Tewkesbury School is a

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 '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

in the English town of

Tewkesbury Tewkesbury ( ) is a medieval market town and civil parish in the north of Gloucestershire, England. The town has significant history in the Wars of the Roses and grew since the building of Tewkesbury Abbey. It stands at the confluence of the Ri ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of ...

. Since 2022 the

Head Teacher A head master, head instructor, bureaucrat, headmistress, head, chancellor, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. In som ...

has been Kathleen McGillycuddy . On 1 January 2012, Tewkesbury School became 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 ...

History

The school was the product of the decision taken in 1969 to make Tewkesbury switch to comprehensive secondary education. formerly Tewkesbury had had four secondary schools: *the Grammar School for Boys, located at Southwick Park to the south of the town (later offices of the Severn-Trent Water Authority's Lower Severn Division, after that Equinox Maintenance Limited and now Cambian Southwick Park School - a residential school for autistic pupils) *the Grammar School for Girls, known as the "High School", in Church Street (later the Abbey School, now private premises under development) *the Secondary Modern School for Boys in Chance Street (now the C of E Primary School) and *Elmbury Secondary Modern School for Girls, a modern premises on the Ashchurch Road, opened in 1960. It was the latter whose buildings were chosen to form the nucleus of a new Tewkesbury Comprehensive School, with all of the town's secondary education being concentrated on the one site, and the former schools closing. After a major building programme, enlarging the old Elmbury School to several times its original size, the new comprehensive, known as Tewkesbury School, was opened on 5 September 1972 with about 1,200 pupils on its books, and John C. Faull as its first Head Teacher. A couple of months later, on Thursday 16 November 1972, the official opening took place, performed by Professor

Dorothy Hodgkin Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin (née Crowfoot; 12 May 1910 – 29 July 1994) was a Nobel Prize-winning British chemist who advanced the technique of X-ray crystallography to determine the structure of biomolecules, which became essential fo ...

(1910–1994),

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

of the

University of Bristol , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

from 1970 till 1988, winner of the

Nobel Prize in Chemistry ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...

in 1964 and the

Copley Medal The Copley Medal is an award given by the Royal Society, for "outstanding achievements in research in any branch of science". It alternates between the physical sciences or mathematics and the biological sciences. Given every year, the medal is t ...

from the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1976.

Present day

The most recent Ofsted inspection in November 2021 saw the school retain a "Good" rating, stating that "Leaders have raised expectations of academic standards in the school. Pupils are resilient and do not give up. Pupils attend school regularly". The school previously gained both

Sportsmark Sportsmark is Sport England's accreditation scheme for secondary schools. The scheme recognises a school's out of hours sports provision.

and

Artsmark Artsmark is the creative quality standard for schools and education settings, awarded by Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is ...

awards, whilst also qualifying as an

Investor in People Investors in People is a standard for people management, offering accreditation to organisations that adhere to the Investors in People Standard. From 1991 to January 2017, Investors in People was owned by the UK government. As of 1 February 20 ...

. The School canteen has seen many different changes over the years, currently

Aramark Aramark Corporation, known commonly as Aramark, is an American food service, facilities, and uniform services provider to clients in areas including education, healthcare, business, prisons, and leisure. It operates in North America (United S ...

. A

sled A sled, skid, sledge, or sleigh is a land vehicle that slides across a surface, usually of ice or snow. It is built with either a smooth underside or a separate body supported by two or more smooth, relatively narrow, longitudinal runners ...

used as part of the famous

Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and othe ...

expedition to the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipod ...

by Captain

Robert Falcon Scott Captain Robert Falcon Scott, , (6 June 1868 – c. 29 March 1912) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the ''Discovery'' expedition of 1901–1904 and the ill-fated ''Terra Nov ...

and his team, formerly on display in the former Boys' Grammar School's dining hall, is housed in the Humanities building at Tewkesbury School due to the school's links with Dr.

Edward Adrian Wilson Edward Adrian Wilson (23 July 1872 – 29 March 1912) was an English polar explorer, ornithologist, natural historian, physician and artist. Early life Born in Cheltenham on 23 July 1872, Wilson was the second son and fifth child of ...

. The sled had been donated to the Grammar School by Sir

Raymond Priestley Sir Raymond Edward Priestley (20 July 1886 – 24 June 1974) was an English geologist and early Antarctic explorer. He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham, where he helped found The Raymond Priestley Centre on the shores ...

who was born in

and who participated in the Antarctic Expeditions of Shackleton and Scott. In July 2011 John Reilly resigned from headteacher to be replaced by Martin McLeman as interim headteacher. In July 2011 it was announced that Gary Watson, formerly Headteacher at

Maidenhill School Maidenhill School is a coeducational foundation secondary school located in Stonehouse in the English county of Gloucestershire. It is a smaller than average secondary school with a rural catchment area. The school has 520 students (as from J ...

Stroud Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021. Below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the Five Va ...

, would take over the position from January 2012. Gary Watson retired as Headteacher in August 2022. Kathleen McGillycuddy, formerly Principal of Broadoak Academy,

Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmix ...

, became the Headteacher on 1 September 2022. Currently the senior team consists of Headteacher Kathleen McGillycuddy, Deputy Head Clare de Glanville, and Assistant Heads Angela Parker and Vivienne Whiting.

Notable former pupils

* Roland Lee, Commonwealth Games swimmer (silver and bronze medallist in 1986) * Mark Payne, footballer for English team

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league syst ...

, and second-tier

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

team SC Cambuur * Sarah Hoefflin, Olympics gold medallist from

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

References

External links

* {{authority control

School A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes co ...

Secondary schools in Gloucestershire Academies in Gloucestershire