King Edward VII School is a large, mixed comprehensive secondary school

Secondary school

Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...

 in Gaywood Road (A148

A148 road

The A148 is an English A road entirely in the county of Norfolk. It runs from King's Lynn to Cromer via Fakenham which it bypasses to the north.-King’s Lynn starting point:...

), King's Lynn

King's Lynn

King's Lynn is a sea port and market town in the ceremonial county of Norfolk in the East of England. It is situated north of London and west of Norwich. The population of the town is 42,800....

, Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 with around 1300 students, including about 300 in sixth form education. Prior to the school year beginning in September 1979, KES was an all-boys state grammar school. The history of the school dates to 1510 when former lord mayor of Lynn Thomas Thoresby established a provision for teacher 6 children in his will. The current school building was opened in 1906 by King Edward VII. In 2007 the school was visited by Queen Elizabeth II as part of the centenary celebrations of the building. King Edward VII School has a sister school in Chongqing, China.

Notable alumni

The alumni association, the Old Lennensians, was revived in 2006 in association with the centenary of the new buildings donated by Sir William Lancaster.

Former pupils of the school and its predecessor, the Lynn Grammar School, include: Captain George Vancouver

George Vancouver

Captain George Vancouver RN was an English officer of the British Royal Navy, best known for his 1791-95 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of contemporary Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon...

; Captain Manby, whose rocket apparatus for ship-to-shore rescues was used by HM Coastguard until recently; and England cricketer and former Captain of Middlesex Peter Parfitt

Peter Parfitt

Peter Parfitt is an English former cricketer. He attended Fakenham Grammar School, and King Edward VII Grammar School, in Kings Lynn, Norfolk....

. The famous eighteenth-century murderer Eugene Aram

Eugene Aram

Eugene Aram was an English philologist, but also infamous as the murderer celebrated by Thomas Hood in his ballad, The Dream of Eugene Aram, and by Bulwer Lytton in his 1832 novel Eugene Aram.-Early life:...

was an usher (teacher) at the school, and was arrested there in the staff room.