Queen Elizabeth's School (also known as QE) is a co-educational secondary school in

Wimborne Minster Wimborne Minster (often referred to as Wimborne, ) is a market town in Dorset in South West England, and the name of the Church of England church in that town. It lies at the confluence of the River Stour and the River Allen, north of Poo ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

, England.

Introduction

QE is an

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 ...

, taking students between the ages of 13 and 18. In November 2014 there were 1,482 pupils, including 391 in 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 ...

. It is situated to the west of Wimborne Minster alongside the National Trust's Kingston Lacy estate and serves a wide area. Students travel from as far afield as Sixpenny Handley near

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of ...

to the north,

Alderholt Alderholt is a large village and civil parish in east Dorset, England; situated west of Fordingbridge. The parish includes the hamlets of Crendell and Cripplestyle. The local travel links are located from the village to Salisbury railway stat ...

on the

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

border to the east and Blandford Forum to the west. However, most students live in or around Wimborne, the main feeder schools being Allenbourn Middle School, Cranborne Middle School, Emmanuel CofE Middle School and St Michael's Church of England Middle School. QE is a Church of England school, with close links to the Minster in Wimborne. QE has a house system of students Lancaster (red) Stuart (purple) Tudor (green) Wessex (blue) and York (yellow)

History

Queen Elizabeth's was founded by Lady Margaret Beaufort (1443–1509), the mother of Henry VII. Her father,

John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, 3rd Earl of Somerset, KG (25 March 1404 – 30 May 1444) was an English nobleman and military commander during the Hundred Years' War. He was the maternal grandfather of Henry VII. Origins Born on 25 ...

, occupied the Kingston Lacy estate in the mid-15th century and Lady Margaret was brought up there. When John Beaufort died he was buried at Wimborne Minster and his daughter set up a

chantry A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings: # a chantry service, a Christian liturgy of prayers for the dead, which historically was an obiit, or # a chantry chapel, a building on private land, or an area i ...

to say masses for his soul in perpetuity. Later, in her will, she included a provision that the chantry priest "should teach Grammar freely to all who come thereto". Tithes on properties belonging to her estate were assigned for the payment of the Grammar School's expenses. In 1563 Queen Elizabeth I reconfirmed the provisions of Lady Margaret’s will on condition that from then on the school be known as Queen Elizabeth's Free Grammar School in Wimborne Minster.

Grammar to Comprehensive

Until Victorian times the curriculum continued to centre on Greek and Latin (varied with cockfighting in the 18th century). Student numbers were low until the beginning of the 20th century. At the first inspection by the new Education board in 1905 there were 27 boarders and 37 day boys. By 1929 there were 150 pupils; by 1939, 272; by 1960, 500. In 1945 QE became 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 tha ...

under the Department of Education. The first 30 girls joined in 1953. Between 1965 and 1975 about 90% of state secondary schools in England abandoned selection and became comprehensives. As part of this sweeping change Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School merged with Wimborne Secondary Modern and moved to the present site.

New buildings

In February 2006 it was announced that QE School would be completely rebuilt under the

Building Schools for the Future Building Schools for the Future (BSF) was the name given to the British government's investment programme in secondary school buildings in England in the 2000s. The programme was ambitious in its costs, timescales and objectives, with politicia ...

(BSF) programme. Additional funding was secured by making the new building a demonstration project for sustainable schools - features included a ground-air heat exchanger system and biomass boilers. The school was designed by architects Feilden Clegg Bradley in partnership with

Mouchel Mouchel Group was an infrastructure and business services company headquartered in Woking, United Kingdom. It provided advisory, design, project delivery and managed services associated with infrastructure and business services across the high ...

, and constructed by Carillion.''Queen Elizabeth's School Wimborne Redevelopment'' DorsetforYou
Students influenced the design from the start, working alongside the planners. The new buildings went up next to the old ones and were occupied in October 2011.

Academy

On 1 November 2014 QE converted to an

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

. The managing company, Queen Elizabeth’s School (Wimborne Minster), is registered in England and Wales: Company Number 8696394. When it became an academy, the school'
unique reference number
(URN) changed t
141526
The old UR
113883
should be used to find historical data such as performance tables.

References

External links

Edubase

The Web site devoted to the boys and girls of Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School Wimborne, collectively known as, The Old Winburnians
{{Schools in Dorset Upper schools in Dorset Wimborne Minster Educational institutions established in the 15th century 1497 establishments in England Church of England secondary schools in the Diocese of Salisbury Academies in Dorset People educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Wimborne Minster