Chatham Grammar School for Boys 3.62

Holcombe Grammar School is a grammar school with academy status in Chatham, Kent, England. It is a selective school. From the 2017-18 academic year, the school planned to become co-educational and remain selective in the lower school. This was blocked - and later approved - by the Department for Education with co-educational admission desired for the 2018/19 school year. The school has changed name in advance of becoming co-educational and plans to change all references from "Chatham Grammar School for Boys" to "Holcombe Grammar School" over academic year 2016/17.HistoryThe school’s history is believed to be from 1817, but its formal history began in 1913 with the establishment of Chatham Junior Technical School to train young men aged 13 – 16 for careers as artificers in the Royal Navy and in the Royal Dockyard School (later College) as engineers. The School evolved to become a centre of academic excellence as Chatham Grammar School for Boys, offering GCSE and A Levels as well as an Advanced Level Vocational Courses. The school moved to its current site in the 1920s, with its premises based around Holcombe Manor. After 1945 it became a specialist technical school (Chatham Technical School for Boys) and in 1982 it became a grammar school, Chatham Grammar School for Boys. In 2016 the school name was changed in preparation for the planned admission of girls throughout the school. After a consultation with pupils, staff and parents the name "Holcombe Grammar School" was selected. The local authority is now using this name.Ofsted reportsIn September 2013 Ofsted delivered a report on their inspection carried out the previous June. The leadership and management were judged to be "inadequate" and as a result the school was placed in special measures. The previous report (2012) stated that the school was satisfactory, specifically because "students' achievement and the quality of teaching are not consistently good or better in all areas". English, in particular, was criticised as "although satisfactory, is slower than in other subjects". The 2013 report felt that the issues "have not been tackled effectively" and emphasised that the quality of teaching had not "improved quickly enough" Following a 2014 report the school has now been judged as being "Good" in all categories.