1359 to 2021 IS A LONG TIME AND CONTAINS MANY EDUCATIONAL LESSONS.

22nd March 2021 | Schools

Kibworth Beauchamp Grammar School, Kibworth High School/The Kibworth School.

PAST.

In 1921, a century ago this year , the Head of our local Kibworth Beauchamp Grammar School (KBGS ), Mr. Cyril Ryley , a graduate of Jesus College, Oxford, wrote to the then Director of Education for Leicestershire “As far as I can find out, the School appears to be one of the oldest in the Kingdom”.

 Firmly supporting this statement historian Bernard Elliott (no relation to Mr. John Elliot, a later KBGS Head) wrote in his ‘History of Kibworth Beauchamp Grammar School’, published in 1957 “Mr. Ryley’s assertion is indeed true, Kibworth Beauchamp School was already in existence when Henry V won the Battle of Agincourt.”

 Having had the privilege of meeting the author in his bungalow, I can indeed vouch for his scholarship. 

PRESENT.

The preceding paragraph is presented as the background to what may or may not be occurring in local secondary education in 2021. An apparently urgent letter to Kibworth Beauchamp Parish Council caused them to hold an extraordinary meeting on December 1st last at which ” The letter from The Kibworth School, concerning the proposal to join a multi-academy trust – The Mead Educational Trust (TMET) – – from April 2021 ” was discussed and certain questions raised – namely:- 

  • Whether any other MATs were considered and why was TMET chosen?
  • Why the procedure is being pushed through so quickly?
  • How it will impact on the Kibworth Beauchamp High School Foundation Trust?
  • What is being put in place for further education including 6th form? 
  • Whether the school holidays will remain in line with county dates? 
  • That the school retains its name of The Kibworth School? 

Further, I wrote in a recent Chronicle enquiring what practical benefits this move would give to pupils as compared to the outstanding achievements of secondary education in Kibworth over the last 500 years. 

FUTURE.

I am criticising nobody of anything – I just don’t know. I’m further enquiring.

 My searches of Kibworth Beauchamp Parish Council Minutes, The Kibworth School website and Chronicle columns have proved fruitless in this respect, so maybe I’m looking in the wrong places. However I am interested to know what is happening, not only because 

a)  I enjoyed being a pupil at KBGS, (under the headship of John Elliot and Leslie Daw),
b) enjoyed trainee teaching there, (again under Leslie Daw) and
c) teaching at its successor Kibworth High, (under David Still) but also
d) because I, like so many in the Kibworths and surrounding villages
maintain an interest in the local community which, of course, includes our local secondary school. Thus I look forward to reading, hopefully in the April Chronicle information concerning: 

          a) the above six bullet points – and

          b) the practical benefits to pupils of the scheme compared to the last five centuries of splendid secondary educational achievement in this village.

Roger Garratt.