Hugh Sexey Church of England Middle School, formerly known as Sexey's School and Sexey's Grammar School, 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 ...

middle school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

located in Blackford near

Wedmore Wedmore is a large village and civil parish in the county of Somerset, England. It is situated on raised ground, in the Somerset Levels between the River Axe and River Brue, often called the Isle of Wedmore. It forms part of Sedgemoor district. ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England. The school had 620 pupils in June 2012, who join aged 9 in Year 5 and stay until age 13 in Year 8, after which they go to

The Kings of Wessex Academy The Kings of Wessex Academy, formerly known as The Kings of Wessex School, is a coeducational secondary school located in Cheddar, Somerset, England. As of 2015, it had 1,176 students aged 13 to 18, of all genders and all ability levels including ...

in Cheddar. Because the school educates pupils of

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) ...

age it has ''middle deemed secondary'' status. The school had been rated outstanding by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

, but had not been inspected since conversion to an Academy on 10 December 2016. It is part of the Wessex Learning Trust with other schools in the Cheddar Valley area.

History

The school is named after

Hugh Sexey Hugh Sexey (died 1619) was a royal auditor born near Bruton, Somerset, England, who attended Bruton Grammar School. By the age of 43 he had been appointed as royal auditor of the Exchequer to Queen Elizabeth I and later King James I. After his de ...

(1556–1619), a royal auditor of the Exchequer to Queen

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

and later King James I. After his death the trustees of his

will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...

established

Sexey's Hospital Sexey's Hospital in Bruton, Somerset, England was built around 1630 as almshouses. The West Wing and chapel have been designated as a Grade I listed building. The East Wing and gateway are grade II listed. Hugh Sexey (1556–1619), was a local ...

in Bruton as an institution to care for the elderly, and

Sexey's School Sexey's School is a Church of England, co-educational state boarding and day school in Bruton, Somerset, England for 11-18 year olds. Sexey's School is named after Hugh Sexey who, in 1599, was appointed as a Royal auditor to Elizabeth I and la ...

in Bruton, which still exists today. Sexey's School in Blackford was originally opened in 1897 in a barn in nearby Stoughton, with 13 pupils. The Blackford site opened in 1899 with around 60 pupils, of which around 20 were boarders. It became Sexey's Grammar School in 1948, and ceased to be a boarding school in 1966. The 1976 Education Act abolished the tripartite education system of

grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...

and secondary modern schools in England and Wales. Up to this point, the area was served by Sexey's Grammar School in Blackford, and

The Kings of Wessex School The Kings of Wessex Academy, formerly known as The Kings of Wessex School, is a coeducational secondary school located in Cheddar, Somerset, England. As of 2015, it had 1,176 students aged 13 to 18, of all genders and all ability levels including ...

(a secondary modern school) in nearby Cheddar. In 1976, the

three-tier In software engineering, multitier architecture (often referred to as ''n''-tier architecture) is a client–server architecture in which presentation, application processing and data management functions are physically separated. The most wides ...

Cheddar Valley Community Learning Partnership was established, creating a system of

first First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

, middle and comprehensive upper schools in the area. The Kings of Wessex School became a comprehensive, Sexey's Grammar School became Hugh Sexey Middle School serving half of the Cheddar Valley, and

Fairlands Middle School Fairlands Middle School is a coeducational middle school with roughly 522 pupils aged between 9 and 13 in 2012, located in Cheddar, Somerset, England. The school, which was established in 1976, is a middle-deemed-secondary school, meaning that i ...

was established to serve the other half. In September 2010, Hugh Sexey was one of the first two middle schools in England to be awarded specialist

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 ...

status. Previously a

voluntary controlled school A voluntary controlled school (VC school) is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation or trust (usually a Christian denomination) has some formal influence in the running of the school. Such schools have less autonomy than ...

administered by

Somerset County Council Somerset County Council is the county council of Somerset in the South West of England, an elected local government authority responsible for the most significant local government services in most of the county. On 1 April 2023 the county counc ...

, in November 2016 Hugh Sexey Church of England Middle School converted to academy status. The school is now sponsored by the Wessex Learning Trust.

Notable former pupils

* Jos Buttler (born 1990), current England cricket team wicket-keeper *

Sophie Luff Sophie Natasha Luff (born 6 December 1993) is an English cricketer who plays for Somerset, Western Storm and London Spirit as a right-handed batter. Career Luff came from a cricketing family in Lympsham, near Weston-super-Mare; both her fath ...

(born 1993), cricketer ;Sexey's Grammar School * Chris Phillips (1956–2007), former chief executive of

Scottish Widows Scottish Widows is a life insurance and pensions company located in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is a subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group. Its product range includes life assurance and pensions. The company has been providing financial services to the ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Educational institutions established in 1897 Middle schools in Somerset Church of England secondary schools in the Diocese of Bath and Wells 1897 establishments in England Academies in Somerset People educated at Sexey's Grammar School