Established c. 1972 Head Teacher Gary Watson DfE URN 137752 Tables Number of students 1,691 Gender Mixed-sex education | Type Academy Chair of Governors Howard Davis Phone +44 1684 292152 Founded 1972 | |
Location Ashchurch Road
Tewkesbury
Gloucestershire
GL20 8DF
England Address Ashchurch Rd, Tewkesbury GL20 8DF, UK Motto Helping all students to reach their full potential and preparing them for the future | ||
Tewkesbury School is a secondary school in the English town of Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire. The Head Teacher is Gary Watson (commenced Headship in January 2012). On 1 January 2012, Tewkesbury School became an academy.
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History
The school was the product of the decision taken in 1969 to make Tewkesbury switch to comprehensive secondary education.
Formerly Tewkesbury had had four secondary schools: the Grammar School for Boys, located at Southwick Park to the south of the town (later offices of the Severn-Trent Water Authority's Lower Severn Division, after that Equinox Maintenance Limited and now Cambian Southwick Park School - a residential school for autistic pupils); the Grammar School for Girls, known as the "High School", in Church Street (later the Abbey School, now private premises under development); the Secondary Modern School for Boys in Chance Street (now the C of E Primary School); and Elmbury Secondary Modern School for Girls, a modern premises on the Ashchurch Road, opened in 1960. It was the latter whose buildings were chosen to form the nucleus of a new Tewkesbury Comprehensive School, with all of the town's secondary education being concentrated on the one site, and the former schools closing.
After a major building programme, enlarging the old Elmbury School to several times its original size, the new comprehensive, known as Tewkesbury School, was opened on 5 September 1972 with about 1,200 pupils on its books, and John C. Faull as its first Head Teacher.
A couple of months later, on Thursday 16 November 1972, the official opening took place, performed by Professor Dorothy Hodgkin (1910–1994), Chancellor of the University of Bristol from 1970 till 1988, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964 and the Copley Medal from the Royal Society in 1976.
Present day
The school has 1,691 students including 378 sixth form students. It has gained both Sportsmark and Artsmark awards, whilst also qualifying as an Investor in People.
In its most recent Ofsted inspection, in May 2010, the school attained a good result from the inspection with the summary letter to the school's students stating "The school looks after you well and you make good progress in your personal development and your learning".
A sled used as part of the famous Antarctic expedition to the South Pole by Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his team, formerly on display in the former Boys' Grammar School's dining hall, is housed in the Humanities building at Tewkesbury School due to the school's links with Dr. Edward Adrian Wilson. The sled had been donated to the Grammar School by Sir Raymond Priestley who was born in Tewkesbury and who participated in the Antarctic Expeditions of Shackleton and Scott.
In July 2011 John Reilly resigned from headteacher to be replaced by Martin McLeman as interim headteacher. In July 2011 it was announced that Gary Watson, formerly Headteacher at Maidenhill School, Stroud, would take over the position from January 2012.