Bablake Junior School

Queen Isabella, the widow of Edward II, initiated the founding of Bablake (also known as Babbelak in Middle English) in 1344. The public school's first location was Hill Street, Coventry, where it was established on land known as Babbelak. This land was given to the Guild of St John by Queen Isabella. On this site, the Guild constructed St John's chapel and the Bablake school, which were interconnected. The chapel has been rechristened as St John's and still exists near the initial structures of the school. Notably, several students initially served as choristers at the church, maintaining a deep relationship between the school and church. This connection persisted, thanks to the role of Edward Jackson, who served both as the vicar of the church and headmaster of the school starting from 1734. The expansion of Bablake continued with additional land grants, and in the 1890s, it relocated to its existing location on Coundon Road as an all-boys boarding school. In the 1930s, an additional fifty acres of land was procured on Hollyfast Road to increase the school's playing fields. However, the school had to be temporarily moved to Lincoln during the Second World War. In 1975, the school admitted its first female student, and by this time, the school had stopped admitting boarders. Subsequently, the spaces which had been used as dormitories were repurposed as the Mathematics department, while the headmaster's residence was turned into the Geography department. The school established a Modern Languages block in the late 1980s. After a few years, Bablake Junior School was started, and the English, Drama, and Music block, initially situated in the former headmaster's garden, was finalized in 2000. In 2020, it was revealed that Bablake would amalgamate with King Henry VIII School. The newly merged institution was briefly named Coventry School. However, due to the disapproval of the new name from parents and staff, the original names - Bablake and King Henry VIII School - were retained. The new institution was slated to begin operations in September 2021. In June 2022, the decision was made by the Governors to revert back to the school's original name, Bablake School.