Deacon's School

This article is about a former school in Peterborough. For the school in Widnes, see Wade Deacon High School.

Deacon's School

Established	1721
Closed	2007
Type	Foundation school
Religion	Church of England
Headteacher	Mr Michael Griffiths
Founder	Thomas Deacon
Location	Queen's Gardens Peterborough Cambridgeshire PE1 2UW England
Local authority	Peterborough
DfE number	???/5401
DfE URN	110901
Students	1059
Gender	Coeducational
Ages	11–18
Fate	Closed and rebuilt in 2007 to become an academy

Coordinates: 52°35′15″N 0°14′11″W / 52.58740°N 0.23651°W / 52.58740; -0.23651

Deacon's School was located in Dogsthorpe, Peterborough, England and was known for its rivalry with the nearby King's School. In 2007, the school was demolished and replaced by the Thomas Deacon Academy.

History

The school opened in 1721 as Mr. Deacon's Charity School in Cowgate. In his will, Thomas Deacon, a successful wool merchant, provided for the creation of a school for 20 poor boys. In the 1830s, Deacon's School merged with The Island School for Girls, which had been established by a Mrs Island in her will.^[1]

New accommodation for the school was built on Queen's Gardens in Dogsthorpe, opened in 1960 as Deacon's Grammar School. It was a voluntary aided school with about 450 boys in the 1960s.

It became a voluntary controlled co-educational comprehensive school in 1976. It became a grant maintained school in the 1990s and applied to become a Technology College, becoming a specialist school in 1994. The building remained in Dogsthorpe for 47 years until the Academy was built on the same site.^[2] Administration moved from Cambridgeshire to Peterborough in 1998.

The Deacon's School Trust, created by Thomas Deacon's will, partially funds the Academy^[3] with Perkins Engines. The school merged with John Mansfield School on Western Avenue and the Hereward Community College^[4] (a former secondary modern school on Reeves Way^[5] in Eastfield) to form a £46m Academy. Plans were approved on 11 August 2004, and it was originally due to open in 2006 and cost £34m. Construction began in July 2005.

Notable alumni

Mixed comprehensive

• Ajaz Akhtar (1968–), cricketer^{[citation needed]}
• Adrian Durham, radio presenter^{[citation needed]}
• MJ Hibbett, singer-songwriter^{[citation needed]}
• Matthew Etherington, footballer^{[citation needed]}

Boys' grammar school

• Ron Jacobs (rugby player)^{[citation needed]}
• Richard Littlejohn, columnist with the Daily Mail^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ "Joe Heppel's Search for the soul of Deacon's School". http://youtube.com/watch?v=oIJrkxLpfyQ&feature=related. 
2. ^ "Deacon's School 1722–2007". Peterborough Council. Archived from the original on 25 January 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071025103408/http://www.peterborough.gov.uk/page-10439. Retrieved 2 December 2009. 
3. ^ "Thomas Deacon Academy". http://www.thomasdeaconacademy.com/page_viewer.asp?section=The+Sponsors&sid=50. 
4. ^ http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/82185
5. ^ http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/82186

External links

• EduBase