Queen Elizabeth's School (QEGS) is a

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

academy 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. 80% ...

for 11- to 18-year-olds in the town of Ashbourne,

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

, England. In the academic year 2009–10, there were 1,396 pupils on roll. Both the main school and 6th form have in the past appeared within the top 25 in league tables, and in October 2008,

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

marked the school as "good" or "outstanding" in all sections. However in 2013 Ofsted marked the school as 'requires improvement' in 3 of the 4 categories. In 2009 the school celebrated 100 years at the Green Road site.

History

The group who founded the school in 1585, included Sir Thomas Cokayne (1520-1592), (

High Sheriff of Derbyshire This is a list of Sheriffs of Derbyshire from 1567 until 1974 and High Sheriffs since. The ancient Sheriff title originating in the time of the Angles, not long after the invasion of the Kingdom of England, which was in existence for around ...

, Lordship of the Town of Ashbourne) and Thomas Carter of the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

, London.COKAYNE, Sir Thomas (1520-92), of Ashbourne, Derbys. , History of Parliament Online
/ref> Sir Thomas Cokayne, the principal founding benefactor, granted £4 a year out of his lands towards the maintenance of the school. Having been instrumental in petitioning

Queen Elizabeth Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elisabeth or Elizabeth the Queen may refer to: Queens regnant * Elizabeth I (1533–1603; ), Queen of England and Ireland * Elizabeth II (1926–2022; ), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms * Queen B ...

to found the school in the first place, Sir Thomas Cokayne and his heirs continued down the generations to take a proprietary interest in the school as governors. The school still bears the Cokayne shield of arms of three cocks for its own badge. The original building still exists today. The school moved to its current site on the Green Road in 1909. Prior to 1973 the school was a grammar school, with an "11 plus" entry exam. In 1973 QEGS merged with the Ashbourne County Secondary School on Old Derby Road. The school kept both sites, and continued to use the historical name "Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School" although it operated as a comprehensive secondary school, not a grammar school, and had no entry exam and was the sole state secondary school in the town. QEGS was awarded

technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

specialist status in 2005, and a new technology block was built with the funding received. On 1 August 2011 it converted to Academy Status and became an Independent State School but still serves the same catchment area and has the same admissions procedures.

Current buildings

*'Old building': is the oldest part of the school, and is used for teaching maths and ICT. It also holds some smaller classrooms for SEN teaching. *'Science corridor': runs adjacent to the old building. Chemistry and physics are taught here. It is connected to the main building by a corridor with the library off it. The drama studio and gym are also connected to the science corridor. *'West wing': holds the main SEN classroom and a

sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

chemistry lab. *'East wing': contains a computer room and several offices. *'Teaching block' or 'New building': the largest building of the school. Subjects taught here include modern foreign languages, geography, history, biology, chemistry, physics, English, religious studies and art. *'Halls block': contains the canteen, main hall, sports hall and the music department. *'Old technology block': several technology workshops as well as food technology areas. *'New technology block': built in 2005, this contains up-to-date technology classrooms and workshop.

Sixth form centre

There are two buildings at the sixth form centre, where sixth form studies are taught, such as psychology, sociology and economics. An extension to the sixth form centre has now been added which is now open to staff and pupils, including a new information technology suite.

Notable former pupils

Former grammar school

* Thomas Blore (1754–1818), topographer * Gordon Bourne (1921–29)

Obstetrician Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...

and author * William Charles Langdon Brown CBE (1931–), Banker * Captain Sir Robert Beaufin Irving OBE (1877–1954) * Charlotte Methuen FRHistS (1964-), Church historian and Anglican priest * Raymond Spencer Millard, (1920–97), Civil Engineer * William Kenneth Ward, (1918–95), Under-Secretary, Department of Trade‘WARD, William Kenneth’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 200
accessed 18 Feb 2009
/ref> * Lavinia Warner, created the 1980s BBC drama series '' Tenko''

Comprehensive

* Neil Cooper, (1973–), drummer for

Therapy? Therapy? are a Northern Irish rock band from Larne, formed in 1989 by guitarist-vocalist Andy Cairns and drummer-vocalist Fyfe Ewing. Therapy? recorded their first demo with Cairns filling in on bass guitar. To complete the lineup, the band ...

, teaches drumming at QEGS. *

Andrew Lewer Andrew Iain Lewer (born 18 July 1971 in Burnley, Lancashire) is a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament for Northampton South from 2017 Unite ...

MBE (1971-) Conservative Party politician

References

External links

Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School

School profile

Ofsted reports

{{authority control Educational institutions established in the 1580s Academies in Derbyshire 1585 establishments in England Secondary schools in Derbyshire Ashbourne, Derbyshire