Thomas Adams School

The Thomas Adams School
The Thomas Adams School
	Thomas Adams School Crest
Address
	Lowe Hill; Wem, Shropshire, SY4 5UB; England
Coordinates	52°51′32″N 2°43′48″W / 52.8589°N 2.7301°WCoordinates: 52°51′32″N 2°43′48″W / 52.8589°N 2.7301°W
Information
Former names	The Free School of Wem, Adams Grammar School Wem
Type	Academy
Established	1650; 374 years ago
Founder	Sir Thomas Adams
Department for Education URN	147508 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Chair of Governors	Jo Hickson
Headteacher	Mark Cooper
Gender	Coeducational
Age	11 to 18
Houses	Clee, Lawley, Haughmond, Caradoc, Corndon, Hawkstone & Grinshill
Colour(s)	Blue, White
Affiliations	Keele University; Drapers' Company of London
Website	http://www.thomasadams.net

Thomas Adams School is a coeducational secondary school boarding school and sixth form in Wem, Shropshire, England. The school takes pupils from ages 11–18 and currently has just over 1,400 on roll. The school has the Schools for Health Award and in 2002 obtained Media Arts College status.^[1]^{[failed verification]}

History

The school was founded in 1650 by Sir Thomas Adams, the Lord Mayor of London in 1645, who was described by the diarist Samuel Pepys as a "comely old alderman". He was a Sheriff of London, Master of the Company of Drapers and an MP. He was a staunch royalist, who was imprisoned in the Tower of London for his royalist sympathies but was later sent by Parliament to the Hague in 1660 to wait upon King Charles II who was about to be restored to the throne. He also paid for the Bible to translated into Persian.

Adams Grammar School merged with Wem Secondary Modern School in 1976 to form Adams School, later named Thomas Adams School.

In March 2020 the school joined The Priory Trust.^[2]

The school is rated (in 2014 and 2017) by Ofsted to be good.^[3] The school has a strong connection with the Drapers Company, an ancient London guild who nominate two governors to sit on the school's governing body. The Drapers Company is well known for its educational connections and charitable contributions, it helps support a number of schools and universities which have historical links with the company.

Notable staff

Samuel Garbet, topographer and local historian of Wem, was second master at Wem Grammar School 1712-42, retiring after declining the school headship.^[4]

Notable alumni

Although there is no active alumni association, over 1,400 ex-pupils of Adams Grammar School, Wem Modern School, Adams School and Thomas Adams School are members of the Facebook group Adams School Wem Nostalgia Group.^[5]

Notable past-pupils of the Thomas Adams School include:

Wem Grammar School

Peter Jones (actor)
Sandy Lyle, golfer
Sir Henry Maddocks, lawyer/politician
General Sir Charles Warren
Sir John Bickerton Williams, lawyer, nonconformist historian