100 years of KGV Southport exhibition at The Atkinson

To mark the centenary there is a wonderful exhibition currently at the Atkinson showcasing the history of the school and college, including photographs, school blazers and ties, documentation regarding the naming and a marvellous bronze bust of King George V, which has had pride of place in both the school and college for many years. College Principal Michelle Brabner, who is also President of the Old Georgians Society was proud to go along to the exhibition this week and discover a wealth of information all about KGV’s heritage.

The school quickly grew and moved into a fantastic set of new buildings on the current Scarisbrick New Road site, involving a parade of the pupils marching all the way from the north end of Lord Street to Scarisbrick New Road, carrying all of their trophies! 

The Earl of Derby opened the new building in 1926, after special permission had been granted from Whitehall to name it after the then Monarch, King George V, who was of course the Grandfather of our current Queen. It remained as a Boys Grammar School until 1979, when it’s evolution to become a college started, initially by allowing the girls from Southport High School (now Greenbank) to join the boys at 16 and study in the Sixth Form. By 1982 the school element ended and its new exciting life as a pure Sixth Form College began.

There is now a fascinating whole century of history attached to what is these days our fantastic, bright and modern KGV Sixth Form College, with it’s origins starting in 1920 as Southport Municipal School for Boys.