King Edward VI School

The King Edward VI Grammar School is located in Retford, Nottinghamshire.

The school was opened in 1857 and took its name from from the previous school in Retford, which was ordained by King Edward VI in 1551 and known as 'The Free Grammar School of King Edward VI'. The school started life as a reasonably small building, but had a large clock / bell tower and ornate entrance hall. Small classrooms were set either side of the tower with a main classroom behind the arched windows at the front. This was later turning into the library. A set of arches at the back gave access to the sports field at the back. A house at the southern end of the school housed the Head Master. The school expanded, new buildings built, including a new block reaching down to the road in 1926, an assembly hall in 1937.

During World War II, air raid shelters were built around the school field perimeter, these have long since gone except for a part of one which is being used as a shed to house the gas meter.

The school expanded again in the 1960's. These unsympathetic buildings were built on the playing fields at the back of the original school.

The school closed in 2002 due to the reorganising of the school system in Retford with the building of a new school secondary in Ordsall. It now sits empty with an uncertain future despite the interest from developers.