Kettering Grammar School
Encyclopedia
Kettering Grammar School was a boys grammar school (selective) that had a number of homes in Kettering
, Northamptonshire
throughout its history.
The final incarnation of the school was on Windmill Avenue (you can just see the school in this photo - the row of windows with mobile phone aerials above - next to the tree on the right), to the east of the town north of Wicksteed Park
. Up to 1965, the school had shared a purpose-built premises on Bowling Green Road (A6003) with its girls' equivalent - Kettering High School. After the move to Windmill Avenue (A6098), the Bowling Green Road building was taken over by Kettering Borough Council as its headquarters office, a function it still performs.
).
, who by then had become Head of Science Teaching. On the technical front Geoff was partnered by the head of the Chemistry department, Derek Slater - a Radio Amateur.
Work of the group involved tracking satellites with radios, and eavesdropping on communications to cosmonauts, as well as analysing orbits in an attempt to identify different subsets. In 1966, the fledgling group discovered the location of a new secret Soviet launch station in north Russia, Plesetsk
, before the American military or intelligence services had got round to releasing details.
In July 1975, the team calculated that the Soyuz - Apollo link up would take place 140 miles over Bognor Regis
on 17 July 1975, although the space craft would be travelling at five miles per second.
In May 1985, Geoffrey Perry talked about the project in the Radio 4
programme The Kettering Project. In March 1987, Channel 4 featured the project in the programme Sputnik, Bleeps, and Mr Perry.
Pictures of the school's space tracking team, originally published in The Times newspaper, would later find themselves onto record covers of The Wonder Stuff
for their album, Construction for the Modern Idiot
.
Professor Sir Peter Crane, Director of Kew Gardens 1996 - 2006 approx.
Kettering
Kettering is a market town in the Borough of Kettering, Northamptonshire, England. It is situated about from London. Kettering is mainly situated on the west side of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene which meets at Wellingborough...
, Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
throughout its history.
History
One of its early seats was a small building on Gold Street that was demolished during the 1960s "anything goes" era of town centre planning.The final incarnation of the school was on Windmill Avenue (you can just see the school in this photo - the row of windows with mobile phone aerials above - next to the tree on the right), to the east of the town north of Wicksteed Park
Wicksteed Park
Wicksteed Park is an amusement park in Kettering, Northamptonshire, England. The park opened in 1921. It is believed to be the oldest amusement park in England; however, the Blackgang Chine theme park on the Isle of Wight is considerably older...
. Up to 1965, the school had shared a purpose-built premises on Bowling Green Road (A6003) with its girls' equivalent - Kettering High School. After the move to Windmill Avenue (A6098), the Bowling Green Road building was taken over by Kettering Borough Council as its headquarters office, a function it still performs.
Comprehensive
In later years the Windmill Avenue buildings housed Kettering Boys School, with many of the same teachers as the Grammar School but no longer selective, and now part of the area's Comprehensive education system. It operated on two sites - a lower and upper school. The Kettering High School became Kettering School for Girls on Lewis Road (near Wicksteed ParkWicksteed Park
Wicksteed Park is an amusement park in Kettering, Northamptonshire, England. The park opened in 1921. It is believed to be the oldest amusement park in England; however, the Blackgang Chine theme park on the Isle of Wight is considerably older...
).
Further education college
The Windmill Avenue site has been occupied by Tresham College of Further and Higher Education (Kettering Campus) since 1993. The former Grammar School buildings were knocked down in 2007 to make way for the Tresham's new block.Space research
In the 1960s, Geoffrey Perry, head of the school Physics department experimented with using satellite signals and the Doppler effect as an aid to teaching. The activity soon grew into regular monitoring of Soviet launched satellites and expanded into an international collaboration that became known as the Kettering Group. The group was headed by Geoffrey PerryGeoffrey Perry
Geoffrey E. Perry was a physics teacher at Kettering Grammar School, Northamptonshire, England who, together with his colleague Derek Slater, and students, deduced the existence of the previously-secret Plesetsk Cosmodrome in 1966 by analyzing the orbit of the Cosmos 112 satellite.The New York...
, who by then had become Head of Science Teaching. On the technical front Geoff was partnered by the head of the Chemistry department, Derek Slater - a Radio Amateur.
Work of the group involved tracking satellites with radios, and eavesdropping on communications to cosmonauts, as well as analysing orbits in an attempt to identify different subsets. In 1966, the fledgling group discovered the location of a new secret Soviet launch station in north Russia, Plesetsk
Plesetsk Cosmodrome
Plesetsk Cosmodrome is a Russian spaceport, located in Arkhangelsk Oblast, about 800 km north of Moscow and approximately 200 km south of Arkhangelsk.-Overview:...
, before the American military or intelligence services had got round to releasing details.
In July 1975, the team calculated that the Soyuz - Apollo link up would take place 140 miles over Bognor Regis
Bognor Regis
Bognor Regis is a seaside resort town and civil parish in the Arun district of West Sussex, on the south coast of England. It is south-south-west of London, west of Brighton, and south-east of the city of Chichester. Other nearby towns include Littlehampton east-north-east and Selsey to the...
on 17 July 1975, although the space craft would be travelling at five miles per second.
In May 1985, Geoffrey Perry talked about the project in the Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
programme The Kettering Project. In March 1987, Channel 4 featured the project in the programme Sputnik, Bleeps, and Mr Perry.
Pictures of the school's space tracking team, originally published in The Times newspaper, would later find themselves onto record covers of The Wonder Stuff
The Wonder Stuff
The Wonder Stuff are a British alternative rock band, originally based in Stourbridge, West Midlands, in the Black Country, England.-Origins:...
for their album, Construction for the Modern Idiot
Construction for the Modern Idiot
Construction For The Modern Idiot is The Wonder Stuff's fourth album from October 1993, and their last studio album before their split on 15 July 1994....
.
Notable alumni
- David Barlow, composer (1927–75)
- Keith Barwell, businessman
- H. E. BatesH. E. BatesHerbert Ernest Bates, CBE , better known as H. E. Bates, was an English writer and author. His best-known works include Love for Lydia, The Darling Buds of May, and My Uncle Silas.-Early life:...
- writer - Don Breckon (artist, particularly railway subjects)
- David Brew, Chief Executive from 2000-3 of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of ScotlandInstitute of Chartered Accountants of ScotlandThe Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland is the Scottish professional body of Chartered Accountants . It is a regulator, educator and influencer.ICAS act as a thought leader and voice of the professional business community...
- Jim DaleJim DaleJim Dale, MBE is an English actor, voice artist, singer and songwriter. He is best known in the United Kingdom for his many appearances in the Carry On series of films and in the US for narrating the Harry Potter audiobook series, for which he received two Grammy Awards, and the ABC series Pushing...
- entertainer - Stephen Dunmore, Chief Executive from 2004-8 of the Big Lottery FundBig Lottery FundThe Big Lottery Fund is a grant-making non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom created by the Government to administer the funding of "good causes" following the creation of the National Lottery. It has an annual expenditure of £630 million...
- John GillJohn Gill (theologian)John Gill was an English Baptist pastor, biblical scholar, and theologian who held to a firm Calvinistic soteriology. Born in Kettering, Northamptonshire, he attended Kettering Grammar School where he mastered the Latin classics and learned Greek by age 11...
- theologian - John Alfred GotchJohn Alfred GotchJohn Alfred Gotch was a noted British architect and architectural historian. His brother was the Pre-Raphaelite painter and illustrator Thomas Cooper Gotch, who painted his portrait....
, architect - Thomas Cooper GotchThomas Cooper GotchThomas Cooper Gotch was an English Pre-Raphaelite painter and book illustrator, and brother of John Alfred Gotch the noted architect.-Early life:...
, painter - Prof A. H. Halsey, Professor of Social and Administrative Studies from 1978-90 at the University of OxfordUniversity of OxfordThe University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
- Prof Brian Loasby, Professor of Management Economics from 1971-84 at the University of StirlingUniversity of StirlingThe University of Stirling is a campus university founded by Royal charter in 1967, on the Airthrey Estate in Stirling, Scotland.-History and campus development:...
- John Newing CBE, Chief Constable from 1990-2000 of Derbyshire ConstabularyDerbyshire ConstabularyDerbyshire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the county of Derbyshire, England. The force covers an area of over with a population of just under one million.-Organisation and structure:...
- Sir Kenneth Parker, High Court Judge on the Queen's Bench since 2009
- Keith RobertsKeith RobertsKeith John Kingston Roberts , was an English science fiction author. He began publishing with two stories in the September 1964 issue of Science Fantasy magazine, "Anita" and "Escapism.Several of his early stories were written using the pseudonym...
, science fiction writer - Phil SawfordPhil SawfordPhilip Andrew Sawford is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Kettering from 1997 to 2005.-Early life:...
- Labour MP from 1997-2005 for KetteringKettering (UK Parliament constituency)Kettering is a county constituency in Northamptonshire which returns one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.... - John White, Executive Chairman since 2006 (and former Chief Executive from 1993–2006) of Persimmon plcPersimmon plcPersimmon plc is a British housebuilding company, headquartered in York, England, at a building called Persimmon House. The Company is named after a horse which won the 1896 Derby and St. Leger for the Prince of Wales. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the FTSE...
- Kenneth Woolmer, Baron Woolmer of LeedsKenneth Woolmer, Baron Woolmer of LeedsKenneth John Woolmer, Baron Woolmer of Leeds is a British university lecturer and politician. Coming into politics through local government in West Yorkshire, Woolmer was elected to Parliament for the Labour Party in 1979...
, Labour MP from 1979-83 for Batley and MorleyBatley and Morley (UK Parliament constituency)Batley and Morley was a parliamentary constituency centred on the towns of Batley and Morley in West Yorkshire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.... - Tony Wright - Labour MP from 1997-2010 for Cannock ChaseCannock Chase (UK Parliament constituency)-Elections in the 2000s:-Elections in the 1990s:-Notes and references:...
and from 1992-7 for Cannock and BurntwoodCannock and Burntwood (UK Parliament constituency)Cannock and Burntwood was a parliamentary constituency in Staffordshire which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1983 until it was abolished for the 1997 general election.- History :...
Kettering Boys' School
- Paul Napier, Editor since 2006 of the Yorkshire Evening PostYorkshire Evening PostThe Yorkshire Evening Post is a daily evening publication published by Yorkshire Post Newspapers Ltd in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
Professor Sir Peter Crane, Director of Kew Gardens 1996 - 2006 approx.