Kirkham Grammar School - School History

School History

In 1585 the Thirty Men of Kirkham, a group which administered parish business, took control of the school. By the early part of the seventeenth century, the school had fallen into disrepair and had been without a master for seven years. Isabell Birley, an alehouse keeper, came to the rescue in 1621, presenting the Thirty Men of Kirkham with £30 for the restoration of the school.

In 1655 Henry Colburn, an old boy of the school, left money and land to the school in his will, putting it in the trust of the Worshipful Company of Drapers in London. Then began a long partnership between the Company and the school, which has continued to the present day, though the Drapers surrendered control of the school in 1944, having endowed it with large extensions in 1938.

The present school building was built between 1909 and 1911 when the front range and the headmaster's house were constructed to a design by the architect F. H. Greenaway of London. Independent status ceased temporarily in 1944 when the school became a voluntary-aided boys’ grammar school. A further major extension, the Norwood Science Building was opened in 1965 and subsequently extended. In 1979 the Board of Governors took the decision to revert to independent status and Kirkham Grammar School became a co-educational school for the first time.

The last decade of the twentieth century witnessed a rise in pupil numbers from 500 to 900. The school’s controversial partnership with BAE Systems was first established in 1994.

The school applied to host a Pre-Games Olympic Training Camp before the 2012 Summer Olympics, in London. Andrew Flintoff runs a cricket academy at the school.