Quarry Bank High School

Calderstones School

Current school crest
Motto	"Ex Hoc Metallo Virtutem" - "Courage, Service, Honour"
Type	Comprehensive secondary school
Headteacher	Mr Lee Ratcliffe
Deputy Headteacher	Mrs Sharon Ellis
Chair of Governors	Mr David Woods
Location	Harthill Road Liverpool Merseyside L18 3HS England
Local authority	Liverpool City Council
DfE number	341/4427
DfE URN	104698 Tables
Staff	150
Students	approx. 1,500
Gender	Co-educational
Ages	11–18
Colours
Website	Calderstones School

Calderstones School is an English comprehensive school located opposite Calderstones Park on Harthill Road in the Liverpool suburb of Allerton.

The school was founded in 1921 as Quarry Bank High School and its first intake of 225 pupils was on 11 January 1922. The first headmaster of the school was R.F. Bailey (an old Etonian). He formed the school on the principles of public school houses. Subsequently, the first year boys' house was named Bailey. The current Headteacher is Mr. Lee Ratcliffe.

The school has several notable pupils including founding Beatles member John Lennon.

In 1967 Quarry Bank High Boys' school merged with neighbouring Calder High School for Girls (a girls' grammar school also on Harthill Road) and nearby Morrison School and adopted the name Quarry Bank Comprehensive School. The same year saw the abolition of the school's house system, whereby the pupils were divided between Mersey, Esmeduna, Wavertree, Sefton, Allerton, Childwall, Aigburth and Woolton Houses. In 1985, the school merged with Aigburth Vale High School, which left the school operating at four discrete locations and with 1,800 pupils; it was also then that it adopted its current name. Aigburth Vale was previously a grammar school with around 600 girls. In 1989 the school divested itself of its Aigburth and Morrison facilities, retaining only the original Calder House and Quarry Bank estates. A new building to replace the old Morrison Wing site was built within the existing school site. The old Morrison Wing is now home to a Tesco superstore on Mather Avenue in Allerton. Aigburth Vale High School also no longer exists and is now home to a number of private flats.

In 2001 the school underwent a major refurbishment as part of the Private Finance Initiative scheme. The entire site has been overhauled, with the old Calder Wing now virtually demolished. Only Calder House is now left from the old Calder Wing and this now houses the Sixth form. A new Arts Wing has been built which houses the English, MFL, Arts and Music departments. The old Quarry Wing was divided up into two separate buildings. One is Quarry House which houses both the ICT and History departments whilst also containing the main office for the school. The main classroom core of the Quarry Wing is now known as the Science Wing and houses a very large number of science labs. The school was also awarded 'Specialist Science Status' in 2001 which allows it to provide first class science facilities for its pupils.