:Fairfield Grammar School

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.[http://www.about-bristol.co.uk/mnt-04.asp About Bristol Suburbs Montpelier Fairfield School] at about-bristol.co.uk, accessed 25 November 2008 Its aim was stated as being to give {{cquote|"a methodical and progressive course of education, physical, mental and moral, of a wider scope and more advanced degree than that given in Elementary Schools, combined with workshop and laboratory practice in general, scientific and commercial subjects."}}

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.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1615229.stm Fight to save Cary Grant's school] dated Tuesday, 23 October 2001, at bbc.co.uk, accessed 25 November 2008[http://www.carygrant.net/trivia/dates.htm CG TRIVIA: IMPORTANT DATES] at carygrant.net, accessed 25 November 2008[http://www.ad629.dial.pipex.com/bristol.htm The Frenchay connection] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061107074703/http://www.ad629.dial.pipex.com/bristol.htm |date=2006-11-07 }} 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.[http://www.rpec.co.uk/engineerswalk/ar_walk.html Sir Archibald Russell, Aircraft Engineer (1904-1995)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005024912/http://www.rpec.co.uk/engineerswalk/ar_walk.html |date=October 5, 2011 }} at rpec.co.uk, accessed 25 November 2008

In 1945, the school became a grammar school.Stiles, Sharon, [http://www.oldfairfieldians.org.uk/video.asp Fairfield, the First 100 Years] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070726104914/http://www.oldfairfieldians.org.uk/video.asp |date=2007-07-26 }} (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.[http://www.bristol.gov.uk/committee/2002/wa/wa001/0710_6-1.pdf Report on planning application 02/01233/FB/C]{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} 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.[http://www.oldfairfieldians.org.uk/book.asp FAIRFIELD - The Life of a School] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070726104705/http://www.oldfairfieldians.org.uk/book.asp |date=2007-07-26 }} 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,[http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/education/school_tables_1998/england/8014101.html 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.[http://www.oldfairfieldians.org.uk/new-fairfield.asp The new Fairfield High School]{{Dead link|date=May 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} 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.[https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/198016 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,[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/england/bristol/6142414.stm 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",[http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-14812576.html Flagship schools on the horizon Two new secondary schools have opened in Bristol this month]{{dead link|date=February 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, article dated September 11, 2007, from Western Daily Press at highbeam.com, accessed 25 November 2008 and by 2008 the school was no longer on site and was located at Redland.[http://www.redlandgreen.bristol.sch.uk/Contact/ 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"

{{see also |Category:People educated at Fairfield Grammar School}}

• 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, [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/bristol-finally-unveils-statue-to-its-most-famous-son-archie-leach-619451.html Bristol finally unveils statue to its most famous son: Archie Leach]{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} in The Independent dated 8 December 2001, at independent.co.uk, accessed 25 November 2008
• Ben J. Green, Cambridge mathematician{{cite web|title=Ben Green CV|url=http://people.maths.ox.ac.uk/greenbj/papers/bencv.pdf|publisher=University of Oxford|access-date=3 December 2015}}
• Robert Lang, character actor[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1476764/Robert-Lang.html Robert 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{{cite book|last1=Sleeman|first1=Elizabeth|title=The International Who's Who of Women 2002|date=2001|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=9781857431223|page=303|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6J8xDWDqOkEC&q=Fairfield+Grammar+School+Bristol+Jill+Knight&pg=PA303}}
• Dame Mary Perkins, business woman, co-founder of Specsavers{{cite journal|title=Dame Mary Perkins DBE – Co-Founder and Senior Executive, Specsavers|publisher=Palgrave|doi=10.1057/9781137292353.0006}}
• Elizabeth Ralph, Bristol City Archivist.{{Cite web |date=12 July 2017 |title=Elizabeth Ralph Commemorative Plaque Replaced |url=https://sigbi.org/bristol/2017/07/12/elizabeth-ralph-commemorative-plaque-replaced/ |website=Soroptimist International Great Britain & Ireland}}
• Sir Archibald Russell, aeronautical engineer, one of the designers of Concorde, Managing Director of BAC Filton from 1966 to 1967
• Dayley Lawrence, Labour Party politician. Mayor of Patchway (2022 - date) Mayor of Bradley Stoke (2023-2024)
• Daoud Sarhandi-Williams, author and filmmaker

• Fairfield High School for Girls (Manchester)

• Gilkes, Ross, ''Fairfield — The Life of a School (Bristol, Old Fairfieldians Society, {{ISBN|0-9534403-0-3}})
• Stiles, Sharon, Fairfield, the First 100 Years (video, Applecart Television Facilities, 1999)[http://www.bristolindex.co.uk/fairfield/ Centenary Video] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061205053753/http://www.bristolindex.co.uk/fairfield/ |date=5 December 2006 }} at bristolindex.co.uk, accessed 25 November 2008

{{Reflist|2}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070726104349/http://www.oldfairfieldians.org.uk/ Old Fairfieldians Society] - official web site
• [https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/198016 Fairfield School, Montpelier, Bristol] - photograph at bristolindex.co.uk
• [http://www.bristolindex.co.uk/fairfield/fairweb-a.jpg Main school building in Fairlawn Road] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727132449/http://www.bristolindex.co.uk/fairfield/fairweb-a.jpg |date=27 July 2011 }} - another photograph at bristolindex.co.uk

{{Education in Bristol}}

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Category:Defunct schools in Bristol

Category:Grade II listed buildings in Bristol

Category:Defunct grammar schools in England

Category:Educational institutions established in 1898

Category:Formerly selective schools in the United Kingdom

Category:Educational institutions disestablished in 2000

Category:2000 disestablishments in England

Category:1898 establishments in England