Marlwood School (founded 1606) is a state-funded

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) ...

currently part of the CSET academy chain. Located at

Alveston Alveston is a village, civil parish and former royal manor in South Gloucestershire, England, inhabited in 2014 by about 3,000 people. The village lies south of Thornbury and north of Bristol. Alveston is twinned with Courville sur E ...

South Gloucestershire South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke, the latter three forming part ...

, it is situated on the B3561 on the outskirts of the south-west of the village. Marlwood School has around 500 pupils aged 11–16. In its most recent Ofsted inspection, Marlwood was rated ‘Requires Improvement’ overall and ‘Good’ in 3 out of 4 measures, with the report noting that the school ‘is enjoying a new lease of life.’

History

Grammar school

The school was founded in 1606 as Thornbury Free School. In the following centuries, it was housed in a number of buildings throughout

Thornbury Thornbury may refer to: Places ;Australia *Thornbury, Victoria * Thornbury railway station, Melbourne ;Canada * Thornbury, Ontario ;England *Thornbury, Devon * Thornbury, Herefordshire *Thornbury, Gloucestershire **Thornbury Castle **Thornbury (UK ...

. In 1879 the school merged with Attwell’s Free School to become Thornbury Grammar School, moving to buildings on Gloucester Road.

Comprehensive

Thornbury Grammar School was relocated to new buildings on the outskirts of neighbouring

in 1972 where it received its first comprehensive intake and was renamed Marlwood School under the headship of Terry Fazey.

Academy

Marlwood School converted to academy status on 1 November 2014 and is now independent of local authority control. However, the school continues to coordinate with

South Gloucestershire Council South Gloucestershire Council is the local authority of South Gloucestershire, England, covering an area to the north of the city of Bristol. As a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority it has the powers of a non-metropolitan county a ...

for admissions. The school is now part of the education trust CSET (Castle School Education Trust). It was formerly a Beacon school and had attained the status of

Science College Science Colleges were introduced in 2002 as part of the now defunct Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, science and mathematics. Schools that suc ...

, due to excellence at science.

Sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

provision is shared with

The Castle School The Castle School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in Thornbury, South Gloucestershire, England, which serves the town and the surrounding villages. Pupils from Bristol also attend the school. Th ...

and based in the old Thornbury Grammar School buildings. News about the school is shared fortnightly through the ''Marlwood School Bulletin.''

Notable alumni

Tony Britton Anthony Edward Lowry Britton (9 June 1924 – 22 December 2019) was an English actor. He appeared in a variety of films (including ''The Day of the Jackal'') and television sitcoms (including '' Don't Wait Up'' and '' Robin's Nest'' He is the f ...

– Actor *

Sally Conway Sally Conway (born 1 February 1987) is a Scottish retired judoka who competed for Team GB in the 2012 and the 2016 Rio Olympics in the women's 70 kg judo event. Conway won a bronze medal in the 2016 Olympics. She competed for Scotland at wom ...

– Olympic medalist

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

ka * Paul Nicholls – Champion National Hunt Trainer *

Miles Normandale Miles Normandale (born 21 September 1991) is an English rugby union player who plays for Rotherham Titans in the RFU Championship. He is also Welsh qualified through residency. Normandale made his debut for the Cardiff Blues in 2013 having pre ...

– Rugby player *

Rhys Oakley Rhys Oakley (born 16 September 1980 in Plymouth) is a former professional rugby union footballer who played as a number eight. Oakley began his professional career with Bristol Rugby, before moving to the Newport Gwent Dragons, Leeds Tykes, Nor ...

– Welsh rugby player *

John Pullin John Vivian Pullin (1 November 1941 – 5 February 2021) was an England international rugby union player. A hooker, he played club rugby for Bristol Rugby and captained the England national rugby union team for which he played 42 times between ...

– England rugby captain

Media

Marlwood School featured in the BBC Two series, ''School'' in November 2018. The head explained the impossible nature of improving a school, with declining numbers, a poor Ofsted judgement and annual cuts to an inadequate budget. He was filmed writing his resignation letter. This act was received favourably and with sympathy by fellow headteachers.

References

Histories

* *

External links

Official websiteThornbury Grammar School historical website
{{authority control Secondary schools in South Gloucestershire District 1606 establishments in England Educational institutions established in the 1600s Academies in South Gloucestershire District