Fairfax Academy (formerly Fairfax 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 '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

with academy status in the Royal Town of

Sutton Coldfield Sutton Coldfield or the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield, known locally as Sutton ( ), is a town and civil parish in the City of Birmingham, West Midlands, England. The town lies around 8 miles northeast of Birmingham city centre, 9 miles south ...

, in north

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

. The school was established in 1959. The school has a

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-lev ...

, with a new sixth-form centre which opened in September 2013.

History

The School opened in 1959; the founding Headmaster was Mr G Philpott. He was followed by Don Field. The School became a

grant maintained 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 a ...

, under the headship of Mr Richard Metcalfe, it then transitioned to become a

foundation school In England and Wales, a foundation school is a state-funded school in which the governing body has greater freedom in the running of the school than in community schools. Foundation schools were set up under the School Standards and Framework A ...

under the

School Standards and Framework Act 1998 The School Standards and Framework Act 1998 was the major education legislation passed by the incoming Labour government led by Tony Blair. This Act: * imposed a limit of 30 on infant class sizes. * abolished grant-maintained schools, introducin ...

. The School converted to become an

Academy (English school) An academy school in England is a state-funded school which is directly funded by the Department for Education and independent of local authority control. The terms of the arrangements are set out in individual Academy Funding Agreements. Mo ...

on 1 July 2011 under the headship of Mrs S Calvert. Calvert had been appointed headteacher in September 2006, and left in December 2011. Mr A Bird was appointed as headteacher from the start of the Spring Term 2011/12. On 1 November 2014 Fairfax School became part of the Fairfax Multi Academy Trust; Mr Bird became the Executive Head and Deborah Bunn was Headteacher. The school was later renamed Fairfax Academy.

Bournville School Bournville School is an all-through school and primary school with academy status, for students aged 4–16, in Bournville, Birmingham in the United Kingdom. The school has around 850 pupils currently on the roll, including a primary provision ...

, Smith's Wood Academy and Erdington Academy are also a member of the Fairfax Multi-Academy Trust.

School performance

As of 2022, the school's most recent inspection by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

was in 2019, a short inspection with a judgement of Good.

Notable alumni

* Tobias Churton, scholar of

Rosicrucianism Rosicrucianism is a spiritual and cultural movement that arose in Europe in the early 17th century after the publication of several texts purported to announce the existence of a hitherto unknown esoteric order to the world and made seeking its ...

Freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

Gnosticism Gnosticism (from grc, γνωστικός, gnōstikós, , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people ...

and other

esoteric Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas a ...

movements *

Myles Edwards Myles Edwards (born 19 May 1997) is an English rugby union player who players for Toshiba Brave Lupus in the Top League. A late starter, he only began playing rugby at the age of sixteen. He joined the Worcester Warriors AASE development progr ...

, rugby union player *

Nigel Pulsford Nigel Pulsford (born 11 April 1961) is a British musician, and the original guitarist of the alternative rock band Bush. Early life Pulsford was born in 1961 in Newport, Monmouthshire, and grew up with two sisters, Angela and Jan. (Angela w ...

, musician, and original guitarist with

Bush Bush commonly refers to: * Shrub, a small or medium woody plant Bush, Bushes, or the bush may also refer to: People * Bush (surname), including any of several people with that name **Bush family, a prominent American family that includes: *** ...

)

References

External links

Fairfax Academy WebsiteSchool league table Birmingham City Council
{{authority control Academies in Birmingham, West Midlands Sutton Coldfield Secondary schools in Birmingham, West Midlands 1959 establishments in the United Kingdom