The King's School in Macclesfield

The King's School, Macclesfield, was founded in 1502 by Sir John Percyvale, a former Lord Mayor of London, as Macclesfield Grammar School, with the school initially based within the Church of St Michael and All Angels in central Macclesfield. It was re-founded in 1552 by King Edward VI as the "Free Grammar School of King Edward VI in Macclesfield," hence the modern title. The school moved to Cumberland Street in 1844 and, most recently, to a new purpose-built campus adjacent to its long-held Derby Playing Fields on the outskirts of Prestbury in July 2020. It is co-educational and educates around 1,337 pupils aged 3-18 across the integrated Foundation (Nursery, Junior, Senior and Sixth Form). The Head of Foundation is Jason Slack.

The school's most internationally famous alumni are Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division, and Stephen Morris, the band's drummer — both attended The King's, Macclesfield in the 1960s and 70s. Joy Division's recordings — Love Will Tear Us Apart, Atmosphere, the Unknown Pleasures and Closer albums — became foundational influences on post-punk and electronic music; after Curtis's death in 1980 the surviving members reformed as New Order. Stephen Morris has continued as New Order's drummer through the band's subsequent career.

The school's older history runs through significant figures in English public life. John Bradshaw, the seventeenth-century lawyer who acted as chief prosecutor at the trial of King Charles I and was the first to sign the king's death warrant, was educated at Macclesfield. So was Hewlett Johnson, the controversial Dean of Canterbury famed in the mid-twentieth century for his pro-Soviet sympathies ("the Red Dean"). Sir Eric Jones served as Director of GCHQ in the 1950s. The school's modern alumni list includes Tom Margerison, the founder of New Scientist magazine; Sir Andy Bird, the former Chairman of Walt Disney International; Steve Smith, the captain of England and British & Irish Lions rugby union sides; Vice Admiral Sir Jerry Kyd, Fleet Commander of the Royal Navy; and the England cricket coach Peter Moores.