It was opened on 18 September 1929 as Sutton Coldfield High School. Plans for a school had begun in 1906 with sites behind Sutton Coldfield Town Hall, in Sutton Park and Rectory Park all being considered before a field behind Beeches Walk was selected. It became Sutton Coldfield Girls School in 1962 and then changed its name to Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls in the late 1990s. It is a partner school to Bishop Vesey's Grammar School which was founded in 1527. In September 1972, there was no intake to the school as its entry age was increased from 11 to 12. However, the entry age was reverted to 11 from September 1992, when two-year groups were admitted to the school.
Academic performance
Upon the OfSTED inspection of September 2004, the schools had a 1,004 pupils on roll. The 2007 examination results were well above the national average in both GCSEs and A-levels. The school received outstanding in the 2007/2008 inspection.
Subjects
The school has a wide variety of subject choices. English, Maths, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, History, Geography, French, Drama, Music, PE, RE, Computing, Art, D&T and Food Technology are all compulsory in year 7. In year 8 the students must study Spanish. At GCSE the students have a choice of 4 subjects alongside the compulsory English, Maths, Sciences with one of these four choices being an available language on option, French or Spanish. RE used to be a compulsory GCSE, taken a year early, in year 10, but this was stopped when the syllabus changed. At A Level, new subjects such as Sociology, Psychology and Drama.
Houses
The school had five houses: Arden, Nevil, Tudor, Vesey, and Warwick. The colours are white, red, blue, yellow, and green respectively. Girls will be assigned a house at the start of Year 7, which they will stay in throughout their school life, including Sixth Form. Their forms are their houses, so if one was in the Vesey house, they would be in 7V, then 8V, and so on. However, recently the school has changed from 5 houses, to 6 houses, due to the increase in new year 7 students, from 150 in previous years to 180. These new houses have been renamed to Phoenix, Ursa, Cygnus, Pegasus, Delphinus and Aquila. In the Sixth Form girls keep their houses but are split from their forms into six colour groups: Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Orange, and Purple.
Notable former pupils
Louise Botting CBE, broadcaster from 1977-92 of Radio 4's Money Box and company director
