Geography Joint Subject Leader

Kirkby Stephen Grammar School serves a wide catchment area and provides education for 372 boys and girls aged between 11 and 19. There are 66 students in the Sixth Form. The school has, on average, one pupil per square mile of catchment area and draws many individuals from small villages and isolated farms, including from North Yorkshire. Having such attractively small numbers enables us to provide for our students in a personal way, within the family atmosphere and ethos we enjoy.

Lying at the head of the Eden Valley, Kirkby Stephen is a thriving market town of some 2,500 inhabitants. It lies amidst some of the most splendid scenery in the North of England and has easy access to the M6 and the A1 via the A66. This gives simple, quick and convenient routes to the Lake District and the rest of the country. Kirkby Stephen also lies on the Settle-Carlisle line, one of the most spectacular rail journeys in the world. Our school occupies a prime site just a two minute walk from the Market Square and is set within extensive grounds and playing fields with excellent sporting facilities. The classrooms boast unparalleled views from every window.

The town is situated beside the River Eden which is a Special Area of Conservation. The North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty lies to the east with the Howgills and Lune Valley fells to the south and west. There are many listed buildings in the town mostly centered in the Market Place, Market Street and the Grade II* listed Church of St Stephen. In the church there is evidence of the town’s Danish past in the form of the ‘Loki Stone’ (AD850), a carving of the Norse God complete with horns. Croglam Castle is a pre-historic earthwork at the south end of the town and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Kirkby Stephen has also become a cyclists destination – taking advantage of all the hills and fells that surround it and is also a popular ‘stopover’ for the many who walk the ‘Coast to Coast’.