The school has its origins in The Bewdley Grammar School on Lax Lane, which closed in the 1800s. The former grammar school is now home to a yoga studio and the Bewdley brewery. After the closure of Bewdley Grammar School, Bewdley County Secondary School was built on the opposite side of the river in 1956 with new buildings. In 1972, the area adopted a three-tier system, and the school became Bewdley High School. When the area returned to a two-tier system in 2007, the High School was amalgamated with the two local middle schools to form The Bewdley School as a new secondary school, following extensive building work and landscaping, with new facilities for the arts, science, humanities and outdoor learning.
Headteachers
Charles Goodyear 1955-1968 Jack Harris 1968-1987 Margaret Griffiths 1987-2002 David Derbyshire 2002-2007 Julie Reilly 2007-2016 David Hadley-Pryce 2016-present
Present day
Bewdley Sixth Form
Bewdley Sixth Form is also part of The Bewdley School, offering GCSE, BTEC and A-Level courses. The sixth form is growing yearly, and in 2018 was the largest Sixth Form in the Wyre Forest District. Bewdley Sixth Form is consistently high performing at A-Level, with students often gaining places at top Russell Group UK universities.
Partnerships
The school is partnered with the University of Worcester for teacher training and further educational research. The University of Birmingham's School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences works closely with The Bewdley School through their ongoing Encompass project. In September 2009, The Bewdley School gained Specialist Art college status via accreditation from Arts Council England. This specialism was later awarded the ArtsMark Gold Award for excellent practice amongst the department.
Results
In 2019, the school achieved 72% of students achieving 5+ GCSE's including English at Maths at grade 4 or above. At Bewdley Sixth Form, 20 of the 21 subjects achieved 100% pass rates at A-Level with 96% of university applicants being successful. The school was inspected by Ofsted in September 2019 under their new framework, and found the school to be consistently Good. The school has held a 'Good' rating from Ofsted since 2012.
House System
The school has three distinct student houses, each made up of two tutor groups each. The houses were named after historical connections to the town of Bewdley. Baldwin - Named after Stanley Baldwin, three times Prime Minister. Stanley Baldwin, as Member of Parliament for Bewdley, is the only British premier to have served under three monarchs. Ribbesford - Named after Ribbesford House. The estate dates from the 11th century. In 1074 the estate was presented to Ralph de Mortimer in recognition of his services to William of Normandy. It remained in the Mortimer family for many centuries. Severn - Named after the River Severn. The river is about 220 miles long and is considered to be the longest in the United Kingdom. It rises from the Welsh mountains to the Atlantic Ocean at Bristol and it has historically been a route for trade and central to the growth of Bewdley as a market town over the last 500 years.
