St John's Marlborough

The school was formed in 1975 as a new comprehensive school, taking over the buildings and many of the staff of the recently closed Marlborough Royal Free Grammar School and the Marlborough Secondary Modern School on Chopping Knife Lane. The grammar school had been founded in 1550. The school's Savernake building was the former secondary modern school.

In 1998 the school was awarded its first specialism in Technology and in 2005 its second in Languages. After the rebuilding of the school on a new site at Granham Hill, the buildings of two former schools were demolished in 2010.

The school converted to academy status in September 2012. It is run by the Excalibur Academies Trust, a multi-academy trust which includes several local primary schools and John O'Gaunt School, Hungerford.[1]

Thanks to having taken over the buildings of the former grammar and secondary modern schools, in its early years the school operated on two separate sites. Building work for a new school started in June 2008, at an estimated cost of £26.5 million. The new building was brought into use in late 2009 and was officially opened by Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, in 2010.[2]

The new building was designed by Re-Format, formerly Format Milton Architects. The single-site project had been many years in the planning due to delays obtaining planning permission for the development of the other site, and complaints from local residents.

• Aaron Hicklin – editor of Out magazine
• Lauren Child – children's author and illustrator[3]
• Rhys Thornbury – skeleton athlete
• Phil Hammond – physician, journalist, broadcaster, comedian and commentator

• Official website
• Excalibur Academies Trust