History

One of the oldest schools in the country, Wisbech Grammar School was founded in 1379 by the Guild of the Holy Trinity. For more than six hundred years the School has played its part in the life of the town, and its presence was the vital factor in the granting in 1549 of a Charter for Wisbech.

The first scholars met in 1379 in a small room over the south porch of the Church of St Peter and St Paul. The School has occupied a number of sites in the town, but by 1898 it was located on the South Brink of the River Nene. In 1905 Wisbech High School was established to provide the same educational opportunities for girls as the Grammar School did for boys. That School occupied Harecroft House on the North Brink, formerly home of the Peckover family.

The two Schools developed concurrently until 1970 when they were amalgamated. The boys moved across the river to share extended premises on the North Brink, and the new School has continued to build upon the traditions of both former establishments.

The expansion has necessitated extensive development, and the 1991 major extension added 19 classrooms, four laboratories, two computer rooms, a sports hall, assembly hall/theatre and library. Since then the technology department has been extended and a new sports pavilion completed in 1993.

A £1M performing arts centre was completed in 2003 with extensive facilities for English, Drama, and Music teaching. In addition, our Astro-Pitch facility utilising the more advanced sand dressed construction was completed in the same year.

The refurbishment of the Prep hall into new classrooms has been constructed due to the ever the expanding Wisbech Grammar Preparatory School, which originally took its name from Magdalene College. The Cambridge college has enjoyed a close connection with the School for over 350 years and the master and fellows appoint two of their number to the governing body.

A new 6th Form centre, the Dwight Centre, opened in 2010 and in 2015 our stunning £2M refectory was launched. The refectory is named ‘Skelton Hall’ in honour of Robert Skelton MA, CEng, FIChemE, FNucI, MI MechE.

Continuing the development of our campus, we have a brand new Performing Arts studio and classroom which opened in 2017 and the amalgamation of two reception entrances into one, and our netball teams are benefitting from the newly installed state of the art netball courts.

We have also opened up two International Boarding Houses, offering pupils from overseas the opportunity to study at Wisbech Grammar School. The opening of our boarding houses also offers opportunities for the local community and children to gain an understanding of different cultures and exchange of ideas.  This has been lead by International pupils teaching Mandarin to pupils and exploring a world beyond the UK.

September 2019 saw the expansion of our Early Years setting to offer more classrooms and bringing the spaces up to date with the most modern technology available. There has been a demand from the local community to offer more spaces in Kindergarten and Reception.

As part of our development plans for ‘building for the future’ the first stage of completion has been the new Music rooms and Humanities Hub, which is an improvement in both the Teaching and Learning and the classroom environment for pupils in those departments.