Thomas Mills High School & Sixth Form has a rich history dating back to the death of Thomas Mills in 1703 who left money from his estate to be spent on the education of the children in Framingham.
Find out more about Thomas Mills and the early years of our school and its foundation through to the present day below.
Thomas Mills, a wealthy businessman and a prominent member of the Baptist community, is one of the two great benefactors of Framlingham, the other being Sir Robert Hitcham, lawyer. There is no known portrait of Thomas.
A Suffolk man, but not a native of Framlingham, Thomas came to the town in 1640 when he became an apprentice to one Edward Smith, wheelwright. Thomas obviously impressed his master, for in due course he inherited the business (1660). In 1662 he increased his fortune considerably by marrying Alice Groome, the widow of a wealthy Pettistree landowner. The marriage appears to have been a happy one but sadly Alice died in 1691, leaving all her estate to her husband.
Thomas was a prominent member of the local Baptist congregation. In those days of religious persecution, this was a dangerous course and he narrowly escaped imprisonment on a number of occasions. Clearly, he was a man of principle as well as a man of business.
When he died, Thomas left his fortune for good causes in Framlingham and other locations where he had had business interests. His will ordered the building of almshouses for the elderly poor which still stand – Pevsner calls them “a stately range”. Unlike Hitcham’s Almshouses, Thomas wanted people to be accepted whatever their religious convictions – a remarkable thing at that time.
Any money left over was to be spent on “the education of the children in Framlingham.” Thomas Mills High School is the third to bear his name and still benefits from Thomas’s estate. Since 1998 the Mills Charity has made a number of very generous and significant donations to help the school improve its buildings including the Mills Charity Building, Scrivener’s Building, the Performance Studio, Sports Hall 2 and the David Floyd Rooms.
In 2003 we celebrated the Tercentenary of Thomas’s will by establishing a fund to help educate children in developing countries (see Thomas Mills Tercentenary Fund). Since that year the school has celebrated the anniversary of Thomas’s gift on the annual Thomas Mills Day in January.
45th Anniversary Concert at Snape Maltings.
Ski trip to Italy for 130 students and 17 staff. First ski trip since the pandemic.
Gingerbread Studios opened by Ed Sheeran.
Kelly Jeffry retires as Head of Design and Technology after 37 years at Thomas Mills High School and Sixth Form.
14 students and 2 staff undertake an expedition to Borneo.
Richard Hanley is awarded a BEM in the King's New Year Honours for services to education.
School awarded a Gold SportsMark in recognition of exceptional sporting opportunities.
Concert to mark the 20th anniversary of the Thomas Mills Tercentenary Fund.
Thomas Mils High School reaccredited as a World Class School.
Ed Sheeran is a guest of honour at the annual Awards Evening.
Retirement of John Jennings, Assistant Headteacher and Head of Sixth Form after 25 years' service.
 School expedition to Zambia.
 Retirement of Lilas Baker, Senior Tutor after 37 years' service at both Mills Grammar School and Thomas Mills High School
Mr John Hibberd MBE retired after 38 years of service to the school.
Mr Colin Hirst retired and was succeeded by Mr Philip Hurst.
1st June - Thomas Mills High School became an academy.
David Floyd Rooms added to the Mills Charity Building in honour of the former Head (who died in 2008).
Two new ICT rooms opened.
New dining hall and second sports hall built.
Mr David Floyd retired and was succeeded by Mr Colin Hirst.
Silver Jubilee of Thomas Mills High School. HRH the Duke of Kent opened a new laboratory.
Tercentenary of Thomas Mills celebrated by the establishment of a charity to help the education of children in the developing world.
Centenary of Mills Grammar School marked by the dedication of the Ellen Fisher Garden, named in honour of the first Headmistress.
Performance studio built.
Scrivener's Building opened.
Mills Charity Building - part of our Technology College development - opened.
School awarded a Sportsmark.
Sixtieth anniversary of secondary education for all in the Framlingham area.
School awarded Technology College status and a Charter Mark Award.
Mr Tony Leach left the school to become the Principal of Hamilton College and was succeeded as Headteacher by Mr David Floyd.
Parents rejected the option of Thomas Mills becoming a grant maintained school.
After over a decade of campaigning, a new Sixth Form Centre was built by the Local Authority.
Miss Pat Corrigan, Deputy Head at Mills Grammar School (1966-79) and Thomas Mills (1979-88) retired.Â
Michael Brown retired and succeeded as Headmaster by Mr Tony Leach.
Michael Sims, Head Boy 1981-82, tragically killed on holiday in the United States. A Memorial Fund established at School raised enough funds to found a permanent charity to benefit Thomas Mills students.
Sixth form numbers more than double those in 1979 (220).
Local Authority closed the residential boarding facility at Cransford Hall.
Building work finished at the new school and the Mills Grammar School was closed and, later, sold by the Mills Charity to which it belonged. The new buildings were, from the beginning, too small for the number of students (the Local Authority provided permanent buildings only for 590, including a sixth form of 125) and "temporary" mobile classrooms had to be brought from the Grammar School site.
Thomas Mills High School opened with Mr Michael Brown as first Headmaster.
Framlingham Modern School closed. 1966 Local Authority published first proposals for comprehensive reorganisation of secondary schools. Framlingham Modern School to become a middle school; Mills Grammar to close; Framlingham College to be invited to become a 13 - 18 Upper School for the area. (After College Governors rejected this option, the County Council purchased land adjacent to the Modern School field on which to build a brand new upper school.)
Suffolk County Council decided to have an 11 - 18 High School in Framlingham, by expanding the modern school buildings. Later, they sold off the land previously purchased for the upper school.
Mrs Gwen Baldry, Senior Mistress, a member of staff since 1937, retired.
Mr Ives left the school to become Headmaster of Hardwick Middle School. Mr Michael Brown became fifth and last Head.
369 pupils in the school.
Mr Idris Saxton, Deputy Head, collapsed at school and died a few weeks later. He had been on the staff since the school opened.
School leaving age raised from 15 to 16 - new buildings erected to accommodate larger numbers (present music and drama rooms).
Alfred Stephens retired - donating an impressive trophy - House Football Shield - and was succeeded as Headmaster by Mr John Ives.
Major extensions to the buildings for a school which had grown to 254 students.
Freddy Wales retired and Mr Alfred Stephens (Deputy Head since 1937) appointed Headmaster.
HMI General Inspection commented favourably on the work of the school in cramped and difficult conditions.Â
Sally Blinco became the first student at any modern school in the county to pass GCE O Level examinations - eventually collecting passes in five subjects.
Area School renamed "Modern School" following the passage of the 1944 Education Act.
Stanley Reeve left to become Headmaster of Kesgrave Area School. F. L. ("Freddy") Wales became Headmaster.
Official opening ceremony performed by Sir Frederick Mander, President of the National Union of Teachers.
Framlingham Area School opened for 11 - 14 year olds not selected to attend a grammar school. 151 pupils, under Headmaster, Stanley Reeve. An Evening Institute (for adult classes) attached to the School.
Mills Grammar School closed and Miss Langshaw retired. 475 pupils.
School raised sufficient money in one year to build a swimming pool.
Sixth Form numbered 100 for the first time.
Boys admitted for the first time at 11, the Local Authority no longer paying Framlingham College to send grammar school boys there.
School bought its first minibus (cost, £950).
First School Fete held at Cransford.
First trip to the Low Countries (at first, Belgium, later, The Netherlands), organised by History teacher Avril Cox.
First French and German Exchange Visits organised.
Parents Association formed.
HMI General Inspection commented favourably on the school's progress, especially as a sixth form centre.
Death of Miss Prickett. Her Memorial Fund, established then, still provides an annual sum, which is used to provide a University Scholarship for a Thomas Mills student to study Modern Languages.
New gate and railings bought for school as a memorial to Miss Fisher (they may still be seen in their original place in Fairfield Road).
Sir Patrick Hamilton offered Cransford Hall to the school as a residential boarding house.
Miss Fisher died.
Miss B. E. Langshaw became the third Headmistress.
Miss Prickett retired as Headmistress.
HMI General Inspection commented very favourably on the school's progress since 1937.
Mills celebrated its first 50 Years. Miss Florence Horsbrugh, Minister of Education in the Churchill government, was Guest of Honour for Speech Day.
Wickham Market Rural Pupil Teacher Centre amalgamated with Mills. Miss Clara Turton (its head since 1920) joined the staff of Mills, in time becoming Sixth Form Mistress.
Mills became an 11 - 18 School, following the 1944 Education Act, although younger girls already in school were allowed to continue.
Mills threatened with removal to Saxmundham. Threat postponed by the outbreak of war, revived in 1945, and not finally withdrawn until 1955.
HMI General Inspection of the school described it as "a civilising influence" but considered that it would never "attain to advanced scholarship." It also condemned the accommodation and facilities, saying the school not only lacked "most of the amenities of a school but many of the essentials." The Local Authority refused further building work.
Miss Fisher retired. Ethel May Prickett, MA, L es L, became Headmistress.
New boarding house opened at The Limes, College Road.
New buildings opened.
Houses first established.
Carley Prizes established and awarded ever since.
Mills Grammar School became a Local Authority school: it had grown four times as big as it had been in 1902 and the Governors could not afford to expand the buildings.
Prefects first appointed.
Hervey Prizes established and awarded ever since.
Mills Grammar School opened as a small independent school with 25 girls, aged 8 - 16, under Headmistress Ellen Mary Fisher. (There was also provision for a kindergarten department, which could admit both boys and girls.)
Mills educational trust separated from Hitcham's once more: Mills money and some Hitcham's money set aside to build a new girls grammar school.
Mills and Hitcham's schools amalgamated to provide elementary education. The origin of the modern Hitcham's Primary School.
Mills school moved to 19, Double Street, Framlingham.
First Mills school opened in Brook Lane, Framlingham, for boys and girls.
Thomas Mills died, leaving money for the elderly and for education in Framlingham.
