Deacon's School was located in Dogsthorpe,

Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

, England. In 2007, the school was demolished and replaced by the

Thomas Deacon Academy The Thomas Deacon Academy is a mixed gender academy complex in the north of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, comprising the Thomas Deacon Academy Secondary School and sixth form and The Junior Academy for Key Stage 2 students. Thomas Deacon Acade ...

History

The school opened in 1721 as Mr. Deacon's Charity School in Cowgate. In his will, Thomas Deacon, a successful wool merchant, provided for the creation of a school for 20 poor boys. In the 1830s, Deacon's School merged with The Island School for Girls, which had been established by a Mrs Island in her will.

Grammar school

New accommodation for the school was built on Queen's Gardens in Dogsthorpe, opened in 1960 as Deacon's Grammar School. It was a

voluntary aided school A voluntary aided school (VA school) is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation or trust (usually a religious organisation) contributes to building costs and has a substantial influence in the running of the school. In m ...

with about 450 boys in the 1960s. A team of four boys appeared on '' Top of the Form'' against Kings Norton Grammar School for Girls, broadcast on Sunday 22 October 1967 on the new

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

, which was recorded on Tuesday 19 September 1967. In the team were Michael Conning aged 12 of 15 Marholm Road, journalist Richard Littlejohn aged 13 of 32 Ledbury Road, Martin Bradshaw aged 15 of 54 Caverstede Road, Walton, and the captain Martin Chambers of 28 Grimshaw Road. It was recorded in the school hall with John Ellison; Tim Gudgin was at

Kings Norton Kings Norton, alternatively King's Norton, is an area of Birmingham, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Worcestershire, it was also a Birmingham City Council war ...

Comprehensive

It became a

voluntary controlled 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 th ...

co-educational comprehensive school in 1976. It became a

grant maintained school Grant-maintained schools or GM schools were state schools in England and Wales between 1988 and 1998 that had opted out of local government control, being funded directly by a grant from central government. Some of these schools had selective ad ...

in the 1990s and applied to become a

Technology College In the United Kingdom, a Technology College is a specialist school that specialises in design and technology, mathematics and science. Beginning in 1994, they were the first specialist schools that were not CTC colleges. In 2008, there were 598 ...

, becoming a specialist school in 1994. The building remained in Dogsthorpe for 47 years until the Academy was built on the same site. Administration moved from

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

to Peterborough in 1998. The Deacon's School Trust (now known as Thomas Deacon Foundation), created by Thomas Deacon's will, partially funds the Academy with

Perkins Engines Perkins Engines Company Limited is primarily a diesel engine manufacturer for several markets including agricultural, construction, material handling, power generation, and Industrial sector, industrial. It was established in Peterborough, Eng ...

. The school merged with John Mansfield School on Western Avenue and the Hereward Community College (a former

secondary modern school A secondary modern school () is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Secondary modern schools accommodated the majority (70–75%) of pupil ...

on Reeves Way in Eastfield) to form a £46m

Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

. Plans were approved on 11 August 2004, and it was originally due to open in 2006 and cost £34m. Construction began in July 2005.

Notable former pupils

;Deacon's Grammar School * John Challens CBE, Director of the

Atomic Weapons Establishment } The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) is a United Kingdom Ministry of Defence research facility responsible for the design, manufacture and support of warheads for the UK's nuclear weapons. It is the successor to the Atomic Weapons Researc ...

(AWE) from 1976 to 1978, designed the electrical circuits for Britain's first nuclear bomb test * Ron Jacobs, rugby player, later President of the

Rugby Football Union The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the Sports governing body, national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby ...

(RFU) * Richard Littlejohn, columnist with the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

'' *

Don Lusher Gordon Douglas "Don" Lusher OBE (6 November 1923 – 5 July 2006) was an English jazz and big band trombonist best known for his association with the Ted Heath Big Band. In a career spanning more than 60 years, he played trombone with a numbe ...

OBE, jazz trombonist * Leonard Rosoman OBE, artist * Prof Roy Severn CBE FREng, Professor of Civil Engineering from 1968 to 1995 at the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

, President from 1991 to 1992 of the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a Charitable organization, charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters ar ...

* Lloyd Watson, blues guitarist *

Mark Wildman Markham Wildman (25 January 1936 – 18 November 2024) was a billiards and snooker player and cue sports commentator from Peterborough, England. He won the World Professional Billiards Championship in 1984 and was runner up in 1980 and 1982 ...

, snooker player, made the first televised century break in November 1960. ;Deacon's School * Ajaz Akhtar (1968–), cricketer *

Adrian Durham Adrian Durham (born 13 May 1969) is an English football journalist and broadcaster. Early life Durham was born in Peterborough and was educated at Dogsthorpe School. Career Durham began his broadcasting career in Leeds in the early 1990s wor ...

, radio presenter *

Matthew Etherington Matthew Etherington (born 14 August 1981) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, footballer who is currently Under-21 assistant at Southampton F.C., Southampton. As a player, E ...

, footballer * MJ Hibbett, singer-songwriterPeterborough is the star of new album from MJ Hibbert
peterboroughtoday.co.uk

References

External links

EduBase
{{Schools in Cambridgeshire 1721 establishments in England Educational institutions established in 1721 Defunct schools in Peterborough Educational institutions disestablished in 2007 2007 disestablishments in England