Sheffield rock megastar Joe Elliott backs campaign to save King Edward VII school from becoming an academy

The Def Leppard frontman, who attended KES in the early 1970s, sent a video message of support to parents battling to save his old school from forced academisation.

In an exclusive message recorded for The Star, Joe told protesters: “Hi, I’m Joe Elliott from Def Leppard, and I used to go to King Ted’s – or King Edward’s. And I’m on your side.”

Speaking to The Star by video call, Joe said he had signed the 3,000-name Hands Off KES petition to oppose his old school – Sheffield’s last local authority secondary – being forced into academy status.

And the 63-year-old revealed the original name and poster for his band came about only thanks to the creative freedom given to him in an art lesson at King Ted’s.

“Mr Pete Farmery was my art teacher, and he was very laid back in his polo neck jumper and no tie,” he laughed.

“He ambled about the classroom making suggestions about our art work. I remember saying to him, ‘I don’t want to draw another bowl of fruit or vase of flowers. Can I make a rock poster?’. And he said yes, if that’s what I was interested in. He allowed it. He gave us carte blanche to draw what we liked.

“My mother was a great artist – I jumped a generation! – but I loved doing something different, I was into drawing a chicken’s head on a policeman’s body at the time, that sort of thing. And I did this poster in the style of a ransom note with all the letters cut out, and the words ‘Deaf Leopard’ were part of it.

“In 1975 when I left school we could take our bits of artwork with us and I took mine home. So by the time we formed in 1977, I’d had the name for the band in my head and on this poster for years.”

He added: “I might even still have it, I do keep lots of things like that. They’re making a documentary about us at the moment and the production crew asked if I do. It’s probably in a shoebox in the attic for my kids to find years from now. Many years ago Mr Farmery sent me an email, and I still have that. His art classes were a big part of King Ted’s for me. I was obviously that way inclined and he noticed.”

Joe, who was brought up in a mid-terrace at Crookes Road, Broomhill, now splits his time between Dublin and West Hollywood with wife Kristine and their three children.

In an intimate 45-minute chat about his schooldays, following Def Leppard’s huge Bramall Lane homecoming concert and Leadmill benefit gig, Joe said unfortunately most of his recollections of school were of a cruelly disciplinarian era.

He said he was caned, given the slipper, even punched in the face by one teacher for throwing handfuls of gravel near his lime green Hillman Imp.

“It was all a long time ago, and we probably were snotty little oiks,” he said. “But I wasn’t a tearaway. I got beaten up plenty of times. We had a strict school uniform and the only way you could rebel was to make the knot in your tie as big as you could. When we left there was the ritual burning of the uniforms in the bins on Glossop Road.

“I actually hated school. I wasn’t a big fan. I didn’t think most of the teachers were particularly pleasant. Mr Sharrock was the headmaster and he was very disciplinarian. The camaraderie within the classrooms was zero. I did make lifelong friends at school, Andy Smith and Ian Flint, and we’ve been tight since 1975. They were in the year above and we had music in common.”

But, he said, he supported the campaign to prevent KES being academised after an Ofsted inspection last autumn downgraded the school from good to ‘inadequate’ – which means it must compulsorily move into a multi-academy trust with no say over which one it is paired with.

“If so many people are getting so emotionally involved in trying to stop this happening to the school then those people should be listened to,” he said.

“Nobody has called any town hall meetings about this, nobody has involved the parents, or the teachers, all the parties who should be involved. Which is why I agreed to sign the petition. I wish the campaign all the very best.”

Last month Ofsted inspectors returned to KES for a monitoring visit which was extended into a full inspection.

Campaigners are hopeful if the school is regraded to ‘good’, there is a chance academisation could be halted.