The Beauchamp College ( ) is a

coeducational 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 t ...

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

and

further education Further education (often abbreviated FE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland is education in addition to that received at secondary school, that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. I ...

community college A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior sec ...

, in

Oadby Oadby is a town in the borough of Oadby and Wigston in the county of Leicestershire, England. Oadby is a district centre south east of Leicester city centre on the A6 trunk road. Leicester Racecourse is situated on the border between Oadby a ...

, a town on the outskirts of

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is situated on the southern edge of the built-up area of Oadby on the same campus as

Gartree High School Gartree High School is a Mixed-sex education, coeducational secondary school with Academy (English school), academy status. Its age-range designation is 11–16. GCSEs have been taught since 2017 and its first GCSE results published in 2019. The ...

and Brocks Hill Primary School. It is the only Oadby school to offer a pathway of 11–19, with students joining in Year 7 and progressing through to GCSE and then Level 3 courses at KS5. It was rated top state secondary in the Leicester Mercury Real Schools Guide in 2017. However, now it has dropped in ranking as well as Ofsted ranking from previously being “Outstanding” to “Good”

History

Grammar school

The school dates back to the mid-15th century when it was Kibworth Grammar School. It was founded by Francis Edwards who owned the manor of Welham and whose

daughter A daughter is a female offspring; a girl or a woman in relation to her parents. Daughterhood is the state of being someone's daughter. The male counterpart is a son. Analogously the name is used in several areas to show relations between groups ...

was the richest woman in England. The history of that school has recorded by Bernard Elliott."A History of Kibworth Beauchamp Grammar School" (pub. priv., 1957) http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~pml1/kbgs/history/ In 1964 it became the Beauchamp Grammar School when it moved from School Lane,

Kibworth Kibworth is an area of the Harborough District, Harborough district of Leicestershire, England, that contains two civil parishes in England, civil parishes: the villages of Kibworth Beauchamp and Kibworth Harcourt . At the 2011 census, Kibwor ...

, into new buildings in Oadby, a rapidly growing residential suburban area to the South of

, about from the City of Leicester.

Comprehensive

It thus became a comprehensive

Upper School Upper schools in the UK are usually schools within secondary education. Outside England, the term normally refers to a section of a larger school. England The three-tier model Upper schools are a type of secondary school found in a minority of ...

for pupils aged 14 to 18, although the last pupils to have gained entry at Kibworth via the

11-plus The eleven-plus (11+) is a Test (assessment), 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 ...

examination did not leave until 1968. It then became fully comprehensive, serving Oadby as its main catchment area, as well as drawing from villages up to away.

Academy

The school converted to academy status on 1 May 2013. Beauchamp College is the largest school in the Lionheart Academies Trust. The school was named in July 2019 as a computing hub for the

National Centre for Computing Education The National Centre for Computing Education is a government-funded initiative, offering teacher training and resources for computer science. The National Centre is delivered by a consortium of STEM Learning, Raspberry Pi Foundation and British ...

Community college

Beauchamp is also a

Community College A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior sec ...

, with over 2,500 part-time students taking part in a variety of recreational, cultural and academic evening classes. Many extra curricular activities are also held on a weekly basis such as Young Enterprise, Drama and sports clubs, (primarily Tennis and Football).

Funding

On 1 April 1996, Beauchamp gained the status of

Technology College In the United Kingdom, a Technology College is a specialist school that specialises in design and technology, mathematics and science. Beginning in 1994, they were the first specialist schools that were not CTC colleges. In 2008, there were 59 ...

. It received sponsorship of over £122,000 from The

Garfield Weston Foundation The Garfield Weston Foundation is a grant-giving charity based in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1958 by Canadian businessman W. Garfield Weston (1898–1978), who during his lifetime contributed to numerous humanitarian causes, both ...

Lloyds Bank Lloyds Bank plc is a British retail banking, retail and commercial bank with branches across England and Wales. It has traditionally been considered one of the "Big Four (banking), Big Four" clearing house (finance), clearing banks. Lloyds B ...

Alliance & Leicester Alliance & Leicester plc was a British bank and former building society, formed by the merger in 1985 of the Alliance Building Society and the Leicester Building Society. The business demutualised in the middle of 1997, when it was floated on ...

Midland Bank Midland Bank Plc was one of the Big Four banking groups in the United Kingdom for most of the 20th century. It is now part of HSBC. The bank was founded as the Birmingham and Midland Bank in Union Street, Birmingham, England in August 1836. It ...

, Psion, and

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company wa ...

. The college also receives a maintenance grant of around £220,000 from the

DCSF Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) was a department of the UK government, between 2007 and 2010, responsible for issues affecting people in England up to the age of 19, including child protection and education. DCSF was replac ...

. This additional funding has allowed for a number of refurbishments and new buildings at the College including a design facility, that includes an

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibition ...

centre. Other recently completed projects include an Adult Learning Centre which provides rooms and conference rooms for hire; and an Applied Learning Centre which includes a beauty salon, performing arts studio and dance studio (all for vocational courses), as well as space for quiet study.

Sports centre

The sports centre was completed in 2006.

Publications

* ''A History of Kibworth Beauchamp Grammar School'' by Bernard Elliott

Notable former pupils

Jassa Ahluwalia Jassa Singh Ahluwalia (born 12 September 1990) is a British actor, director and radio presenter. He acted in the BBC television series ''Some Girls'', the film ''The Whale'' and presented the Disney Junior TV show ''Art Attack''. Early life ...

– British actor and presenter *

John Deacon John Richard Deacon (born 19 August 1951) is an English retired musician, best known for being the bass guitarist for the rock band Queen. He wrote several songs for the group, including Top 10 hits " You're My Best Friend", " Another One Bit ...

(1965–1969) –

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

bassist *

Amanda Drew Amanda Drew (born 12 December 1969) is an English actress with extensive credits in theatre, television and film. Biography One of four children, Drew was born in Boston, Lincolnshire. Drew's mother was a nurse and her father was a vicar. When ...

– British actress. * Wes Harding –

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

footballer *

John Merricks John Edward Merricks (16 February 1971 – 15 October 1997) was an English sailor. He represented Great Britain at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, where he received the silver medal in the 470 class along with his sailing partner, Ian Wal ...

– racing sailor. Won silver medal at Atlanta Olympics in 1996 as helm in 470 class. (c 1985–1989) *

Lathaniel Rowe-Turner Lathaniel Alanzo Rowe-Turner (born 12 November 1989) is an English semi-professional footballer who plays as a defender for club Kettering Town. Career Leicester City Born in Leicester, Leicestershire, Rowe-Turner started his career in the ...

– Leicester City F.C. and

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

player. *

David Shrigley David John Shrigley (born 17 September 1968) is a British visual artist. He lived and worked in Glasgow, Scotland for 27 years before moving to Brighton, England in 2015. Early life and education Shrigley was born 17 September 1968 in Macclesfi ...

– cartoonist. *

Fagun Thakrar Fagun Thakrar is an English actress, writer-director, founder, social entrepreneur and activist. Fagun has appeared in several British, American, and Indian cinema, receiving accolades for her performances. In her films, Fagun has starred alongsi ...

– British actress and designer * Luke Thomas -

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

footballer *

Amy Voce Amy Voce is an English broadcaster, formerly of Gem 106 and currently broadcasting on Virgin Radio UK and its sister station Virgin Radio Chilled. Voce is best known for her on-air work with Sam Pinkham, presenting the ''Sam and Amy'' breakfast ...

–

Gem 106 Gem is an Independent Local Radio station based in Nottingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to the East Midlands. As of September 2022, the station has a weekly audience of 318,000 listen ...

presenter.

Kibworth Beauchamp Grammar School

* Frank Dunlop – theatre director (1928–35) *

Bill Maynard Walter Frederick George Williams (8 October 1928 – 30 March 2018), better known by his stage name Bill Maynard, was an English comedian and actor. He began working in television in the 1950s, notably starring alongside Terry Scott in ''Gre ...

(1940–45) – British comedian and actor, and former presenter on Radio Leicester *

Peter Wilby Peter John Wilby (born 7 November 1944) is a British journalist. He is a former editor of ''The Independent on Sunday'' and the ''New Statesman''. Early life and career Wilby was educated at Kibworth Beauchamp grammar school in Leicestershire b ...

– former editor of the ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...

'' (1998–2005) and (1995–6) of ''

The Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

'' (attended 1956–63)

References

External links

Beauchamp Website
{{authority control Educational institutions established in the 15th century Oadby and Wigston Secondary schools in Leicestershire Academies in Leicestershire