Bexley Grammar School is a co-educational

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 school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

with academy status in

Welling Welling is an area of South East London, England, in the London Borough of Bexley, west of Bexleyheath, southeast of Woolwich and of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater London in 1965, it was in the historical county of Kent. ...

, in the

London Borough of Bexley The London Borough of Bexley () is a London boroughs, London borough in south-east London, forming part of Outer London. It has a population of 248,287. The main settlements are Sidcup, Erith, Bexleyheath, Crayford, Welling and Old Bexley. The ...

, UK. It takes boys and girls aged 11–18 who have passed the

eleven plus exam The eleven-plus (11+) is a standardized examination administered to some students in England and Northern Ireland in their last year of primary education, which governs admission to grammar schools and other secondary schools which use academi ...

History

Founded in 1955, Bexley Grammar School was opened by

Sir Edward Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 191617 July 2005), often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. Heath a ...

, the local

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

at the time, after whom the Heath Building (completed in 2000) is named. Heath attended the school's

Golden Jubilee A golden jubilee marks a 50th anniversary. It variously is applied to people, events, and nations. Bangladesh In Bangladesh, golden jubilee refers the 50th anniversary year of the separation from Pakistan and is called in Bengali ''"সু ...

celebrations shortly before his death in 2005. The school became a specialist

Language College Language Colleges were introduced in 1995 as part of the specialist schools programme (SSP) in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, modern foreign languages. Schools that succes ...

in September 2002 and a specialist college in Science and Mathematics in 2008. The school was then awarded

foundation school In England and Wales, a foundation school is a state-funded school in which the governing body has greater freedom in the running of the school than in community schools. Foundation schools were set up under the School Standards and Framework A ...

status, before converting to an academy in January 2011. The school continues to specialise in languages, science and mathematics. There have been five headmasters in the school's history. The third, Roderick MacKinnon, was replaced by John Welsh, who retired at the beginning of Easter 2014 and was replaced by Stephen Elphick.

Academics

The school entrance examination is the

taken by prospective pupils in September of Year 6. Candidates who live in Bexleyheath must come in the top 120 and candidates who live in the wider catchment area (10 miles from the

Broadway Shopping Centre, Bexleyheath Broadway Shopping Centre, (branded as The Mall Bexleyheath from c. 2004 until reverting to its original name in 2009), is the principal covered shopping centre in the town centre of Bexleyheath and is the largest single covered shopping facility ...

) must come within the top 60. Students who apply to enter the school between the years 7 and 11 are required to pass examinations in English, Mathematics, Science, and a Modern Foreign Language. To enter the Sixth Form students must achieve higher than GCSE grade C in all compulsory subjects and at least GCSE grade B in selected subjects. Current pupils must achieve more than six A*–Bs (including Maths and English) in their GCSEs to continue their studies in Sixth Form. In the 2016 academic year, 100% of pupils attained 5 GCSE grades A* to C. 99.1% of the A-level grades were A* to D. The school began offering the

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB Dip ...

(IB) in Sixth Form in 2003, alongside A Levels. From September 2017, students in the sixth form were only able to study the IB, as the school stopped teaching A Levels. The school's last OFSTED inspection was in 2022.

Premises

The school has expanded into new buildings over time; Main (M), Jubilee (J), Golden Jubilee (was the Danson building but was replaced in 2005 by the current building), Heath (H), Le Feuvre (L), Music (Mu), Jubilee extension (J) (2002–03) and Golden Jubilee (G). Some confusion can occur with the Jubilee extension, which was originally the G building and the 2005 extension of the Main building. Recently, the SEN block (S) has been added on the end of the school on the side of the PE block and a new sixth form centre has been built as an extension to the Le Feuvre building. In 2017, a further extension to the school added a (K) block with a Theatre and sixth form study area. The school buildings form an internal courtyard area surrounded on all sides except the West, which is a covered area. The field covers a larger area than the buildings and is surrounded on two sides by

Danson Park Danson Park is a public park in the London Borough of Bexley, South East London, located between Welling and Bexleyheath. At 75 hectares, it is the second largest public park in the borough (the largest being Foots Cray Meadows at 100 hectares), ...

br>

House system

BGS operates a House System involving all years, with around 12 members of staff in each house. All six houses have a "Head of House", who is in charge of organising all house activities, such as inter-house sports competitions. Each house is named after a former member of senior staff that had a notable impact on the school, including: *Collins (Red) *Johnson (Blue) *Kirkman (Yellow) *Prothero (Green) *Mabbs (Purple) *Wellman (Orange) – Added in 2003 due to expansion of the school year intake from five-form entry to seven-form entry.

Notable former pupils

Stephanie Brind Stephanie Brind, (born 8 June 1977 in Bexleyheath, Kent) is a professional squash player who represented England. She is a right-handed squash player and her former coach is Paul Carter. She reached a career-high world ranking of World No. 4 in ...

, professional

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

player *

Gavin Peacock Gavin Keith Peacock (born 18 November 1967) is an English former professional footballer and sports television pundit. As a player he was midfielder and striker from 1984 until 2002, notably playing in the Premier League for Newcastle United ...

, former professional footballer * Matthew Rose, former professional footballer * Joshua Bradley and Tobi Brown,

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influent ...

s and members of the

Sidemen A sideman is a musician who performs live with a band of which they are not a permanent member. Sideman or Sidemen may also refer to: * Sidemen, Bali, a district in the Karangasem Regency of Bali * Sideman (bishop), a 10th-century Bishop of Cred ...

References

External links

Bexley Grammar School website

Bexley Grammar Ofsted Report

EduBase
{{authority control Grammar schools in the London Borough of Bexley International Baccalaureate schools in England Educational institutions established in 1955 Academies in the London Borough of Bexley 1955 establishments in England Specialist science colleges in England Specialist language colleges in England