History, Ethos, Vision & Values
Our History
Sir John Leman was a Suffolk man who went to London in the 1580s and made his fortune by dealing in dairy products. He became a leading citizen of London during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I, serving as Sheriff of London and later as Lord Mayor. He retained strong links with Beccles and, upon his death in 1631, he left a bequest to educate forty four students from Beccles, two from Ringsfield and two from Gillingham.
Sir John Leman High School was established in 1632 at Leman House in Ballygate, a Seventeenth Century Grade 1 listed building which now houses the Beccles Museum. The wall of Leman House still bears the motto: ’Disce aut Discede’ (roughly translated as ’learn or go’).
The school became the County Mixed Grammar School and moved to our present site in Ringsfield Road in 1914. The original school building still sits at the heart of the site, surrounded by the additional buildings and facilities which have been constructed and developed as the school has grown. In 1971, we became a Comprehensive High School and we converted to Academy status in August 2011.
In 2014, an exciting major refurbishment programme was undertaken to welcome Year 7 and 8 students back to the site following the return in 2012 to a two tier education system and to ensure that our school continues to offer excellent facilities for many years to come. This included the creation of our Centenary Courtyard, a fitting celebration of 100 years of school life at Ringsfield Road.
Sir John Leman High School has produced many generations of well-educated young people. A number of highly successful people have attended the school including Professor Dorothy Crowfoot-Hodgkin (Nobel Prize Winner), Sir John Mills (Actor) and Sir Stanley Rous (former FIFA President)
Sir John Leman Book
Jo Gooderham has written a biography of Sir John Leman and kindly shared this with us - so please click on the image below to take a read.
Ethos, Vision & Values
Sir John Leman is a traditional and extremely successful school where we have the highest expectations for our students. We have worked hard to build our reputation for achieving high academic standards.
The school has a strong emphasis on values and a relentless focus on improving learning which is driving up performance in all aspects of our school. We place great emphasis on achievement. Academic Awards Evenings are part of the wide range of ways in which excellence in its varied form, is celebrated.
As a school we believe that good behaviour stems from our mutual respect and the right of every individual to learn in a safe environment. We believe that young people learn self-discipline most effectively when they are allowed to practice it. It is the responsibility of everyone in the school to act pleasantly with courtesy and consideration to others in lessons, during break and lunch times and at all other times.
Charter for Challenge
The Charter for Challenge details a set of rights and responsibilities we should expect of all students and staff to enable everyone to achieve their best. Put together by our Most Able Student Ambassadors, the aim is to create a positive learning culture across the whole school. We want students to celebrate the academic efforts and success of all and be positive and supportive role models for learning.
Each half term, a particular aspect of the Charter for Challenge will be chosen as our whole school focus. This term, we are focussing on each student's responsibility to 'be organised and complete work on time'.
As a school, we support our students to be organised. Go4Schools is a fantastic tool to help with forward planning: students can access all of their homework and see when it is due, as well as seeing their timetable so they know what lessons they have that week. We also encourage students to maintain good routines and arrive at school ready to learn with all of the equipment they need and well fueled for the day ahead.