As the proportion of pupils from outside Rugby increased and the people of the town seemed to benefit less from Lawrence Sheriff's original bequest, local concern led to the nineteenth-century proposal of a Lower School for local boys, with Foundation Scholarships to the Great School.

The school was built on what before was glebe land named Market Field, at what was the east limit of the built-up area of Rugby.

[3] Due to the need for maximum food production within Britain during the Second World War, unproductive land (sports fields, large ornamental gardens, parks, golf courses, etc.)

The school has been expanded greatly in the last fifteen years with the construction of a new sixth form centre and the conversion of Penrhos House, originally the sixth form common room, into a Music block, as well as the construction of a new Learning Resources Centre, and a new Science Block.

Following funding from Sport England, the school also houses a regional and local table tennis centre.

[citation needed] In 2014 97% of boys gained the English Baccalaurate, placing the school third in the country according to the performance tables published in the Daily Telegraph on Thursday 29 January.

The same table showed that the school's average points score placed it fifteenth in the country.

[7] The school operates a vertical tutoring system, in which forms consist of students from each year group.

It also provides tutors with increased opportunities to support individual students and to check their progress more closely.

Former pupils at the school are called Old Laurentians and include: There are five houses: Caldecott (Purple), Simpson (Green), Tait (Red), Wheeler (Blue) and Kent (Yellow).

On 19 May 2014 the school was found at fault by the Local Government Ombudsman for failing to provide an appeal to a child whose place was withdrawn for 2013 entry.

It has plainly involved a deliberate and persistent course of, in my view, unreasonable and oppressive conduct, which was calculated to, and did, cause alarm, fear or distress…”[14]