Kirkbie Kendal School is an academy school and known as a '' Business and Enterprise College'' in Kendal,

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...

Northern England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...

, and serves the area around the town and rural countryside. Kirkbie Kendal School operates as a Foundation school, and has been regularly oversubscribed, accepting students based on a designated hierarchy. The school has 1048 pupils on roll, ages 11–18.

History

The school was formed in 1980 by the amalgamation of Kendal Grammar School and Kendal High School. The Grammar School had been founded in 1525, and from 1588 had been located alongside

Kendal Parish Church Kendal Parish Church, also known as the Holy Trinity Church due to its dedication to the Holy Trinity, is the Anglican parish church of Kendal, Cumbria, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade ...

then moved in 1889 to the building which is now the main block of KKS. Kendal High School for Girls opened in 1890 at a site on Thorney Hills.

Programmes and curriculum

As a Business and Enterprise College status, Kirkbie Kendal School focuses on raising levels of attainment in business studies and related courses, mathematics and

information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of Data (computing), data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information te ...

. The school works with local businesses, colleges and universities to provide students with the skills needed to progress into higher or further education and employment or entrepreneurship. The school was re-designated as a Business and Enterprise College in 2008.

Awards and recognition

In 2003, Kirkbie Kendal School was one of 14 schools in the North-East and

that were awarded specialist status by the Department for Education and Skills, entitling the school to its share of more than £2m worth of investment. A team from the school won the regional final of the

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, research and application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide membership of over 20,000. The IOP is the Physic ...

2004 Paperclip Physics Competition. The Kirkbie Kendal School team was recognized from among six finalists for its efforts in explaining concepts of density and buoyancy. A student at the school was one of 25 regional winners in the 2006 Audi Innovation Awards competition, a national design competition for students ages 11–14. Over 4,000 entries were submitted to the competition from more than 200 schools. For 2006, Kirkbie Kendal School was the North East Regional winner of the Charter Standard Secondary School award for outstanding achievement in providing football opportunities for their students. The school was also recognized in 2004.

Academic performance

The school gets GCSE results at the England average and A-level results slightly above the England average.Kirkbie Kendal School League Tables
from

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

OFSTED inspections

The school was inspected by OFSTED on the 23 and 24 September 2014. The school received two ''outstanding'' and the rest were in the category ''good''., accessed 10 October 2016

School Features

The school is medium-sized and in total there are 6 buildings on the school grounds. Those being the Main building, Humanities, Languages, Expressive Arts, Technology and the Science/Maths/ICT block.

Former pupils

James Ellison James Ellison may refer to: * James O. Ellison (1929–2014), U.S. federal judge * James T. Ellison (1862–1920s), New York gangster *James Ellison (actor) (1910–1993), American film actor *James Ellison (footballer, born 1901) (1901–1958), En ...

, Motorcycle Racer * Three members (Neil and Scott Wilkinson, Matthew Wood) of the band

British Sea Power Command of the sea (also called control of the sea or sea control) is a naval military concept regarding the strength of a particular navy to a specific naval area it controls. A navy has command of the sea when it is so strong that its rival ...

Kendal Grammar School

* Sir Edward Bailey MC, geologist (1892-9) * Nigel Bell, Chief Executive of the

NHS Information Authority The NHS Information Authority (NHSIA) was part of the UK National Health Service (NHS). It was established as a NHS special health authority by an Act of Parliament in April 1999. With headquarters in Birmingham, UK, its aim was to bring toget ...

from 1999-2001 (1970-7) * Robert Chorley, 1st Baron Chorley * Peter Gibbs,

BBC Weather BBC Weather is the department of the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) responsible for both the preparation and the broadcasting of weather forecasts. On 6 February 2018, BBC Weather changed supplier from the government Met Office to Me ...

forecaster (1969–76) *

David Starkey David Robert Starkey (born 3 January 1945) is an English historian and radio and television presenter, with views that he describes as conservative. The only child of Quaker parents, he attended Kendal Grammar School before studying at Cambr ...

, English

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

(1956–63) *

Carl Walker Carl Walker, GC (31 March 1934 – 2 October 2022) was an English police inspector who served in the Lancashire Constabulary Lancashire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the ceremonial county of Lancashi ...

, former policeman (1945–50) * David Wheatman, cricketer * Philip Wilson, former Liberal MP for St Pancras South (1886–93)

Kendal High School for Girls

* Muriel Brunskill,

contralto A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typica ...

(1911-8)

References

{{authority control Academies in Cumbria 1525 establishments in England Educational institutions established in the 1520s Secondary schools in Cumbria Kendal