Solihull School has been in continuous existence since 1560, when the chantry revenues of the Chapels of St. Mary and St. Katherine, in the Parish Church of St. Alphege, were used to establish the Foundation. Originally, the Foundation provided for the maintenance of the Master of the Free Grammar School in Solihull. In 1615, the School moved to a house in Park Road, later re-named Malvern House. It remained there until 1882.
In 1882, the School moved to its present 50-acre site. School House is the original School building on this site and it was designed to provide accommodation for 80 day-boys and 20 boarders. It cost £4,345. At about the same time (in 1879) the Endowed Schools Act produced a new scheme of management. The Feoffees were replaced by a Board of 13 Governors and it was this Governing Body that moved the School to Warwick Road.
Since 1882, the School has gradually expanded in numbers and buildings. In 1946, the School became an Independent School, breaking its links with Warwickshire County Council. In 1948 the Headmaster, Mr H B Hitchens, was elected to the Headmasters' Conference and in 1949, the School was admitted to the Governing Bodies Association.
At independence, the Local Education Authority agreed to pay the fees of 15 boys from local primary schools. This number increased to 36 in 1953 and this arrangement continued until 1973 when the reorganisation of education in the Borough ended the scheme. In response to the ending of free place pupils, the Governors created a large Foundation Scholarship scheme to enable academically able pupils to attend Solihull School. At the same time it was decided to admit girls into the Sixth Form. In June 2003 the Governors decided that the School would become fully coeducational in 2005, taking girls as well as boys into the Junior School and at 11+.
Major improvements occurred in the last twenty years of the twentieth century, with improved facilities for Science, Design and Technology, Modern Languages and the Junior School. The Bushell Hall was completed in 2001 and the existing hall converted into the new Kent library. A new pavilion was completed in 2003 to supplement the improved PE facilities and a new outdoor activities centre replaced the CCF hut in July 2004. In 2005 a new teaching area was completed, providing 16 new classrooms and additional social and study space. The Junior School was extended and refurbished in September 2005.
In 2005-2006, there were 984 pupils in the School, of whom 297 were in the Sixth Form (including 160 girls) and 162 in the Junior School.
Many thanks to Old Silhillian Geoffrey Dean for the above photograph
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