Calderstones School is an English comprehensive school located opposite Calderstones Park on Harthill Road in the Liverpool suburb of Allerton.
The school has several notable former pupils, including music producer Guy Chambers, the architect Sir James Stirling, and founding Beatles member John Lennon.
Contents
History
The school was founded in 1921 as Quarry Bank High School for Boys and its first intake of 225 pupils was on 11 January 1922. The first headmaster of the school was R. F. Bailey (an old Etonian), who organised the school on the principles of public school houses. Subsequently, the first year boys' house was named Bailey.
In September 1967, Quarry Bank High School for Boys merged with Calder High School for Girls (a girls' grammar school on an adjacent site on Harthill Road) and Morrison Boys' secondary modern school (on Mather Avenue in Allerton), and adopted the name Quarry Bank Comprehensive School. The same year saw the abolition of the school's house system, whereby the pupils were divided between Mersey, Esmeduna, Wavertree, Sefton, Allerton, Childwall, Aigburth and Woolton houses.
In 1985, the school merged with Aigburth Vale High School, Aigburth, which led to the school operating at four sites with 1,800 pupils; it was also then that it adopted its current name. Aigburth Vale was previously a grammar school with around 600 girls. In 1989, the school divested itself of its Aigburth and Morrison facilities, retaining only the original Calder House and Quarry Bank estates. A new building to replace the Morrison wing was built within the existing school site. The former Morrison site is now home to a Tesco superstore, and the site of Aigburth Vale High School was redeveloped as flats.
Refurbishment
In 2001, the school underwent a major refurbishment as part of a Private Finance Initiative scheme. The entire site was overhauled, with the old Calder Wing largely demolished, leaving only Calder House which now houses the sixth form. An Arts Wing was built to house the English, MFL, Arts and Music departments. The former Quarry Wing was divided into two separate buildings. One is Quarry House which houses the ICT and History departments, and the main office for the school. The classroom core of Quarry Wing is now known as the Science Wing and houses a number of science labs. Also in 2001, the school was given Science College status under the Specialist Schools Programme (abolished in 2011).
Headteachers
Notable former pupils
Quarry Bank High School for Boys
John Ashton, academic in public health, Regional Director of Public Health for North-West England
Rt. Rev. Jonathan Bailey, Bishop of Derby from 1995 to 2005
Clive Barker, film writer, director and producer (Hellraiser, Candyman), books (Weaveworld, The Hellbound Heart), comic books (Razorline) and video games (Clive Barker's Undying, Clive Barker's Jericho)
Brian Barwick, chief executive of the Football Association from 2005 to 2008
David Basnett, trade union leader
Michael Batty, Bartlett Professor of Planning at University College London
Stephen Bayley, architecture writer and chief executive of the Design Museum from 1986 to 1989
Edmund (Ted) Bellamy, professor of Physics at Westfield College, London from 1960 to 1984
Doug Bradley, actor, who played the 'Pinhead' character in Hellraiser
Peter Cheeseman, theatre director, pioneer of theatre-in-the-round and documentary drama
Steve Coppell, footballer and football manager
Les Dennis, comedian and TV personality
Alan Deyermond, professor of Spanish at Queen Mary and Westfield College, London from 1969 to 1997
Peter Goldsmith (Lord Goldsmith of Allerton), who was appointed as the Labour government's Attorney General in 2001
Calder High School for Girls
Margaret Ursula Jones, archaeologist
Judith Kelly, artistic director of London's Southbank Centre and Master of St Catherine's College, Oxford from 2025
May Maple (1914–2012), electrical engineer, president of the Women's Engineering Society
Diana Walford, haematologist and Principal of Mansfield College, Oxford from 2002 to 2011
Aigburth Vale High School for Girls
Kate Ellis, crime fiction author
Bel Mooney (briefly), journalist
Elisabeth Sladen, actress (Doctor Who, The Sarah Jane Adventures)
Quarry Bank Comprehensive School
Susan Bickley, mezzo-soprano and opera singer
Guy Chambers (Sixth Form), songwriter
Andy Merrifield, urban theorist
John Power, former member of the band the La's and founding member of Cast
Calderstones School
Marcus Holden, international rugby player, Cyprus Rugby National Team
Geoff Rowley, skateboarder, co-owner of Flip Skateboards
"Zombina" and "Doc Horror", musicians in Zombina and the Skeletones
Thelo Aasgaard, footballer, Rangers and Norway national football team