Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Penrith


Queen Elizabeth Grammar School is a coeducational selective grammar school in Penrith, Cumbria, England. The school currently has approximately 830 pupils. The current headteacher is Mr Paul Buckland, who took over in September 2015. The headteacher from September 2004 to August 2015 was Mr Chris Kirkup.
Each year group is split on to four forms that have usually 32 students each. Each form is identified by the academic year followed by the initials of the form tutor who is usually a teacher at the school. Students are also divided into one of the school's three houses; Blencow, Lowther and Tudor, which are mainly used for sport events.

History

It moved from its original premises in St Andrew's churchyard to its present site on Ullswater Road, close to the railway station, in 1917. It is Cumbria's only grammar school.

Admissions

The admission process is through an Eleven Plus style exam, which tests mathematics, verbal reasoning and non verbal reasoning or spatial intelligence. The top 160 applicants are offered places at the school. If a student at the school decides to leave their place, it is offered to a child who nearly made it into the top 160 of that year group.
The number of applicants accepted into the school was increased from 128, to an additional thirty two in the entrance exams of 2018.

Notable former and current pupils