Beginnings Thomas Parmiter was a wealthy silk merchant in East London, who died in 1681. He left two farms in southwest
Suffolk in his will to provide £30 per annum for six almshouses and £100 per annum for "one free school house or room for ten poor children" in
Bethnal Green, London. Elizabeth Carter donated land for the school and an annual income of £10, while William Lee donated £100 for the building of a school house and a further annual £10. The building in St John Street (now Grimsby Street) was completed in 1722. The Trustees of Thomas Parmiter's Estate bought property in
Cambridge Heath, London in 1723. By 1730 the school accommodated 30 boys, growing to 50 in 1809. In 1839 it moved to new premises in Gloucester Street (now Parmiter Street) after the original site was acquired by the
Eastern Counties Railway. Unfortunately these buildings were destroyed by
bombing during
World War II. Peter Renvoize left the foundation the sum of £500 on his death in 1842. In 1913 a revised constitution created separate foundations for the school and the almshouses. The Parmiter phoenix was designed by W.A. Cross for the 40th anniversary of the Approach Road school in 1927. In 1951 the school became a
voluntary aided grammar school. In 1966 and 1967 it successfully resisted plans by the
Inner London Education Authority to merge it with St Jude's Church of England School to form a
comprehensive school. Parmiter's Grammar School had grown to 525 boys by 1976, but the days of the grammar school were numbered. In April 2010, Parmiter's School hosted
Any Questions?, a topical debate on
the elections, broadcast on
BBC Radio 4. ==Academic performance and reputation==