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The Humphrey Perkins School is a secondary school with academy status which was founded in 1717 in Barrow upon Soar, Leicestershire, in England.

History

Grammar school

The school was founded as the Humphrey Perkins Grammar School in 1717 in the will of Humphrey Perkins. Perkins was born in Barrow upon Soar and went to the University of Cambridge before becoming the rector of Holme Pierrepont, Nottinghamshire, until his death in 1717. He left money for a grammar school to be built in Barrow upon Soar, and after land was acquired on an orchard near the centre of the village, the school opened in 1735 with 32 pupils.

In 1902 the school moved to larger premises on Cotes Road, with the school's first non-clergyman headmaster, Fernsby, and 33 pupils. Of these pupils 32 were boys with just one girl, Nora May Wall. In 1927 the then headmaster, Keeble, introduced a school uniform of black blazer, badge and ties. Examples of this uniform are still kept by the current headmistress, along with a school rugby shirt. The four houses were named after pre-eminent Leicestershire families as Beaumont, Grey, Hastings and Latimer.

Secondary modern school

In 1947 the grammar school closed and a secondary modern school was opened on the same site. In 1956 this became a single bilateral school, with approximately 500 pupils. Dunn became headmaster in 1960, and discussions began about whether Humphrey Perkins or the nearby Rawlins Grammar School at Quorn would be the 'Upper School' in the new two-tier Leicestershire education model. In 1947 it was a grammar school taking in 11+ scholars. In the early 1950s it became a bilateral school taking in pupils at 13+ who had failed the 11+ so that they had an opportunity to take O levels and be able to continue to A levels. In 1947 it was not a secondary modern school.

Comprehensive three-tier system

In 1966 Humphrey Perkins was converted to a junior high school for 11- to 14-year-olds, with some 1000 pupils.

Academy

In September 2010, Peter Nutkins joined the school as Headmaster, and the school underwent a period of rapid reorganisation and development. On 1 January 2012 Humphrey Perkins became an Academy School and converted to an 11–16 that same year, taking older pupils from September 2013.

Teaching

The school was inspected in 2011–12 and issued with a notice to improve after being judged inadequate. Only 14 months later the school was judged as 'good' by the return OFSTED inspection as the improvements that had taken place brought about change.

Pupils within the school were given iPads to encourage creativity. The school held training events for other schools on the use of the devices in the classroom. Nutkins took a strong stance on including creative subjects in the curriculum and is a member of the Heads for Arts national lobby group.

In September 2017, most iPads were removed from the school, with pupils no longer having them, but the staff still use them.

Notable former pupils

• Louise Lear, née Barden, BBC weather presenter, from Rothley (took her O-levels and A-levels at Quorn)
• Jenny Tomlinson, née Mills, Archdeacon of Birmingham since 2019, from Quorn (took her O-levels and A-levels at Quorn)
• Sheila Walker, née Smith, former executive with the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, and executive director from 2003-09 of USA Field Hockey

Humphrey Perkins Grammar School

• Veronica van Heyningen FRS, née Daniel geneticist, worked on the Human Genome Project

References

1. ^ Cox, Megan (22 February 2017). "Humphrey Perkins celebrates its 300th birthday". Loughborough Echo. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
2. "Humphrey Perkins School". Leicestershirevillages.com. Retrieved 21 July 2010.
3. "Ofsted Report, 2013" (PDF). Ofsted. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
4. "Heads for the Arts".
5. Loughborough Echo Friday 5 July 1996, page 2
6. Leicester Mercury Friday 13 December 1974, page 27
7. Leicester Mercury Thursday 18 January 1979, page 17
8. Lincolnshire Free Press Tuesday 30 August 1983, page 3

• The History of Humphrey Perkins School, Bernard Elliott, 1965
• "Humphrey Perkins High School – 100 Years on the Cotes Road Site", John Hindley, 2002
• "Humphrey Perkins School", 2013

External links

• Official School website

• Academies in Leicestershire
• Borough of Charnwood
• Loughborough
• Secondary schools in Leicestershire