School focus: King Edward VII School

Originally split into two separate schools across two separate sites – one for boys in Glossop Road, Broomhill and the other for girls in Darwin Lane, Crosspool – it remained a grammar school for over six decades before becoming a comprehensive in September 1969.

But, this was not the only major change for the school at this time.

Apart from allowing pupils of all abilities to attend the school, that same year King Edwards’ – or KES as it is better known to students and staff – became co-educational meaning that, for the first time since 1905, girls were admitted at its Glossop Road site.

Proud of its history, a special celebration evening was held at the school on October 21 in which a former teacher and students were on hand to give their perspective of school life in 1969.

Speaking of the 50th anniversary celebrations, Headteacher Linda Gooden said: “We wished to celebrate the 50th anniversary of this important event. Girls joined both the Lower School site in Year 7 and the Sixth Form at Upper School in 1969.

“Distinguished guests attended the evening including Sally Fellows, Janice Gosling, Linda Williams and Jane Campbell – known as Patricia Jane Garnet – who were part of the 1969 girls' cohort; Brian Lockett who taught at the School from 1958 to 1988 and John Cornwell, historian, archivist and former governor.

“Without his commitment and love for the School, and the many books he has published, we would have lost so much knowledge and history about such a successful and unique school.”

Nowadays KES continues to thrive as a co-educational school, year-on-year celebrating excellent results at both GCSE and A-Level.

Still spanning two suburbs, students start at the Lower School in Crosspool before transitioning to the Upper School in Broomhill in Year 10 where they can then choose to stay on and continue into Post-16 education if they wish.

Throughout both sites there is an emphasis on creative subjects, something that is central to the ethos at King Edward VII school.

Curriculum leader for art, design, technology and engineering, Clare Creasy, said this allows students to learn key transferrable skills and prepares them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life.

“Throughout the school there is a real creative ethos,” she said. “We know that it gives a really good balance to people’s lives and it helps you learn lots of valuable skills that you wouldn’t necessarily think about.

“There are certain things you need to learn such as teamwork, especially in sectors such as engineering and technology where you work as a team – you need to learn that as it is a valuable skill but also by the same token you’ve got to be really self-motivated

“In art you’ve got to be able to time manage all your coursework so it teaches the students these really important life skills as well as allowing them to explore their creative side in general.”

For those students who stay at KES in sixth-form, they are encouraged to get involved in a wide range of enrichment opportunities and extracurricular activities such as the Duke of Edinburgh scheme or volunteering programmes in an effort to give students a rewarding but also fun school experience.

According to Assistant Headteacher and Head of Post-16, Simon Cooke, this ensures pupils have experiences that will make them stand out when they move to a different pathway – whether it be higher education, an apprenticeship or the world of work.

He said: “We have over 20 different enrichment activities that the students can sign up for over the course of their sixth form experience.

“Those activities will give them lots of experience outside of the classroom, enable them to build those softer skills, communication skills, teamworking skills, those sort of things that will enable them to fit in and be successful beyond school, in the workplace, higher education and so on.”

Mr Cooke added: “We’ve got an aspirational mix of students that’s supported every step of the way by the staff.

“The curriculum we offer is very broad. We’ve got a lot of very experienced teachers here who have been delivering courses for a long time.

“They won’t just stick to the curriculum they’ll extend it by really posing some challenging questions so the students aren’t just thinking ‘what do I need for a B grade on the exam’ they’ll go beyond that.”