Boston High School

Admissions

Pupils joining in Year 7 are required, as with other selective grammar school's, to complete an 11+ verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning test. This test is carried out at the primary school, administered by the local grammar schools. The current PAN (published admission number) is 108.

Mid-year admissions applications are made through Lincolnshire County Council, who then ask the school to conduct an entry test - in the form of a Cognitive Abilities Test.

Year 11 pupils from any school can apply to join the co-educational Sixth Form as long as the general entry criteria (5 A*-C GCSE grades or equivalent including English and Maths) and subject criteria (varies by subject) are met.

Academy status

On 1 January 2013, Boston High School became a converter academy, under the leadership of the then headteacher, Dr Jason Howard. No changes were made to the school uniform and the school retained its existing name. This ended the federation between Boston High School and Boston Grammar School, with both schools now having an independent governing body, budget and establishment number. However, an umbrella trust exists in order to promote, and provide a structure for, mutually-beneficial collaboration between the two schools.

History

Boston High School first opened on 19 January 1914 at Allan House on Carlton Road, Boston. There was a headmistress and seven teachers, with 112 girls on the roll. Due to increasing pupil numbers additional classrooms were built in 1922. The school's first headmistress was Miss F.M. Knipe, who served from 1914 until 1927, and there have been a further eight headteachers in the history of the school.

Move of school site

The school was moved to the current Spilsby Road location on the northern rim of Boston during the autumn of 1938. However, the official opening ceremony did not take place until 1939, the year that the Second World War started. The school was declared open by Alderman Kitwood, who later would have a house named after him. During the war girls from Hull were enrolled into the school, having been evacuated from their own city in anticipation of strategic bombing raids by the Luftwaffe.

In 1956 the Mayoress of Boston was 17-year-old Janet Rowe. She had been invited to a Queen's garden party in London on 12 July of that year, but was unable to attend as she was sitting a GCE exam on the same day.

The school entered a team for Radio 4's former Top of the Form, with their round against Colchester County High School being broadcast on 16 & 18 November 1983.

In the 1990s it also referred to itself as the High School, Boston, and had around 850 girls.

Federation plans

In 2006, there were plans by Lincolnshire County Council to merge Boston High School with the local boys grammar school Boston Grammar School, with effect from September 2011. In preparation for this, in September 2009 a group of 66 boys from the local community were admitted to the 'Boston Grammar Schools Federation' on the Spilsby Road (Boston High School) site in Y7 - the first mixed gender intake cohort to be admitted to the new federation. However, in 2010 it was announced that due to the withdrawal of Building Schools for the Future funding by the new coalition government, that both schools would operate as two separate schools, still under a federation - on two sites - with one governing body. Parents of the boys admitted into Y7 were offered the choice of keeping their son at Boston High School, or transferring him to Boston Grammar School. 32 boys continued their education at Boston High School, completing their GCSEs in June 2014; many of them continuing on at Boston High School to study their AS Levels in the co-educational sixth form.

Houses

The houses are named after people who have played a part in the school's history. The five houses and associated colours are: Allan: Yellow, Conway: Red, Ingelow: Blue, Kitwood: Purple, Lindis: Green.