West Kirby Grammar School (abbreviated to WKGS) is a

non-denominational A non-denominational person or organization is one that does not follow (or is not restricted to) any particular or specific religious denomination. Overview The term has been used in the context of various faiths including Jainism, Baháʼí Fait ...

selective state

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 ...

, founded in 1913, with academy status in

West Kirby West Kirby is a resort town on the north-west corner of the Wirral Peninsula in Merseyside, England, at the mouth of the River Dee, Wales, River Dee. Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county of Cheshire, to th ...

on the

Wirral Peninsula Wirral (; ), known locally as The Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about long and wide and is bounded by the River Dee to the west (forming the boundary with Wales), the River Mersey to t ...

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 ...

. The school admits girls from age 11 to 18 and, since 1985, boys for the

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 ...

only. The school is one of

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

top one hundred state schools.

History

In 1912 it was open for girls and boys but in 1913 was made an all girls grammar school. Founded in 1913 the school celebrated its 95th anniversary in 2008, with a whole school photograph. The school celebrated its 100th birthday in 2013, a weekend of events including another whole school photograph and a concert at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. The 'Centenary Room', funded by the Old Girls' Association, was also opened next to the main hall of the school. In May 2011 the school was given a grant to renovate facilities on site, this was used to build two new teaching blocks, with work due to be completed in 2009. The technology block was completed in September 2007, and the English/Humanities block in October 2008. The school has several international links, successfully running a variety of trips to Fougeres, France; the Christmas Markets in Cologne and Aachen, Germany; Barcelona, Spain; an exchange programme with a school in Gladenbach, Germany; Yaroslavl, Russia. Additionally the school often raises funds for its "Make a Difference" campaign, raising money for Inner Mongolian schools, before having a trip for selected students in the summer holidays to Hong Kong, mainland China and to Inner Mongolia to see how the money is being put to use. Furthermore, in 2006 the school won the Wirral International School Award. The school has 6 houses; Hudson (White), Stewart (Yellow), Gonner (Blue), Furniss (Purple), Wallis (Red) and Paton (Green). These all compete throughout the year at various house events ranging from music and a general knowledge quiz to team and individual sports. Two pupils from the school have taken part in the international schools Arctic expedition and the international young scientists space camp; both these pupils who attended sixth form at the school were representing the UK. The school's Under 13 football team has also achieved national success after competing in the final of the tournament at Wembley stadium.

Curriculum

Pupils at the school study a standard UK curriculum with GCSE and A-Level examinations taken at ages 16 and 18. Sports studied as standard in Physical Education lessons include Hockey, Netball, Tennis, Gymnastics and Athletics. Students from West Kirby Grammar School had the chance to quiz a senior Government minister when they held their own question time session.

Links with other schools

There is a large Combined Cadet Force contingent shared with

Calday Grange Grammar School Calday Grange Grammar School (abbreviated to CGGS; also known as Calday Grange, Calday Grammar or simply Calday due to the difference in spelling to the nearby village of Caldy) is a non-denominational, academically selective grammar school, fo ...

, which students from Year 9 upwards can join. There is a German exchange programme and there are also links with schools in Germany, Finland, Hungary and Poland through the European Union's Comenius programme.

Notable former pupils

* Jill Crawshaw, travel writer * Sally Grindley, children's author; her 2004 book '' Spilled Water'' won the

Nestlé Smarties Book Prize The Nestlé Children's Book Prize, and Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for a time, was a set of annual awards for British children's books that ran from 1985 to 2007. It was administered by BookTrust, an independent charity that promotes books and ...

* Tracy de Groose (''née'' Darwen), chief executive from 2018-20 of Newsworks (the newspaper industry advertising body), from 2014-18 of

Dentsu Aegis Network Dentsu International (previously Dentsu Aegis Network) is a multinational media and digital marketing communications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Japanese advertising and public relation ...

and its predecessor Carat UK from 2010–14, Brand Director from 1996-98 of

Stella Artois Stella Artois ( ) is a pilsner beer, first brewed in 1926 by Brouwerij Artois in Leuven, Belgium. In its original form, the beer is 5.2 per cent ABV, the country's standard for pilsners. The beer is also sold in other countries like the UK, Ire ...

(owned by

Whitbread Whitbread plc is a multinational British hotel and restaurant company headquartered in Houghton Regis, England. The business was founded as a brewery in 1742, and had become the largest brewery in the world by the 1780s. Its largest division ...

) (1979–86) *

Shirley Hughes Winifred Shirley Hughes (16 July 1927 – 25 February 2022) was an English author and illustrator. She wrote more than fifty books, which have sold more than 11.5 million copies, and illustrated more than two hundred. As of 2007, she lived i ...

, children's author *

Glenda Jackson Glenda May Jackson (born 9 May 1936) is an English actress and former Member of Parliament (MP). She has won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice: for her role as Gudrun Brangwen in the romantic drama ''Women in Love'' (1970); and again for ...

, actress and former Labour MP from 1992-2015 for Hampstead and Highgate; she left school with no discernible qualifications to work in the local Boots, where the shop manager spotted her talent, and largely arranged a scholarship from

Cheshire County Council Cheshire County Council was the county council of Cheshire. Founded on 1 April 1889, it was officially dissolved on 31 March 2009, when it and its districts were superseded by two unitary authorities; Cheshire West and Chester and Cheshire Eas ...

for her to attend RADA * Julia Kneale, former girlfriend of

Andy McCluskey George Andrew McCluskey (born 24 June 1959) is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. He is best known as the lead singer and bass guitarist of the electronic band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), which he founded a ...

, who formed

The Id The Id were a new wave/synthpop band from the Wirral, Merseyside, England formed in 1977. They are best recalled as the precursor to the band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), in which Id members Andy McCluskey (bass, vocals), Paul Hum ...

Jan Ravens Janet "Jan" Ravens (born 14 May 1958) is an English actress and impressionist, known for her voice work on ''Spitting Image'' and '' Dead Ringers''. Early life Ravens grew up in Hoylake, then in Cheshire, on the west side of the Wirral with he ...

, from '' Dead Ringers'', noted for her impersonations of

Ruth Archer Ruth Archer (also Pritchard) is a fictional character from the British BBC Radio 4 soap opera ''The Archers'', played by English actress Felicity Finch. She made her debut in the 15 July 1987 episode. The character was created and introduced to ...

(''ohh nohhh'') from ''

The Archers ''The Archers'' is a BBC radio drama on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now promoted as "a contemporary drama in a rural settin ...

'', and

Kirsty Wark Kirsteen Anne "Kirsty" Wark FRSE (born 3 February 1955) is a Scottish television presenter with a long career at the BBC. Starting on Radio Scotland, where she became a producer, Wark switched to television, presenting The Late Show and Newsnig ...

from ''

Newsnight ''Newsnight'' (or ''BBC Newsnight'') is BBC Two's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. The programme is broadcast on weekdays at 22:30. and is also availa ...

'' * Ruth McCartney, step-sister of Paul McCartney (her 34-year-old mother married his 62-year-old father in November 1964, when she was four) *

Sheila McClennon Sheila McClennon (born 13 May 1960) is a British radio presenter, notable for her work on BBC Radio 4. Early life She was born in Clatterbridge, in Wirral (then in Cheshire). She attended West Kirby Grammar School, where Jan Ravens was two year ...

, Radio 4 presenter on ''

Woman's Hour ''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946. History Created by Norman Collins and originally presented by A ...

'' and ''

You and Yours ''You and Yours'' is a British radio consumer affairs programme, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and produced by BBC News. History ''You and Yours'' began broadcasting in October 1970, when its first presenter was Joan York. In the 1980s it briefly ra ...

Former teachers

Sophia Churney Sophia Churney is an English singer-songwriter and musician, She is best known for her work with the band Ooberman, as well as their side acts Symphonika, The Magic Theatre, and Ooberon. Her brother was the late musical performer Russell Chur ...

, former Psychology teacher, was part of

Ooberman Ooberman are an English band with strong indie, folk and progressive influences first formed in 1997. They split up in 2003, shortly after the release of their second album ''Hey Petrunko'', but announced their reformation in April 2006 and ...

; her brother was musician

Russell Churney Russell Churney (10 September 1964 – 27 February 2007) was an English composer, pianist, arranger and musical director. He was also a member of the comedy/cabaret group, Fascinating Aïda. His sister is Ooberman keyboardist and vocalist S ...

* Leonard Milne, former head of Music; he trained at the

Northern School of Music The Northern School of Music was a music college located in Manchester which operated between 1920 and 1972 before merging with the Royal Manchester College of Music to form the Royal Northern College of Music. History The Northern School of M ...

, was organist of

All Saints Church, Speke All Saints Church is in Speke, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, standing at the junction of Hale Road and Speke Church Road. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Liverpool South Childwall, the archdeaconry of Liverpool, and t ...

, and (briefly) gave

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

weekly piano lessons in 1958 at his home at 237 Mather Avenue in Allerton

External links

West Kirby Grammar School website
{{Authority control Girls' schools in Merseyside Grammar schools in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral Educational institutions established in 1913 1913 establishments in England Academies in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral *