Katharine Lady Berkeley's School
Historical Background

In 1384 on October 20th Lady Katherine Berkeley, the second wife of Thomas III the Eighth Lord of Berkeley formerly endowed the school and chantry at Wotton-under-Edge. She died in 1385, outliving her husband by twenty-four years, her body was laid to rest alongside his under the alter tomb in Berkeley Church.

The Foundation Deed reads:-

"We the said Kitherina (Katherine), attentively considering that the purposes of man desiring to be informed in grammar which is the foundation of all liberal arts, is daily defeated and frustrated by poverty and want of means; therefore for the maintenance and exaltation of Holy Mother Church, and the increase of divine worship, and other liberal arts and sciences, out of the goods bestowed on us by God have procured the said Walter and Williams to acquire certain lands and tenements in fee, that they may build (re-build?) a school-house in Wotton for the habitation and likewise dispose of them for the maintenance of a master and 2 poor scholars of the art of grammar; which master and his successors shall govern and inform all scholars coming to the same house or school coming for instruction in this art without taking anything for his trouble from them or any of them."

The Deed was sealed with Katherine's personal seal which showed St John holding a lamb and has the Latin inscription 'Sigilla domus scolarii de Woton sub egge'. (The seal of the School House of Wotton-under-Edge). This seal is stamped on our prizes and also in special badges which are worn by some members of the School. The crest on the blazers is the Berkeley coat-of-arms.  There are a number of different historical spellings of Katherine (including Kitherina and Katheryn) and it is not known when the spelling of the school name formally became Katharine.

The old school buildings in School Lane, Wotton-under-Edge, were erected in 1726 to which there were various additions later. Shortly after the School had become co-educational, Church Mill was bought in 1908. After the World War of 1939-1945, Carlton House was rented from the Post Office.

In 1961, the erection of a new building for 350 pupils on the present site at Kingswood Road, was started, and in January 1963 the School vacated the premises in Wotton and moved into it.

The erection of the first phase of extensions to the Kingswood Road buildings began in March 1972, and the extensions were completed for the start of the Autumn Term 1973, when Katharine Lady Berkeley's re-opened as a comprehensive school for 830 pupils, marking the end of selection of boys and girls at the age of 11+ for the two separate secondary schools in Wotton. Wotton Secondary School formally closed at the end of August 1973.

The re-organised Katharine Lady Berkeley's School has a catchment area which is bounded by North Nibley, Owlpen, Tresham, Hawkesbury Upton, Inglestone Common, Wickwar, Cromhall, Leyhill, Tortworth and Charfield, and which includes Ozleworth, Alderley, Hillesley and Kingswood.

In July 1974, the second phase of extensions of the building began to be built and were completed by September 1975.

On 20th October 1984 the School was 600 years old and therefore among the ten oldest in the country. The celebrations were honoured by a memorable visit from HRH The Princess Royal.

In 1989 HRH the Duke of Gloucester opened the Renishaw Centre, an ICT room costing £60,000.  Renishaw kindly renewed the equipment in the centre at considerable cost with the former hardware being transferred to the Special Needs Department.

In 1992 GM status was attained, with the object of providing for the structural improvement of the buildings and a wish to be able to make independent decisions to suit the school's future.

In 1994 further accommodation was added to allow for the increase in pupil numbers from 1010 in 1984 to 1170 in 1994.

In 1996, the school achieved designation as a Language College which attracts additional funding from central government. This has enabled the school to offer a particularly rich languages curriculum covering 7 modern languages and Latin. The school is also involved in a range of projects with its international partners. The Language Centre, costing £220,000, was opened in September 1996 and further new buildings were completed in September 1997 to provide six more classrooms to accommodate an increase in pupil numbers to 1340 by 1998.

In Autumn 1999, work began on further new buildings to provide a two-storey teaching block, known as the Renishaw Block, which includes 11 classrooms, 3 ICT suites and a new library.

In addition to this a three laboratory extension was added to the Science Centre.

In 2003 a major new extension was added to the Music block and a small network of computers installed. One of the rooms in the Humanities block was converted into a cross-curricular computer suite. The Business Studies ICT suite was upgraded into a full computer suite.

In 2004 a new single-story block was added between the existing Science and Music blocks. This accommodates a new ICT suite, 4 new classrooms and 2 small meeting/seminar rooms.

In 2005 the reception area was refurbished with new office accommodation added.

In 2006 one of the Science laboratories was converted into an ICT Suite, along with one of the external Humanities rooms. The school presently has approximately 1460 pupils on roll.

Further details of the history of KLB School:

• Historical Background
• Head Teachers - 1384 to the present

Doreen Wren (Jenny), Head of the History Department (1955-84) and responsible for Senior Girls' Games (1955-73) at Katharine Lady Berkeley's School, wrote a detailed history of Secondary Education in Wotton-under-Edge for 'Remember this?', the Wotton-under-Edge Historical Society Millennium Book. 

Doreen has kindle given permission for the school to publish her contribution on this website. (Subject to the copyright conditions detailed at the end of the article).

The book itself contains numerous fascinating articles that look back over the last 100 years in Wotton-under-Edge. Copies are available from the Wotton Heritage centre in Wotton (price £5.99).

Details of the history of KLB School on other websites:

• http://www.cotswoldedge.org.uk/w-u-e/klb.htm
• http://www.tyndale.org/TSJ/16/green.html