a co-educational comprehensive school maintained by Staffordshire Education Authority and admits pupils from the age of 11 (Year 7), with most electing to continue their education into the Sixth Form, leaving at 18 (Year 13). In the main school (Years 7–11), the published admissions number is 214 pupils for each year group. In total there are in excess of 1400 pupils on roll.

In 1995, the school celebrated its 500th anniversary, its Quincentenary. During its long history the school has educated some famous names, most notably Samuel Johnson.

History

In 1495 Bishop Smythe established the school as a free grammar school as part of the same foundation as St. John's Hospital, a home for the elderly. Every day prayers are said for the school in the tiny chapel which forms part of the St. John's almshouses in St. John's Street. The school takes its name from the Tudor boy king who reigned between 1547 and 1553. The school crest incorporates features of the royal Tudor coat of arms. The Latin inscription beneath, "Deo, Patriae, Scholae", is broadly translated as "for God, Country and School".

In the 18th century a number of eminent people were educated at the school. These included the great scholar and compiler of the first English dictionary, Dr. Samuel Johnson (the buildings of the former grammar school bear his name), David Garrick, the actor, and Joseph Addison, the essayist and politician. Two of the school's four houses are named after Addison and Garrick. (The other houses are named after Bishop Clinton who founded a priory in Lichfield in the 12th century and Erasmus Darwin, who lived in the City for a number of years).

Until the beginning of the twentieth century the school occupied the school house in St. John's Street, opposite St. John's Hospital. It can still be seen, now forming part of the District Council premises. In 1903 the first building on the present site was opened. Further extensions were added in the 1920s and 1950s to what has come to be known as Johnson Hall.

Recent developments

The present King Edward VI School was created in 1971 by the merger of the grammar school with Kings Hill secondary modern school which had been built on an adjacent site in the 1950s to cater for the City's expanding population. The premises of the former Kingshill School are referred to as Bader Hall in recognition of Douglas Bader, the World War II fighter ace, who opened that school in 1959. The original grammar school area is referred to as 'Johnson' after Dr Samuel Johnson, the famous British author who was educated at the school and lived in Lichfield for a time.

The school's success as a comprehensive school owes much to the merging of two strong and successful traditions; on the one hand, the tradition of academic excellence associated with the grammar school and, on the other, the modern school tradition of care and support for the individual. Academic challenge and care for the individual remain the twin guiding principles of the school today.

King Edwards has recently had a new music block built worth £1 million and includes state of the art rooms and an ecological design to help improve the school. It has also recently built a new sixth form block where sixth form students can relax and socialise it also contains four class rooms used exclusively for sixth form lessons.

School Council

The aim of the School Council is to provide a forum for the discussion by students' representatives of issues raised by students or staff and which affect the life of the school.

There is also a council committee for sixth form students known as the Ashmole Society. Elected sixth formers discuss topics relevant to the sixth form, and the students.

Academic performance

It gets good results at GCSE and A-level. The A-level results are consistently amongst the top schools in Staffordshire.

Notable former pupils

since the merger

• Helen Baxendale, actress

as a Grammar School

• Elias Ashmole
• Stewart Ashurst, Chief Executive from 1995-2005 of Essex County Council
• John Everard, Ambassador from 2006-8 to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), and from 2001-5 to Uruguay
• Ian Fauset CB, aeronautical engineer and Executive Director from 199-2003 of the Defence Procurement Agency
• Prof Martin Tyas AM, Professor of Restorative Dentistry, University of Melbourne, Australia
• Admiral Sir Frederic Fisher CVO, younger brother of John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher
• Michael Woodall Chief Pensions Officer of the £8.8 billion West Midlands Pension Fund
• David Garrick
• Very Rev Christopher George Hardwick, Dean of Truro since 2005
• Prof Edward Hitchcock, Professor of Neurosurgery from 1978-93 at the University of Birmingham, and expert in stereotactic surgery
• Rt Rev Augustine John Hodson, Bishop of Tewkesbury from 1938–55
• Robert James
• Samuel Johnson
• Peter Iredale, Director from 1987-90 of the Harwell Laboratory
• Lt Gen Louis Lillywhite CB MBE, Surgeon General, Ministry of Defence from 2006-9
• Robin Marlar, Captain from 1955-9 of Sussex County Cricket Club, President from 2005-6 of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), and Cricket Correspondent from 1970-96 of The Sunday Times
• Leslie Megahey, film director, and Head of Arts and Music from 1988-91 at BBC TV
• Wing Commander micky Ogden
• Douglas Taylor, mechanical engineer, and Chairman from 1987-90 of Ricardo plc

References

• School history
• Edubase