View source for Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn

{{other uses|Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2023}}
{{coord|53.753|-2.496|display=title|region:GB_scale:5000}}
{{Infobox school
| name          = Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn
| image         = Magisterqegs.png
| image_size    = 180px
| motto         = Disce Prodesse<br>(Loosely translated as "Learn to be of service")
| established   = {{start date and age|1509}}
| closed        =
| type          = [[Free school (England)|Free school]]
| religious_affiliation      = [[Church of England]]
| president     =
| head_label    = Headteacher
| head          = Claire Gammon
| r_head_label  =
| r_head        =
| chair_label   =
| chair         =
| founder       = [[Thomas Stanley, 2nd Earl of Derby]]
| specialist    =
| address        = West Park Road
| city          = Blackburn
| county        = Lancashire
| country       = England
| postcode      = BB2 6DF
| local_authority           = [[Blackburn with Darwen]]
| dfeno         = 889/6001
| urn           = 141165
| ofsted        = yes - 'GOOD'
| gender        = [[Mixed-sex education|Coeducational]]
| lower_age     = 4
| upper_age     = 18
| houses        = 6
| colours       = {{color box|Blue}} {{color box|Red}}
| publication   = Q-news, Q-review
| free_label_1  = Former Pupils
| free_1        = Old Blackburnians
| free_label_2 = School Seal
| free_2 = [[Latin]]: ''SIGILIUM COMUNE LIBERAE SCHOLAE GRAMATICALIS DNAE REGINA ELIZABETH BLACKBURNIA''<br> Common seal of Queen Elizabeth's free grammar school Blackburn
| free_3        =
| website       = http://www.qegsblackburn.com
}}
'''Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School''' (QEGS) is a [[co-educational]] [[state school|state-funded]] [[Comprehensive school (England and Wales)|comprehensive]] [[Free school (England)|free school]] in [[Blackburn]], [[Lancashire]], [[England]]. Founded in 1509 as a boys' school, it is now a co-educational [[All-through school|all-through]] free school with over 1200 students from ages 4 to 18. Pupils come from a very wide geographical area, from [[Bolton]] to the south and to [[Colne]] in the east. It consists of an Infant School (Reception to Year 2), Junior School (Years 3 to 6), Senior School (Years 7 to 11) and [[Sixth form|Sixth Form]].
== History ==
The school was founded in 1509, the first year of the reign of [[King Henry VIII]], by [[Thomas Stanley, 2nd Earl of Derby]], as a [[chantry]] school. It was situated adjacent to Blackburn Parish Church. The school survived the Reformation and in 1567 was granted a Royal Charter by [[Queen Elizabeth I]]. It thus became the “Free Grammar School of Queen Elizabeth in Blackburn in the County of Lancashire”.
In August 1819, the decision was taken to demolish the old parish church and rebuild it (the new church of St Mary the Virgin is now [[Blackburn Cathedral]]) and the school moved to a temporary home in nearby Market Street Lane until 1825. Its new site from 1825 was in the Bull Meadow area (“in the fresh air of the country”) but, as Blackburn itself expanded during the [[Industrial Revolution]], the school there became too cramped.
In 1884, the Blackburn Grammar School, as it was then known, made one final move. The new site was on the west side of the town’s Corporation Park, close to [[Alexandra Meadows]], the home of the [[East Lancashire Cricket Club]] and also the venue for a number of the early fixtures of the local football club [[Blackburn Rovers F.C.|Blackburn Rovers]].
By the 20th century, the school was increasingly known as "Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School", its current name. It also began to outgrow its premises and began expanding. The Harrison Playing Fields at Lammack were opened in 1920. The junior department moved to its new premises known as "Horncliffe", which the junior school was known as for over half a century, and renovations on the "Big School" were completed in 1930.<ref>[http://www.qegsblackburn.com/parent-and-pupils/about-qegs/history/ About QEGS – History]</ref>
The school adopted independent status under the provisions of the [[Education Act 1944|Education Act of 1944]] and later became a [[direct grant grammar school]] until the system was abolished in 1976. QEGS chose to revert to its independent status rather than join the state sector. In conjunction with the change of status, girls were accepted into the Sixth Form for the first time.
During the 1990s, QEGS was a participating school in the [[Assisted Places Scheme]], which saw its pupil numbers grow dramatically. When the scheme was scrapped, the school administration was forced to limit its intake. In July 2001, co-education was extended to all years.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2001-07-06|title=All change and here's to the girls!|url=https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/6020858.change-girls/|access-date=2020-11-09|website=Lancashire Telegraph|language=en}}</ref>
''[[The Good Schools Guide]]'' described the students as "bright, industrious and confident without appearing complacent or alarmingly sophisticated."<ref>[http://www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk/schools/103846/queen-elizabeth-s-grammar-school Good Schools Guide]</ref>
In November 2012, the school announced its intention to apply to become a [[Free school (England)|free school]] by 2014.<ref>{{cite news|title=QEGS announces plans to become a free school|url=http://www.qegsblackburn.com/2012/11/qegs-announces-plans-to-become-a-free-school/|date=November 2012}}</ref> In June 2017, the report from [[Ofsted]] determined the school "Requires improvement".<ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-06-22|title=One of Blackburn's most prestigious schools has been told it 'requires improvement'|url=https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/15362350.qegs-one-blackburns-prestigious-schools-told-requires-improvement/|access-date=2020-11-09|website=Lancashire Telegraph|language=en}}</ref> However, in October 2019, the report from Ofsted recognised the school as "Good" with "Outstanding" features in Personal Development and Early Years Development. The report commended the "broad and ambitious curriculum" that pupils study and that highlighted that pupils benefit from a "stunning range of opportunities" to enhance their personal development.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-10-08|title=Grammar school rated 'good' in latest inspection|url=https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/17953225.grammar-school-rated-good-latest-inspection/|access-date=2020-11-09|website=Lancashire Telegraph|language=en}}</ref>
In 2016, Claire Gammon, a former Mathematics teacher at the school, was appointed headteacher, the first ever female headteacher in over 500 years of school history.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2016-12-28|title='Significant moment' as 500-year-old Blackburn school appoints first female headteacher|url=https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/14990323.significant-moment-500-year-old-blackburn-school-appoints-first-female-headteacher/|access-date=2020-11-09|website=Lancashire Telegraph|language=en}}</ref>
==Pastoral care==
In February 2005, the School was commended (amongst other things) for the high standard of pastoral care offered to its pupils by the [[Independent Schools Inspectorate|ISI]] inspection.<ref>2011 [[Independent Schools Inspectorate|ISI]] Inspection [http://reports.isi.net/DownloadReport.aspx?s=6809&t=c Report]</ref> Q-Plus (Extended Hours Service) offers busy parents of Infant and Junior School pupils at QEGS a safe and secure environment for their children before and after the school day. The Breakfast Club runs from 7.45am each school day and children meet at the Q-Plus Club Room in Ormerod House on the Dukes Brow side of the site.
From here, they are escorted to Big School's the main dining hall to enjoy a range of breakfast options. After school, Q-Plus offers flexible collection arrangements, with children collected from the Infant School or Junior School and escorted back to the Q-Plus After-School Club.
===House system===
The system of [[house system|houses]] was introduced at QEGS nearly one hundred years ago{{When|date=November 2012}} by then headmaster, Arthur Holden, and today there are six houses, each named after an Elizabethan sea captain.
*[[Francis Drake|Drake]]
*[[Martin Frobisher|Frobisher]]
*[[Richard Grenville|Grenville]]
*[[John Hawkins (naval commander)|Hawkins]]
*[[Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham|Howard]]
*[[Sir Walter Raleigh|Raleigh]]
The Arthur Holden Trophy is awarded each year to the House that has amassed the greatest number of points in various sporting events held throughout the year. Points towards the Marsden Merit Trophy are earned by way of credits for good, positive and helpful behaviour, as well as in teams in a range of “academic” activities, such as the keenly contested House Quiz, debating competitions and Maths Challenges.
== Academic ==
The school has a strong track record of academic success, with nearly all pupils achieving the nationally recognised benchmark of at least five passes at GCSE grades A*-C, including English and mathematics. Over 70% of A level candidates typically obtain a place on their first choice course at their first choice university. In August 2011, it achieved a 100% passing rate in the A Levels.<ref>{{cite news|title=A-Levels: Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School|url=http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/blackburn/9206279.A_Levels__Queen_Elizabeth___s_Grammar_School/|publisher=[[Lancashire Telegraph]]|date=19 August 2011}}</ref> It is one of the few schools which offers both [[GCSE]] and [[A Levels|A Level]] [[Classics]]. Pupils have several languages on offer to study including Latin, French, Spanish and German.
== Sport ==
QEGS has also received a [[Sportsmark]] Gold award with Distinction for the school's outstanding commitment to sport and its links with local sports clubs.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=2002-07-10|title=School leads the field in sport|url=https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/5958907.school-leads-field-sport/|access-date=2020-11-10|website=Lancashire Telegraph|language=en}}</ref> The QEGS 1st XI football team has won the [[Independent Schools Football Association]] Cup three times, the most recent victory coming in 2004. The school is one of the only Free schools in the area to offer Saturday sport, played at Lammack every Saturday morning during term-time.
==Notable Blackburnians==
{{See also|Category:People educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn}}
* [[Gary Aspden]], Adidas designer<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-10-17|title=Fine Art and DT students attend inaugural British Textile Biennial|url=https://www.qegsblackburn.com/fine-art-and-dt-students-meet-artists-and-designers-at-inaugural-british-textile-biennial/|access-date=2020-11-09|website=QEGS Blackburn|language=en-GB}}</ref>
*[[James Beattie (footballer)|James Beattie]], professional footballer<ref>{{Cite news|last=Nicoli|first=Luke|date=2003-01-18|title=The Saturday interview: James Beattie|language=en-GB|work=[[The Guardian]]|url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2003/jan/18/sport.comment|access-date=2020-11-09}}</ref>
*[[Ivor Bolton]], conductor<ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-09-11|title=Blackburn to Bavaria: English conductor Ivor Bolton in Munich|url=https://www.ft.com/content/af4d632c-5172-11e5-b029-b9d50a74fd14 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/QILH8 |archive-date=11 December 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=2020-11-09|website=[[Financial Times]]}}</ref>
* [[Robert Bolton (clergyman, born 1572)|Robert Bolton]], seventeenth century clergyman and theologian<ref>{{Cite ODNB|title=Bolton, Robert (1572–1631), Church of England clergyman|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-2806|access-date=2020-11-09| year=2004 | doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/2806 | isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Richard Bowker (British businessman)|Richard Bowker]], businessman and former chief executive of [[Mobico Group|National Express]] and the [[Strategic Rail Authority]]<ref>{{Cite web|date=2008-03-02|title=Richard Bowker: Off the dead man's handle and back on the right track|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/richard-bowker-off-the-dead-mans-handle-and-back-on-the-right-track-790182.html|access-date=2020-11-09|website=The Independent|language=en}}</ref>
* Sir [[Harold Derbyshire]] MC QC, barrister and judge<ref>{{Cite web|date=2008-02-14|title=School's famous old boy portrait|url=https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/bygones/2044582.schools-famous-old-boy-portrait/|access-date=2020-11-09|website=Lancashire Telegraph|language=en}}</ref>
*[[Nick Dougherty]], golfer<ref name=":0" />
<!-- * [[Graham Eatough]], theatre director and playwright - citation needed -->
* [[Christian Fraser]], BBC foreign correspondent<ref>{{Cite web|date=2014-01-02|title=Ex-Lancashire Telegraph editor loses brave cancer battle|url=https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/10909173.ex-lancashire-telegraph-editor-loses-brave-cancer-battle/|access-date=2020-11-10|website=Lancashire Telegraph|language=en}}</ref>
* [[John Garstang]], archaeologist, as well as author of A History of the Blackburn Grammar School published in 1897<ref name="ONB">{{cite encyclopedia|title=Garstang, John (1876–1956)|encyclopedia=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]|last1=Gurney|first1=O R|last2=Freeman|first2=P W M|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=May 2012|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/33341 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/33341|access-date=2020-11-10}}</ref>
* [[Krishnan Guru-Murthy]], television presenter and journalist<ref>{{Cite web|date=2010-03-18|title=Passed/Failed: An education in the life of Krishnan Guru-Murthy|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/passedfailed-an-education-in-the-life-of-krishnan-guru-murthy-channel-4-news-presenter-and-1922727.html|access-date=2020-11-10|website=The Independent|language=en}}</ref>
* [[Russell Harty]], television presenter and chat show host<ref>{{Cite web|date=1998-06-04|title=A decade without Russell|url=https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/6152031.decade-without-russell/|access-date=2020-11-10|website=Lancashire Telegraph|language=en}}</ref>
* [[Wayne Hemingway]], fashion designer<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-11-08|title=Wayne Hemingway on how his working-class roots helped him in fashion|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/business/wayne-hemingway-design-fashion-red-or-dead-b1452852.html|access-date=2020-11-10|website=The Independent|language=en}}</ref>
* [[Richard Holden (British politician)|Richard Holden]], politician<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-11-01 |title=East Lancs-born and raised MP gets ministerial job in transport |url=https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/23093547.ribble-valley-born-mp-richard-holden-gets-dept-transport-job/ |access-date=2024-02-14 |website=Lancashire Telegraph |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Mick Jackson (author)|Mick Jackson]], author<ref>{{Cite web|date=1998-01-17|title=Ex-teacher is my hero says Booker nominee|url=https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/6162505.ex-teacher-hero-says-booker-nominee/|access-date=2020-11-10|website=Lancashire Telegraph|language=en}}</ref>
*[[Thomas Kilner]], plastic surgeon<ref>{{Cite web|title=Thomas Pomfret Kilner, 1890-1964. - Manchester Medical Collection: Biographical Files H-Q - Archives Hub|url=https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/data/gb133-mmc/2b/mmc/2/kilner|access-date=2020-11-10|website=archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk}}</ref>
* Sir [[Netar Mallick]], professor of renal medicine<ref>{{Cite web|date=2002-05-11|title=High Sheriff post for QEGS old boy|url=https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/5969286.high-sheriff-post-qegs-old-boy/|access-date=2020-11-10|website=Lancashire Telegraph|language=en}}</ref>
* [[Gordon Manley]], climatologist<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Steers|first=J. A.|date=1980|title=Gordon Manley 1901-80|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/622028|journal=Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers|volume=5|issue=4|pages=513–517|jstor=622028 |issn=0020-2754}}</ref>
* [[Ernest Marsden|Sir Ernest Marsden, MC]], nuclear physicist<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Fleming|first=C. A.|date=1971|title=Ernest Marsden. 1889-1970|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/769716|journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|volume=17|pages=463–496|doi=10.1098/rsbm.1971.0018 |jstor=769716 |s2cid=73155340 |issn=0080-4606}}</ref>
* [[Frank Brian Mercer]], inventor, director of Netlon<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ford|first=Hugh|date=2000|title=Frank Brian Mercer, O. B. E. 22 December 1927-22 November 1998|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/770405|journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|volume=46|pages=347–363|doi=10.1098/rsbm.1999.0089 |jstor=770405 |s2cid=58451689 |issn=0080-4606}}</ref>
* [[Julia Newton|Prof. Julia Newton]], Clinical Professor of Ageing and Medicine and Dean of Clinical Medicine at Newcastle University{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}}
*[[John Noel Nichols|(John) Noel Nichols]], inventor of [[Vimto]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/11484548.blackburn-man-who-invented-vimto-to-be-remembered-with-new-plaque/|title=Blackburn man who invented Vimto to be remembered with new plaque|last=Clough|first=Dan|date=19 September 2014|website=Lancashire Telegraph|language=en|access-date=20 April 2019}}</ref>
* [[Arnold Pomfret]], Royal Navy rear-admiral and first-class cricketer{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}}
*[[Sophie Scott]], neuroscientist<ref>{{Who's Who|title=Scott, Prof. Sophie Kerttu|id=U258412|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.258412|edition=online [[Oxford University Press]]|location=Oxford}}</ref>
* [[Michael Winterbottom]], film director<ref>{{Cite web|date=2002-04-05|title=Having fun with party people|url=https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/5976171.fun-party-people/|access-date=2020-11-10|website=Lancashire Telegraph|language=en}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Bibliography==
{{cite book|last=Stocks|first=George Alfred|title=The Records of Blackburn Grammar School, Vols I & II|location=Manchester|publisher=Chetham Society|year=1909|isbn=978-1334776144}}
{{Schools in Blackburn with Darwen}}
{{authority control}}
[[Category:Secondary schools in Blackburn with Darwen]]
[[Category:1509 establishments in England]]
[[Category:Educational institutions established in the 1500s]]
[[Category:Member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference]]
[[Category:Schools with a royal charter]]
[[Category:Primary schools in Blackburn with Darwen]]
[[Category:Free schools in England]]
[[Category:Schools in Blackburn]]