[2] It takes its current name (since 2012) after Dame Joyce Frankland (1531-1588), the only daughter of goldsmith Robert Trappes, who founded it as the "free Grammer Schole of Newport".

Dame Frankland also made a number of educational bequests in her will to colleges at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

In 2011, Newport Free Grammar School was ranked 405th out of the 429 institutions supplying A-Level results to the Daily Telegraph's annual league table based on the percentages of A*, A and B grades achieved.

[4] Following an inspection on 15 March 2006, Ofsted rated the school as good, the second-best grade on its four-point scale.

Inspectors said teaching was "sometimes outstanding, even inspirational" in languages and the humanities but needed improvement in mathematics and IT.