Comprehensive is the word used to describe many secondary schools. In the past, there used to be three types of school: grammar, technical and secondary modern. The idea was that each type of school would specialise in a kind of teaching most suited to what students would do.

In the 1950s this idea became less popular, and the idea of teaching everyone in the same school developed. As a result, all of the technical and secondary modern schools were closed, together with many grammar schools. New comprehensives were built, which explains why many comprehensives are in newish buildings.