A Bishop Auckland school is still going strong as it enters its 401st year. Sarah Park looks at the past, present and future, of King James I Grammar School

MASTER of slapstick, Stan Laurel, gave his first performance of tomfoolery in the staff room of King James I Grammar School to professors who were more interested in the three Rs than in his revelry.

Today, the school which stands proudly in South Church Road, Bishop Auckland, has won an accolade Stan would have approved of.

This year, King James I Grammar School became King James I Specialist Arts and Media College, a title granted by the Department for Education and Skills to represent excellence in a specific aspect of the curriculum.

After celebrating its 400th anniversary in December, the school has set itself the challenge of maintaining the standards of the grammar and taking the school forward into the 21st Century.

"We are interested in creative learning," said headteacher Steve Rodchester.

"We encourage a more personal learning system and with the specialist arts title, we have more opportunity to encourage pupils to expand in the arts."

Mr Rodchester has a strong historical sense of the school after 16 years of teaching and two as headteacher.

He said: "I imagine the emphasis in 1604 was writing, reading, science and history.

"Today, it isn't that it is just about the arts, but it is about introducing and exploring creativity in teaching."

The school was established by King James 1 after Anne Swyfte of Durham petitioned for a grammar school in North Auckland.

For 200 years, from 1638, it occupied buildings in the Market Place then moved to Silver Street before establishing itself firmly where it stands today.

Modernisation began in the 1970s next to the architectural splendour that is known as the face of King James. Today, there are plans to turn the more recent part of the building into dance halls and exhibition rooms for art and sculpture.

Mr Rodchester said: "We have a programme called Aim Higher which aims to raise the aspirations, for the students and their families."

As for Stan Laurel, he failed to live up to the high standards expected at King James.

He neglected his studies and was sent to Gainford Academy, near Barnard Castle, before teaming up with Oliver Hardy, in the US.

But he is still remembered as the school's most famous pupil.

Mr Rodchester said both he and King James would have been very happy with what the school has achieved.