Wisbech Grammar School

Wisbech Grammar School is a co-educational independent school in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, England, for students aged 11 to 18. Founded by the Wisbech Guild of the Holy Trinity in 1379, it is one of the oldest schools in the country. The present headmaster is Chris Staley, a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. Entry to the senior school at age 11 is based on a competitive examination. Pupils are also admitted at later stages, including sixth form.Chartered by Edward VI in 1549 as a grammar school for boys, for much of its history it offered a largely classical curriculum of Greek, Latin and arithmetic under the governance of the Wisbech Corporation. The school has moved premises several times since its foundation, being based in St Peter's Church, the old guildhall in Hill Street and on South Brink before merging with the Wisbech High School for Girls in 1970 at their present site on North Brink.For much of the 20th century, it was a non-fee paying voluntary-aided school, but following local council plans to remove this status and merge the Grammar School with a nearby secondary modern school, the governors took the decision to become fully independent in 1983. Now a fee-paying day school, 650 pupils aged 4 to 18 attend from the three counties of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Lincolnshire. Following the closure of the nearby St Audrey's Convent, a significant feeder for the senior school, a new junior and infant preparatory school was opened in 1997, now known as Magdalene House.