Northampton School for Boys

Northampton School for Boys (NSB) is an 11–18 boys secondary school in Northampton, England. It was founded as Northampton Grammar School in 1541 by Thomas Chipsey, Mayor of Northampton. Years 7 to 11 are boys-only, while sixth form classes are mixed. The school generally ranks among the best-performing in the county.

The school was founded in 1541 as the town's free boys grammar school on the site of the Lamb Inn on Bridge Street. Founded by mayor Thomas Chipsey, his fellow trustees included:

In 1557, the school moved to St. Gregory's church, which was adapted for its use. The School remained on this site until 1864, when it moved to the Corn Exchange in the Market Square. In 1870, additional premises were opened in Abington Square to educate a further 200 pupils. Due to its popularity, the school moved again in 1911, to new buildings constructed on the present site at Billing Road when it was known as the Town and County School.

In 1992, the school became Grant Maintained, later becoming a Foundation school. It was led for several years by Bruce Liddington, who brought the school out of a period of poor performance. It prospered as a prominent and over-subscribed school. From 1994, the school's GCSE results improved year upon year, and became the only school nationally to achieve an 11-year period of continual improvement. Liddington's success in leading the school through a turnaround earned him a knighthood and made him sought after in education strategy. Liddington would later be disgraced and resign from a chain of academy schools when he oversaw a culture of extravagant expense claims, irregularities, and trips to prestige venues funded by public money, which the Times Educational Supplement compared to corruption in US education. He was followed as headmaster by Michael Griffiths. Since 2014 Richard Bernard (Ex-OFSTED inspector) has taken over the role of headmaster.

During the 1990s, the school allowed the admission of girls into the Sixth Form. In 2007, up to a quarter of the Sixth Form could be girls, however it is now fully mixed with girls slightly outnumbering boys in the Sixth Form.

In the summer of 1999 the school completed a new complex, Cripps Hall, named in honour of Sir Humphrey Cripps, philanthropist and Cambridge-educated former pupil of the school. It includes a theatre used for school productions and concerts as well as public performances. The building is home to the School's Expressive Arts and Modern Foreign Languages departments, as well as the theatre, drama workshop and Lounge.

During 2004, Northampton switched back to the two-tier system, once again making Northampton School for Boys a secondary school; consequently, the school had to admit pupils from the age of eleven. To cope with the increased numbers, the school for two years occupied a second campus ("Northampton School for Boys West") at the former Cliftonville Middle School—separated from the main site by St Andrew's Hospital—for the new year sevens and eights. With the completion of the RIBA award-winning new building, all pupils were located back on the main site.

In 2010, Northampton School for Boys became an academy.