Fairfield Grammar School was a secondary school in Bristol, England, founded in 1898 as Fairfield Secondary and Higher Grade School. It became a grammar school in 1945 and closed in 2000, to be replaced by a new comprehensive, Fairfield High School, at first on the same site, but now located in Stottbury Road, Bristol. BHES (Bristol Hospital Education Service), is now based in half of the old school, the other half is now Fairlawn Primary School.

History The school began its life under the name of Fairfield Secondary and Higher Grade School, in an imposing new building by the architect William Larkins Bernard which was described as having a "towering collection of gables". Coeducational from the beginning, it was intended for children who would stay at school until the age of sixteen or seventeen.About Bristol Suburbs Montpelier Fairfield School at about-bristol.co.uk, accessed 25 November 2008 Its aim was stated as being to give

When the Higher Grade School opened in 1898, it had one hundred and eighty pupils. There were fees of £1 per term, but a quarter of the places in the school were available to non-fee-paying students, who were selected by an annual competition.

In March 1918, the school's most notable son, Archie Leach, was expelled at the age of fourteen for sneaking into the girls' lavatories.Fight to save Cary Grant's school dated Tuesday, 23 October 2001, at bbc.co.uk, accessed 25 November 2008CG TRIVIA: IMPORTANT DATES at carygrant.net, accessed 25 November 2008The Frenchay connection at dial.pipex.com, accessed 25 November 2008 He went on to become the film star Cary Grant, and reported that Fairfield had given him "a sketchy education". His contemporary at the school, Sir Archibald Russell, was deputy to the French designer of the supersonic airliner Concorde.Sir Archibald Russell, Aircraft Engineer (1904-1995) at rpec.co.uk, accessed 25 November 2008

In 1945, the school became a grammar school.Stiles, Sharon, Fairfield, the First 100 Years (video, Applecart Television Facilities, 1999) at oldfairfieldians.org.uk, accessed 25 November 2008

The school occupied a triangular site in Montpelier, Bristol, being bounded by Fairlawn Road to the west, Fairfield Road to the south east, and Falkland Road to the north west. To the north was an area of railway land. There were no on-site playing fields, but there was a hard-surfaced playground to the north of the main school. This building was listed Grade II in January 2002, at a time when the local education authority was planning to move the new Fairfield High School to a new site.Report on planning application 02/01233/FB/C to Development Control (Central) committee meeting on 10 July 2002 at bristol.gov.uk, accessed 25 November 2008

To mark the school's centenary in 1998, Ross Gilkes, a former Fairfield history master, wrote a school history which was published by the Old Fairfieldians Society.FAIRFIELD - The Life of a School at oldfairfieldians.org.uk, accessed 25 November 2008

In 2000, against a background of opposition by Bristol City Council to selective education and declining academic results,Education: School League Tables 1998 Fairfield Grammar School at bbc.co.uk, accessed 25 November 2008 Fairfield closed as a grammar school and reopened as a comprehensive, being renamed Fairfield High School. In 2006, the new school moved to new purpose-designed buildings at Stottbury Road, Bristol.The new Fairfield High School at oldfairfieldians.org.uk, accessed 25 November 2008 One reason for the move was that the existing site had room for only some five hundred pupils, a number which was considered to be too low.ST5974 : Fairfield School, Montpelier, Bristol at geograph.org.uk, accessed 25 November 2008

In 2007, the former Fairfield Grammar School buildings in Fairlawn Road were used by the new Redland Green comprehensive school, after more than £20 million was spent on upgrading them,New schools' costs 'keep rising' / Three school-building projects in Bristol have gone £2m over budget, story at bbc.co.uk, dated Monday, 13 November 2006, accessed 25 November 2008 but in September 2007 this was reported to be a "temporary home", and by 2008 the school was no longer on site and was located at Redland.Redland Green School, Bristol, Contact Details at redlandgreen.bristol.sch.uk, accessed 25 November 2008: "Please note that we are no longer located at Fairlawn Road, Montpelier, Bristol BS6 5JW"

Notable Old Fairfieldians

J. W. B. Barns, Professor of Egyptology at the University of Oxford Sir Norman Frome, ornithologist of British India'Frome, Sir Norman Frederick CIE DFC', in Who's Who 1982 (London: A. & C. Black, 1982) Cary Grant (expelled, 1918).Burrell, Ian, Bristol finally unveils statue to its most famous son: Archie Leach in The Independent dated 8 December 2001, at independent.co.uk, accessed 25 November 2008 Ben J. Green, Cambridge mathematician Robert Lang, character actorRobert Lang(obituary), 17 November 2004, at telegraph.co.uk, accessed 25 November 2008 Jill Knight, Baroness Knight of Collingtree (briefly), Conservative MP for Birmingham Edgbaston from 1966 to 1997 Dame Mary Perkins, business woman, co-founder of Specsavers Elizabeth Ralph, Bristol City Archivist. Sir Archibald Russell, aeronautical engineer, one of the designers of Concorde, Managing Director of BAC Filton from 1966 to 1967

See also Fairfield High School for Girls (Manchester)

Bibliography Gilkes, Ross, Fairfield — The Life of a School (Bristol, Old Fairfieldians Society, ) Stiles, Sharon, Fairfield, the First 100 Years (video, Applecart Television Facilities, 1999)Centenary Video at bristolindex.co.uk, accessed 25 November 2008

References

External links Old Fairfieldians Society - official web site Fairfield School, Montpelier, Bristol - photograph at bristolindex.co.uk Main school building in Fairlawn Road - another photograph at bristolindex.co.uk