A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.

The original purpose of mediaeval grammar schools was the teaching of Latin. Over time the curriculum was broadened, first to include Ancient Greek, and later English and other European languages, natural sciences, mathematics, history, geography, and other subjects. In the late Victorian era grammar schools were reorganised to provide secondary education throughout England and Wales; Scotland had developed a different system. Grammar schools of these types were also established in British territories overseas, where they have evolved in different ways.

Grammar schools became the selective tier of the Tripartite System of state-funded secondary education operating in England and Wales from the mid-1940s to the late 1960s and continuing in Northern Ireland. With the move to non-selective comprehensive schools in the 1960s and 1970s, some grammar schools became fully independent and charged fees, while most others were abolished or became comprehensive. In both cases, many of these schools kept "grammar school" in their names. Some parts of England retain forms of the Tripartite System, and a few grammar schools survive in otherwise comprehensive areas. Some of the remaining grammar schools can trace their histories to before the 16th century.

Early grammar schools[link]

Although the term scolae grammaticales was not widely used until the 14th century, the earliest such schools appeared from the sixth century, e.g. the King's School, Canterbury (founded 597) and the King's School, Rochester (604).^[1][2] The schools were attached to cathedrals and monasteries, teaching Latin – the language of the church – to future priests and monks. Other subjects required for religious work were occasionally added, including music and verse (for liturgy), astronomy and mathematics (for the church calendar) and law (for administration).^[3]

Winchester College Chapel

With the foundation of the ancient universities from the late 12th century, grammar schools became the entry point to a liberal arts education, with Latin seen as the foundation of the trivium. Pupils were usually educated in grammar schools up to the age of 14, after which they would look to universities and the church for further study. The first schools independent of the church – Winchester College (1382) Oswestry School (1407) and Eton College (1440) – were closely tied to the universities; they were boarding schools, so could educate pupils from anywhere in the nation.^[3][4] An example of an early grammar school founded by a medieval borough corporation unconnected with church or university is Bridgnorth Grammar School, founded in 1503 by Bridgnorth Borough Corporation.^[5]

During the English Reformation in the 16th century, most cathedral schools were closed and replaced by new foundations funded from the dissolution of the monasteries.^[3] For example, the oldest extant schools in Wales – Christ College, Brecon (founded 1541) and the Friars School, Bangor (1557) – were established on the sites of former Dominican monasteries. King Edward VI made an important contribution to grammar schools, founding a series of schools during his reign (see King Edward's School), and King James I founded a series of "Royal Schools" in Ulster, beginning with the Royal School, Armagh. In theory these schools were open to all and offered free tuition to those who could not pay fees; however, few poor children attended school, because their labour was economically valuable to their families.

In the Scottish Reformation schools such as the Choir School of Glasgow Cathedral (founded 1124) and the Grammar School of the Church of Edinburgh (1128) passed from church control to burgh councils, and the burghs also founded new schools.

With the increased emphasis on studying the scriptures after the Reformation, many schools added Greek and, in a few cases, Hebrew. The teaching of these languages was hampered by a shortage of non-Latin type and of teachers fluent in the languages.

During the 16th and 17th centuries the setting up of grammar schools became a common act of charity by nobles, wealthy merchants and guilds; for example Spalding Grammar School, founded by John Gamlyn and John Blanche in 1588, and Blundell's School, founded in 1604 by wealthy Tiverton merchant Peter Blundell. Many of these are still commemorated in annual "Founder's Day" services and ceremonies at surviving schools. The usual pattern was to create an endowment to pay the wages of a master to instruct local boys in Latin and sometimes Greek without charge.^[6]

The dawn-to-dusk teaching was mostly the rote learning of Latin. To encourage fluency, some schoolmasters recommended punishing any pupil who spoke in English. Pupils took several years to learn to construct a sentence in Latin, and did not learn to translate passages until their final years at the school. By the end of their studies, they would be quite familiar with the great Latin authors, drama and rhetoric.^[7] Other skills, such as numeracy and handwriting, were neglected, being taught in odd moments or by travelling specialist teachers such as scriveners.

In 1755 Samuel Johnson's Dictionary defined a grammar school as a school in which the learned languages are grammatically taught;^[8] However, by this time demand for these languages had fallen greatly. A new commercial class required modern languages and commercial subjects.^[6] Most grammar schools founded in the 18th century also taught arithmetic and English.^[9] In Scotland, the burgh councils updated the curricula of their schools so that Scotland no longer has grammar schools in any of the senses discussed here, though some, such as Aberdeen Grammar School, retain the name.^[10]

In England, urban middle-class pressure for a commercial curriculum was often supported by the school's trustees (who would charge the new students fees), but resisted by the schoolmaster, supported by the terms of the original endowment. Very few schools were able to obtain special acts of Parliament to change their statutes; examples are the Macclesfield Grammar School Act 1774 and the Bolton Grammar School Act 1788.^[6] Such a dispute between the trustees and master of Leeds Grammar School led to a celebrated case in the Court of Chancery. After 10 years, Lord Eldon, then Lord Chancellor, ruled in 1805, "There is no authority for thus changing the nature of the Charity, and filling a School intended for the purpose of teaching Greek and Latin with Scholars learning the German and French languages, mathematics, and anything except Greek and Latin."^[11] Although he offered a compromise by which some subjects might be added to a classical core, the ruling set a restrictive precedent for grammar schools across England; they seemed to be in terminal decline.^[3][9]

Victorian grammar schools[link]

Frances Buss, a pioneer of women's education and founding head of North London Collegiate School

The 19th century saw a series of reforms to grammar schools, culminating in the Endowed Schools Act 1869. Grammar schools were reinvented as academically-oriented secondary schools following literary or scientific curricula, while often retaining classical subjects.

The Grammar Schools Act 1840 made it lawful to apply the income of grammar schools to purposes other than the teaching of classical languages, but change still required the consent of the schoolmaster. At the same time, the national schools were reorganising themselves along the lines of Thomas Arnold's reforms at Rugby School, and the spread of the railways led to new boarding schools teaching a broader curriculum, such as Marlborough College (1843). The first girls' schools targeted at university entrance were North London Collegiate School (1850) and Cheltenham Ladies' College (from the appointment of Dorothea Beale in 1858).^[6][9]

Modelled on the Clarendon Commission, which led to the Public Schools Act 1868 which restructured the trusts of nine leading schools (including Eton College, Harrow School and Charterhouse School), the Taunton Commission was appointed to examine the remaining 782 endowed grammar schools. The commission reported that the distribution of schools did not match the current population, and that provision varied greatly in quality, with provision for girls being particularly limited.^[6][9] The commission proposed the creation of a national system of secondary education by restructuring the endowments of these schools for modern purposes. The result was the Endowed Schools Act 1869, which created the Endowed Schools Commission with extensive powers over endowments of individual schools. It was said that the commission "could turn a boys' school in Northumberland into a girls' school in Cornwall". Across England and Wales schools endowed to offer free classical instruction to boys were remodelled as fee-paying schools (with a few competitive scholarships) teaching broad curricula to boys or girls.^[6][9][12]

In the Victorian period there was a great emphasis on the importance of self-improvement, and parents keen for their children to receive a decent education organised the creation of new schools with modern curricula, though often retaining a classical core. These newer schools tended to emulate the great public schools, copying their curriculum, ethos and ambitions, and often took the title "grammar school" for historical reasons. A girls' grammar school established in a town with an older boys' grammar school would often be named a "high school".

Under the Education (Administrative Provisions) Act 1907 all grant-aided secondary schools were required to provide at least 25 percent of their places as free scholarships for students from public elementary schools. Grammar schools thus emerged as one part of the highly varied education system of England and Wales before 1944.^[3][9]

Grammar schools in the Tripartite System[link]

The 1944 Education Act created the first nationwide system of state-funded secondary education in England and Wales, echoed by the Education (Northern Ireland) Act 1947. One of the three types of school forming the Tripartite System was called the grammar school, which sought to spread the academic ethos of the existing grammar schools. Grammar schools were intended to teach an academic curriculum to the most intellectually able 25 percent of the school population, selected by the eleven plus examination.

Manchester Grammar School, the largest and most famous of the direct grant grammar schools

Two types of grammar schools existed under the system:^[13][14]

• There were more than 1,200 maintained grammar schools, which were fully state-funded. Though some were quite old, most were either newly created or built since the Victorian period, seeking to replicate the studious, aspirational atmosphere found in the older grammar schools.
• There were also 179 direct-grant grammar schools, which took between one quarter and one half of their pupils from the state system, and the rest from fee-paying parents. They also exercised far greater freedom from local authorities, and were members of the Headmasters' Conference. These schools included some very old schools encouraged to participate in the Tripartite System. The most famous example of a direct-grant grammar was Manchester Grammar School, whose headmaster, Lord James of Rusholme, was one of the most outspoken advocates of the Tripartite System.^[15]

Grammar school pupils were given the best opportunities of any schoolchildren in the state system. Initially, they studied for the School Certificate and Higher School Certificate, replaced in 1951 by General Certificate of Education examinations at O-level (Ordinary level) and A-level (Advanced level). In contrast, very few students at secondary modern schools took public examinations until the introduction of the less-academic Certificate of Secondary Education (known as the CSE) in the 1960s.^[16] Until the implementation of the Robbins Report in the 1960s, children from public and grammar schools effectively monopolised access to universities. These schools were also the only ones that offered an extra term of school to prepare pupils for the competitive entrance exams for Oxbridge^{[citation needed]}.

The Tripartite System was largely abolished in England and Wales between 1965, with the issue of Circular 10/65, and the 1976 Education Act. Most maintained grammar schools were amalgamated with a number of other local schools, to form neighbourhood comprehensive schools, though a few were closed. This process proceeded quickly in Wales, with the closure of such schools as Cowbridge Grammar School. In England, implementation was more uneven, with some counties and individual schools resisting the change.^[17][18]

The Direct Grant Grammar Schools (Cessation of Grant) Regulations 1975 forced these schools to decide whether to convert into comprehensives under local authority control or become entirely independent schools funded by fees. Fifty-one direct grant schools chose to become comprehensives, 119 opted for independence, and five were "not accepted for the maintained system and expected to become independent schools or to close".^[19] There are thus many schools with the name "grammar" that are no longer free. These schools normally select their pupils by an entrance examination and sometimes by interview.

By the end of the 1980s, all of the grammar schools in Wales and most of those in England had closed or become comprehensive. Selection also disappeared from state-funded schools in Scotland in the same period. While many former grammar schools ceased to be selective, some of them retained the word "grammar" in their name. Most of these schools remain comprehensive, while a few became partially selective or fully selective in the 1990s.

Contemporary British grammar schools[link]

Today, "grammar school" commonly refers to one of the remaining fully selective state-funded schools in England and Northern Ireland. The National Grammar Schools Association campaigns in favour of such schools,^[20] while Comprehensive Future and the Campaign for State Education campaign against them.^[21][22]

England[link]

At the 1995 Labour Party conference, David Blunkett, then education spokesman, promised that there would be no selection under a Labour government. However the party's manifesto for the 1997 election promised that "Any changes in the admissions policies of grammar schools will be decided by local parents."^[23] Under the Labour government's School Standards and Framework Act 1998, grammar schools were for the first time to be designated by statutory instrument.^[24][25] The Act also defined a procedure by which local communities could petition for a ballot for an end to selection at schools.^[26][27] Petitions were launched in several areas, but only one received the signatures of 20% of eligible parents, the level needed to trigger a ballot.^[28] Thus the only ballot held to date was for Ripon Grammar School in 2000, when parents rejected change by a ratio of 2 to 1.^[29] These arrangements were condemned by the Select Committee for Education and Skills as being ineffective and a waste of time and resources.^[30]

Grammar school areas and groups as identified by the Education (Grammar School Ballots) Regulations 1998. LEAs considered grammar areas are shown filled, while circles indicate isolated grammar schools or clusters of neighbouring schools.

There are still 164 state-run grammar schools in existence.^[31] Only a few areas keep a formal grammar school system along the lines of the Tripartite System. In these areas, the eleven plus exam is used solely to identify a subset of children (around 25%) considered suitable for grammar education. When a grammar school has too many qualified applicants, other criteria are used to allocate places, such as siblings, distance or faith. Such systems still exist in Buckinghamshire, Rugby and Stratford districts of Warwickshire, the Salisbury district of Wiltshire, Gloucester and Stroud in Gloucestershire and most of Lincolnshire, Kent, Reading and Medway.^[32][33] Of metropolitan areas, Trafford and most of Wirral are selective.^[34][35]

In other areas, grammar schools survive mainly as very highly selective schools in an otherwise comprehensive county, for example in several of the outer boroughs of London. In some LEAs, as few as 2% of 11 year olds may attend grammar schools. These schools are often heavily over-subscribed, and award places in rank order of performance in their entry tests. They also tend to dominate the top positions in performance tables.^[36]

No further radical change is proposed by either of the main political parties. Although many on the left argue that the existence of selective schools undermines the comprehensive structure, the Labour government has delegated decisions on grammar schools to local processes, which have not yet resulted in any changes. Moreover government education policy appears to accept the existence of some kind of hierarchy in secondary education, with specialist schools, advanced schools, beacon schools and similar initiatives proposed as ways of raising standards. Many grammar schools have featured in these programmes, and a lower level of selection is permitted at specialist schools.^[37][38] Though many in the Conservative Party favour the expansion of grammar schools, since 2006 the Party's policy has been that no new grammar schools will be built, except to cope with population expansion in wholly selective areas such as Buckinghamshire and Kent. David Willetts, former shadow education secretary, argued that because middle-class parents now invest so much in preparing their children for the tests, grammar schools no longer offer opportunities to gifted children from poorer backgrounds.^[39]

The development of academy schools in England has reinvigorated the debate on selection, since it is sometimes argued (see academy schools) that some academies are using covert pupil selection.

Northern Ireland[link]

Lumen Christi College, Londonderry

Attempts to move to a comprehensive system (as in the rest of the United Kingdom) have been delayed by shifts in the administration of Northern Ireland. As a result, Northern Ireland still maintains the grammar school system with most pupils being entered for the Eleven Plus. Since the "open enrolment" reform of 1989, these schools (unlike those in England) have been required to accept pupils up to their capacity, which has also increased.^[40] By 2006, the 69 grammar schools took 42% of transferring children, and only 7 of them took all of their intake from the top 30% of the cohort.^[41]

The 11-plus has long been controversial, and Northern Ireland's political parties have taken opposing positions. Unionists tend to lean towards preserving the grammar schools as they are, with academic selection at the age of 11, whereas republican politicians lean towards scrapping the Eleven Plus, despite vehement protestations from the majority of Catholic Grammar Schools, most notably by the board of governors at Rathmore Grammar School in Finaghy, (a south Belfast suburb) and Lumen Christi (although co-educational) in Londonderry. The Democratic Unionist Party claimed to have ensured the continuation of the grammar school system in the Province as part of the St Andrews Agreement in October 2006. By contrast Sinn Féin claims to have secured the abolition of the 11+ and a veto over any system which might follow it.

The last government-run 11-plus exam was held in 2008 (for 2009 entry),^[42] but the Northern Ireland Assembly has not been able to agree on a replacement system for secondary transfer. The grammar schools have organised groupings to run their own tests, the Post-Primary Transfer Consortium (mostly Catholic schools) and the Association for Quality Education.^[43][44][45] The Northern Ireland Commission for Catholic Education has accepted continued selection at Catholic grammar schools as a temporary measure, but wishes them to end the practice by 2012.^[46][47]

Grammar schools in other countries[link]

Grammar schools were established in various British territories, and have developed in different ways since those territories became independent.

Australia[link]

Sydney Grammar School

In the mid-19th century, private schools were established in the Australian colonies to spare the wealthy classes from sending their sons to schools in Britain. These schools took their inspiration from English public schools, and often called themselves "grammar schools".^[48] Early examples include Launceston Church Grammar School (1846), Pulteney Grammar School (1847), Geelong Grammar School (1855) and Melbourne Grammar School (1858). With the exception of the non-denominational Sydney Grammar School (1857) and Queensland grammar schools, all the grammar schools established in the 19th century were attached to the Church of England (now the Anglican Church of Australia). In Queensland, the Grammar Schools Act 1860 provided for the state-assisted foundation of non-denominational grammar schools. Ten were founded, of which 8 still exist.^[49] The first Australian grammar school for girls was Brisbane Girls' Grammar School (1875); others soon followed.^[50]

In the 1920s grammar schools of other denominations were established, including members of the Associated Grammar Schools of Victoria, and the trend has continued to the present day. Today, the term is defined only in Queensland legislation. Throughout the country, "grammar schools" are generally high-cost private schools. The equivalent of contemporary English grammar schools are selective schools.

Canada[link]

Grammar schools provided secondary education in Ontario until 1871.

The first lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe, advocated grammar schools for the colony to save the wealthy from sending their sons to the United States to be educated, but was unable to convince his superiors in London. He did however make a grant enabling John Stuart to set up Kingston Grammar School in 1795.^[51][52] After several abortive attempts to raise funding, the District Schools Act of 1807 provided support for one grammar school teacher in each district (of which there were then eight), but they were then left to their own devices. Finding the grammar schools unsuitable as preparation for university, lieutenant-governor Sir John Colborne founded Upper Canada College as a superior grammar school.^[53]

Legislation in 1839 allowed for more than one grammar school in a district, triggering a rapid but unstructured growth in numbers over the following two decades, rising to 86 in 1861. The schools became more independent of the Church of England, and also began to admit girls. However the schools were unsupervised, often underfunded and of varying standards. Some, like Tassie's School in Galt provided a traditional classical education, while many provided a basic education of poor quality.^[54] Chief Superintendent of Education Egerton Ryerson attempted to reform the schools in the 1850s and 1860s, moving control of the schools from counties (the former districts) to city authorities, securing their funding and introducing inspectors. However his efforts to convert the schools into classical schools for only boys were unsuccessful.^[55] In recognition of the broad curricula offered, grammar schools were redesignated as high schools by the Act to Improve the Common and Grammar Schools of the Province of Ontario of 1871.^[56] Schools able to offer classical studies were given additional funding as collegiate institutes.^[57]

Hong Kong[link]

In Hong Kong, grammar schools are secondary schools primarily offering a traditional curriculum (rather than vocational subjects).

Republic of Ireland[link]

Education in the Republic of Ireland has traditionally been organised on denominational lines. Grammar schools along the lines of those in Great Britain were set up for members of the Church of Ireland prior to its disestablishment in 1871. Some schools remain, as private schools catering largely for Protestant students. These are often fee-paying and accommodate boarders, given the scattered nature of the Protestant population in much of Ireland. Such schools include Bandon Grammar School,^[58] Drogheda Grammar School, Dundalk Grammar School and Sligo Grammar School.^[59] Others are among the many former fee-paying schools which have been absorbed into larger state-funded Community Schools, Community Colleges, and Comprehensive Schools, founded since the introduction of universal secondary education in the Republic by minister Donogh O'Malley in September 1967. Examples include Cork Grammar School, replaced by Ashton Comprehensive School.^[60]

Malaysia[link]

Malaysia has a number of grammar schools, a majority of which were established when the country was under the British. They are generally not known as "grammar schools" but are similarly selective in their intake. Among the best known being the Penang Free School, the Victoria Institution (Kuala Lumpur), Malay College Kuala Kangsar, the English College (Johor Bahru) and the King George V School (Seremban). Mission schools set up by various Christian denominations paralleled the selective state school albeit not with the same degree of selectivity. Notable mission schools include the La Sallian family of schools and those set up by the Marist Brothers and Methodist missionaries. Before the 1970s when Malay was made the medium of instruction, many such selective schools became known for providing excellent English-medium education and have produced many notable alumni, including the current Prime Minister of Malaysia Najib Tun Razak (St. John's Institution) and all five of his predecessors.

Singapore[link]

The Raffles Institution was founded in 1823 by Sir Stamford Raffles. A department for girls opened in 1844, becoming Raffles Girls' School in 1879. In parallel response to a general demand for better quality education, the Catholic Church set up Saint Joseph's Institution (1852) and Canossa Convent (1879), while Methodist missionaries founded the Anglo-Chinese School (1886) and Methodist Girls' School (1887). In addition to religious missions, the Singapore Chinese Girls' School was set up to by several prominent Peranakan business and community leaders. After independence in 1965, all such schools were integrated into a unified national school system, but many later became independent or autonomous.

United States[link]

Boston Latin School

Grammar schools on the British model were founded during the colonial period, the first being the Boston Latin School, founded as the Latin Grammar School in 1635.^[61][62] In 1647 the Massachusetts Bay Colony enacted the Old Deluder Satan Law, requiring any township of at least 100 households to establish a grammar school, and similar laws followed in the other New England colonies. These schools initially taught young men the classical languages as a preparation for university, but by the mid-18th century many had broadened their curricula to include practical subjects. Nevertheless, they declined in popularity owing to competition from the more practical academies. The name "grammar school" was adopted by schools for children from 10 to 14 years of age, and later by elementary schools.^[63][64] Current usage is slight and regional, with private academies calling themselves grammar schools in New York.^[65] However, an analogous concept is the magnet school, a state-funded secondary institution that may select its students from a given school district according to academic criteria.^{[citation needed]}

See also[link]

• Gymnasium (school)
• Latin school
• Anatolian High School
• History of education in England
• Debates on the grammar school

References[link]

External links[link]

• A general timeline of British education
• The situation of grammar schools today
• Support Kent Schools
• Q and A: Advanced schools, BBC News.
• Grammar schools, The Guardian.

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (February 2011)

Melissa Ann Benn (born 20 February 1957) is a British journalist and writer. She is the only daughter of Tony and Caroline Benn.

Benn was born in Hammersmith, London. She has two older brothers, Stephen and Hilary, and a younger brother, Joshua.^[1] She attended Fox Primary School and Holland Park School and graduated with a first in History from the London School of Economics. Benn spent several years working at the National Council for Civil Liberties, as an assistant to Patricia Hewitt, later Secretary of State for Health in Tony Blair's government, and then as a researcher at the Open University, under Professor Stuart Hall, working on deaths in custody.

Benn worked as a journalist at the co-operatively run City Limits magazine. Subsequently she has written for The Guardian, The London Review of Books, Marxism Today and many other publications.

Her first novel Public Lives, published by Hamish Hamilton in 1995, was described by the novelist Margaret Forster as " a lovely novel.....remarkably sophisticated for a first". Other reviewers praised the book's "acute intelligence" and "incredibly subtlety". In 1998 Jonathan Cape published Benn's book Madonna and Child: towards a modern politics of motherhood which caused some controversy. Several reviewers, notably in The Guardian and The Observer, attacked Benn's work while the Literary Review called it "a reflective, rich and rewarding investigation into the ...conditions of mothers' lives". The Guardian featured Benn as one of a number of Britain's leading feminist writers.

In 2004, Benn co-edited, with Clyde Chitty, A Tribute to Caroline Benn: Education and Democracy, collecting various papers relevant to the campaign for comprehensive education. In recent years, Benn has become an outspoken advocate for comprehensives and a critic of many aspects of government policy on education. In 2006, she and Fiona Millar published an influential pamphlet ' A Comprehensive Future: Quality and Equality for All our Children' which was launched at the House of Commons in January 2006 at a meeting addressed by the former leader of the Labour Party Neil Kinnock and a former Secretary of State for Education Estelle Morris.

Her second novel One of Us was published by Chatto and Windus in 2008.

Melissa Benn lives in London with her partner, Paul Gordon, and their two daughters, Hannah and Sarah.

Bibliography[link]

• Sexual Harassment at Work (NCCL pamphlet 1982)
• The Rape Controversy, with Tess Gill and Anna Coote (NCCL pamphlet, second and third editions only 1983, 1986)
• Death in the City with Ken Warpole (non-fiction, Canary Press 1985)
• Courts and Sentencing (Children's Legal Centre pamphlet 1987)
• Public Lives (novel 1995)
• Madonna and Child: Politics of Modern Motherhood (non-fiction, Vintage 1998)
• One of Us (novel, Chatto and Windus 2008)
• School Wars: The Battle for Britain's Education (non-fiction, Verso 2011)

References[link]

1. ^ Births England and Wales 1837-2006

External links[link]

• Melissa Benn's website
• Times Literary Supplement review of One of Us, by Paul Owen

This article about a British journalist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Derby Grammar School is an independent and selective grammar school at Littleover near the city of Derby, England. Founded as a school for boys in 1995, it takes boys from the age of seven and currently has around three hundred pupils. The Sixth Form has been co-educational since September 2007.

The school is academically selective, admitting those within the top twenty-five percent of the ability range.

Premises[link]

The school occupies Rykneld Hall, a Grade II listed 18th century country house at Littleover, previously Pastures Hospital, which was built circa 1780 for Josias Cockshutt, enlarged in 1803, 1826 and 1881-1883.

A new arts, music and assembly hall, linking with the old quadrangle, were designed by the architects Rothera Goodwin.

The woodland, mature trees, grassland and water areas in the school's grounds are designated as Wildlife Site 38 and safeguarded in the City of Derby's Local Plan, Policy E4 (Nature Conservation). Such sites are "considered irreplaceable".^{[citation needed]}

New school playing fields were officially opened in September 2006 by the England and British and Irish Lions rugby player Sir Clive Woodward.^[1]

Curriculum[link]

The curriculum is built around teaching for GCSE and A-level with some subjects being studied through the IB course. Subjects taught include Classics, English, Latin, French, German, Spanish, Maths, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, History, English Literature, Geography. Religious Studies, Art,Music, Design Technology and Economics (the last subject at A-level only).

Extra-curricular[link]

Activities include school drama productions, the Duke of Edinburgh Award, public speaking, World Challenge, GapForce, debating, a School choir and orchestra, adventure training and the prestigious Arts Award. There are music and drama workshops, some being joint events with Derby High School for girls and HotHouse youth music group.

The School regularly supports the Children in Need Appeal, and in 2010 raised £8,000.

Sport[link]

The main sports offered at the school are cricket, hockey, and rugby union, plus rowing, cross-country, swimming, and badminton.

The 2007 Under-15 rugby team were county champions, beating Chellaston School in the final. The Under-15s have won the county cup twice, and the under 16s once. The 2007 under-16s were the first DGS team to win all their games, although the under-15s later did the same. In 2007, the under-16s reached the fourth round of the Daily Mail Cup, and over half of the team members also played for the First XV. The school's First XV [season '10/'11] were the first ever undefeated first team, with eight recorded victories throughout the season.

The school's rowing team also participate in the ball cup and the 2008 team ( D.Grant, O. Foulds, A Hughes & R Newbould + R.Proctor) came first in the mens coxed four^[2]. Christopher Williams currently with the Burton Rowing Club successfully competing at Henley on Thames regatta amongst other venues.

School motto and badge[link]

The school aims to fill the gap left by the demise of the original Derby School. The school motto, Vita Sine Litteris Mors (Life without learning is death), is taken from the motto of the former school and is from Seneca's Epistulae morales ad Lucilium.

Old Derbeians[link]

The term "Old Derbeians" once meant only former pupils of Derby School, but the Old Derbeians Society is now open also to ex-pupils of the new school, who are called both New and Old Derbeians.^[3]

References[link]

• Derby Grammar School at BBC Education League Tables
• Derby Grammar School at ISBI
• Derby Grammar School at dfes.gov.uk
• Independent Schools Inspectorate report of Derby Grammar School 2005 inspection
• Derby Grammar School buildings by Rothera Goodwin, website no longer active
• City of Derby Local Plan

External links[link]

• Derby Grammar School - official site
• Web site of the Old Derbeians Society

Coordinates: 52°53′42″N 1°31′39″W / 52.895°N 1.5275°W / 52.895; -1.5275

Coordinates: 54°51′04″N 6°13′37″W / 54.851°N 6.227°W / 54.851; -6.227

Cambridge House Grammar School is a mixed, controlled grammar school in the County Antrim town of Ballymena, Northern Ireland within the North Eastern Education and Library Board area.

General[link]

The school is located in the Galgorm Road area of the town at a mature site surrounded by gardens and playing fields comprising almost 80 acres (320,000 m²). Cambridge House is the newest grammar school in the province, having been opened in September 2001, following the amalgamation of the old Cambridge House Grammar School for Girls (founded 1910) and Cambridge House Boy's Grammar School (founded 1975). The main school buildings are contemporary and the campus was refurbished in 2001 prior to the opening of the new school. The Technology and Design Suite is an award winning^{[citation needed]} building and the most recent addition to the school, and its facilities are among the best in the province.^{[citation needed]} The school has recently invested in the latest computer technology and the pupils and staff have access to the very latest in computer multimedia and Internet learning packages.^{[citation needed]} The school also includes a separate Drama and Media annexe and a self contained, Sixth Form Centre complete with both private and communal study areas, a common room and a coffee shop.

In 2011 it became the first grammar school in Northern Ireland to enter a period of formal intervention.

At present Cambridge House does not have a permanent Principal.

The House System[link]

Cambridge House Grammar School (CHGS) is split into six houses (Having previously been four in the Cambridge House Boy's Grammar School- Adair, Eaton, Raphael and Chichester), and the pastoral care of each pupil is enforced by this system. The house system is based on patrons who are successful in a wide range of expertise, such as sports, business, science and the Arts. The ethos behind the house system is that each pupil can relate to a smaller unit within the school and have a sense of identity in such a large school. Each house is allocated a Senior Teacher, and a team of seven group tutors. Houses fosters the development of Leadership skills in the pupils, as House Prefects are elected in year 11. Each house has a separate colour, house charity and house ties, with the house crest emblazoned in the middle.

The houses, and their patrons are listed below.

• Jones House: Marie Jones, Belfast born playwright.
• Burnell House: Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell, phyicsist.
• Abercorn House: Alexandra Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn
• Bell House: Derek Bell, Late musician and member of the Chieftains.
• Patton House: David Patton, local businessman.
• Robinson House: Brian Robinson, former Ulster and Ireland rugby player and past pupil.

Principals: Past and Present[link]

• Mr. Charles Mills: Principal, September 2001-June 2003.
• Mrs. Elma Lutton (Current Vice Principal): Acting Principal, September 2003-February 2004. Acting Principal, January 2012-Present
• Mrs. Eileen Lisk: Principal, February 2004–December 2011

Notable former pupils[link]

• Adrian McCoubrey, Professional Cricketer held the office of Deputy Head Boy 1997/98
• Shane Glynn, Executive Producer for BBC NI Sports and former News Reporter for UTV

• Dr Richard Ball, World renowned chemist with a penchant for making all drinks alcoholic from a wide variety of English apples. His most notable accomplishment is acknowledged almost silently by Bulmers with the addition of the word “Ball” on the side of the 500 ml tin of Stongbow.

• Jamie Smith, Current Ulster Rugby Full-back, Jamie completed five years at the school.

• Ian Dickson, motoring journalist. Holds the position of senior editor at MSN Cars UK and previously worked as a road tester on the magazines What Car? and Test Drive. Ian was a prefect at the school and left in 1997.

Sydney Grammar School
Latin: Laus Deo ("Praise be to God")
Location
Darlinghurst, Edgecliff and St Ives, New South Wales, Australia
Coordinates	33°52′29″S 151°12′47″E / 33.87472°S 151.21306°E / -33.87472; 151.21306Coordinates: 33°52′29″S 151°12′47″E / 33.87472°S 151.21306°E / -33.87472; 151.21306
Information
Type	Independent, Single-sex, Day school
Denomination	Non-denominational
Established	1857[1]
Founder	Laurence Hynes Halloran
Chairman	Mr David Kirk MBE[2]
Headmaster	Dr J.T Vallance
Staff	63 (Darlinghurst),[3] 15 (Edgecliff),[3] 21 (St Ives)[3]
Teaching staff	153 (Darlinghurst),[3] 52 (Edgecliff),[3] 47 (St Ives)[3]
Gender	Boys school
Enrolment	1,119 (Darlinghurst),[3] 306 (Edgecliff),[3] 413 (St Ives)[3]
Colour(s)	Black and Gold
Website	sydgram.nsw.edu.au

Sydney Grammar School (colloquially known as Grammar)^[4] is an independent, non-denominational, selective, day school for boys, located in Darlinghurst, Edgecliff and St Ives, all suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Incorporated in 1854 by an Act of Parliament^[5] and opened in 1857, the school claims to offer a "classical" or "grammar" school education thought of as liberal, humane, pre-vocational pedagogy. ^[4]

Sydney Grammar School currently has an enrolment of approximately 1,833 students from Kindergarten to Year 12, over three campuses.^[6] The two preparatory schools (K to 6), are located at Edgecliff in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs,^[7] and St Ives, on the Upper North Shore.^[8] The historic College Street campus caters for students from Forms I to VI (Years 7 to 12), and is situated in Darlinghurst, close to the Sydney central business district.^[7]

The school is affiliated with the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA),^[9] the Junior School Heads Association of Australia (JSHAA),^[10] the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference,^[11] and is a founding member of the Athletic Association of the Great Public Schools of New South Wales (AAGPS).^[12]

In 2001, The Sun-Herald ranked Sydney Grammar School tenth in Australia's top ten boys' schools, based on the number of its alumni mentioned in the Who's Who in Australia (a listing of notable Australians).^[13][a]

History[link]

Foundation[link]

The Sydney Public Free Grammar School opened in 1825 with Laurence Hynes Halloran, born County Meath, Ireland (1765–1831) as Head Master. Halloran, who had operated a private school in Exeter, England, had fled England in 1796 due to debts and after being accused of immorality. Also, it had been claimed by Henry Hobhouse, under-secretary of state there, that his degrees (in Divinity) were self-awarded; however, no authority saw fit to pursue the claim formally, nor was any sworn evidence ever presented to render this a just charge.

In 1830 Sydney College was founded. Sir Francis Forbes, Chief Justice, became President of the College and laid the foundation stone of the present building in College Street on 26 January 1830. In 1835, Sydney College opened in this building with W.T. Cape as Head Master. In 1842 he resigned and was succeeded by T.H. Braim. In 1850 Sydney College was closed.

In 1854, Sydney Grammar School (SGS) was incorporated by an Act of Parliament^[5] and acquired the land and building in College Street which had been temporarily occupied by the newly-founded University of Sydney in 1852. It was opened on 3 August 1857, specifically as a feeder school for the University.

The preamble of the Sydney Grammar School Act 1854 states that:

It is deemed expedient for the better advancement of religion and morality and the promotion of useful knowledge to establish in Sydney a public school for conferring on all classes and denominations of Her Majesty’s subjects resident in the Colony of New South Wales without any distinction whatsoever the advantages of a regular and liberal course of education.^[14]

The Act provides that the Trustees of the School shall consist of twelve persons, of whom six shall be persons holding the following offices respectively:

• The Honourable the Attorney-General of New South Wales
• The Honourable the President of the New South Wales Legislative Council
• The Honourable the Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
• The Chancellor of the University of Sydney
• The Principal Professor of Classics of the University of Sydney
• The Senior Professor of Mathematics of the University of Sydney

The Act also provides that the Governor of New South Wales shall be the official Visitor of the School.

Site history[link]

Hyde Park with Sydney Grammar School (at that time Sydney College) in the distance, 1842

Sydney Grammar School is the oldest school still in use in the City of Sydney, and is also historically significant as the site on which the University of Sydney began. The School also holds scientific significance as containing examples of early building materials and techniques in pre-Federation Australia.^[15]

The site was founded as The Sydney College in 1830, and the following year began operations in a new building in Hyde Park designed by Edward Hallen. It consisted of a single large room (now known as "Big School") with basement rooms beneath. Sydney College continued despite financial difficulties until 1853, when it was taken over by the fledgling University of Sydney until such time as the present Grose Farm site was ready for occupation. The site was then sold in 1856 to the Trustees of the newly incorporated Sydney Grammar School, which had been established and endowed with a building fund by Act of Parliament. Edmund Blacket was commissioned to design extensions to the south and north of the Hallen building (now the North and South Blacket rooms), which were completed in 1856 and 1857 respectively. The "Big School" building became central to the Colonial Architect, James Barnet's vision for the cultural focus of Sydney Town.^[16]

'Big School'

Sydney Grammar School at night

The War Memorial wing, named for its position behind Big School's monument to the Great War, was built at the northern end of Big School in 1953 by the Scott brothers, at the cost of its double stair case. In 1876, the main building was extended to the east by Mansfield Brothers, and this extension was itself extended to the north and south in 1899 by John W Manson. The Science classrooms on Stanley Street were built in 1889-90. Other early buildings on the site, now demolished, included the Sergeant's Lodge, an ablutions block (known as the "White House") on Stanley Street, and a former postal sorting office on Yurong Street (now the Palladium building).

Today[link]

Sydney Grammar is a private school.^[17] Each year up to 26 full scholarships are offered to boys who show academic promise and who perform well in the scholarship examination. Currently, it is regarded as one of the most academically proficient private school in NSW and performs consistently well in the Higher School Certificate.^[18]

At A$25,776 per annum (for Forms I - VI, non-boarding ),^[19] the tuition fees are among the highest of any secondary day school in the country.^{[citation needed]}

Sydney Grammar is located near the Sydney Central Business District. The campus is compact and consists of multi-storey buildings (of up to eight floors) in a concrete landscape setting. Sydney Grammar is situated on the eastern side of Sydney's Hyde Park, next to the Australian Museum, and extends from College Street to Yurong Street. The designs of the School's buildings illustrate many different architectural eras: "Big School" (dating from the early 19th century colonial era), the Blacket buildings (annexed onto either side of "Big School" and completed in the 1850s), the original Science building (1891), the Science laboratory block (1960s), the Palladium building (an example of 1970s Modernist architecture), the Stanley Street building and Alastair Mackerras Theatre (1980s), and the A. B. 'Banjo' Paterson Library (1990s).

Weigall, the School's sportsground (named after former Headmaster Albert Bythesea Weigall), is located at Rushcutters Bay next to the Edgecliff Preparatory School and includes tennis courts, cricket nets and three fields for cricket, rugby and football. It is routinely used for Saturday sports matches, Physical Education and as a recreational area for Grammar's Edgecliff Preparatory School next door. There is also a large gymnasium at College Street and full rowing facilities at the School's boatshed at Gladesville.

In May 2005, Headmaster John Vallance announced that the School would lead a consortium to purchase 30 Alma St Paddington, known as White City, from Tennis New South Wales, thus extending the Weigall grounds substantially.^[20] In 2006, development applications to subdivide the White City tennis courts (numbered DA 20/2006 and DA 302/2006) were lodged with Woollahra Council to develop the site to accommodate more tennis and basketball courts; these were subsequently passed.

On 14 June 2008 the new field now known as Weigall 4 was opened with a range of guests including Mr Frank Lowy, President of Football Federation Australia.

In 2009, the School began the construction of a new, underground multi-purpose hall featuring a seating capacity of over 1500 seats.^[21] Completed in August 2011, it was primarily designed to accommodate the entirety of the current students and teaching staff under one roof whilst being acoustically sound for orchestral performances. Notably the hall is unique as it has been built beneath the playground and is substantially subterranean as a result. Much of the naturally occurring Sydney sandstone has been left in place which adds to the aesthetic and acoustic value of the space. The hall was officially opened by the Headmaster on 18 August 2011 with a substantive celebratory concert featuring performances from a large number of Grammar boys past and present.

Headmasters[link]

The current Headmaster of Sydney Grammar School is Dr John T. Vallance. Dr Vallance attended St John's College, Cambridge and was later a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge at which time he wrote The Lost Theory of Asclepiades of Bithynia (ISBN 0-19-824248-4), which is cited by a number of other histories of philosophy and of medicine.^[22] Dr Vallance is also the author of the entries on medicine and anthropology in the Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd edition).

Dr Vallance succeeded Dr Ralph Townsend in his role as Headmaster. After a period at Oundle School, Dr Townsend is now Headmaster of Winchester College, England.

Structure[link]

Sydney Grammar has a total enrolment of approximately 1,833 boys across Years K to 12.^[6] In Term Three of 2006, the main high School campus had an enrolment of 1,109 boys in Forms I–VI (Years 7–12). The main high school is divided into the Lower School (First and Second Form) and the Upper School (Third through Sixth Forms). There are also two Preparatory Schools, one at St. Ives in the Northern Suburbs (440 boys) and the other at Edgecliff in the Eastern Suburbs (300 boys). Each year, approximately two-thirds of the incoming Form I at College Street are from the two Preparatory Schools, while the rest are drawn from schools in Sydney, from interstate and overseas.

Curriculum[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Sydney Grammar offers a liberal, pre-vocational type education, and this is reflected in its academic structure and subject choices. The academic departments are:

• Classics
• Design and Technology (currently known as Applied Arts)
• Economics
• English
• Geography
• History
• Mathematics
• Modern Languages (Asian and European)
• Music
• Physical Education
• Science
• Visual Arts.
• Academic Extension

Subjects offered for the Higher School Certificate (HSC) include English Advanced, English Extension 1, English Extension 2, Mathematics, Mathematics Extension 1, Mathematics Extension 2, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Earth and Environmental Science, Geography, Modern History, Ancient History, History Extension, Economics, Latin, Latin Extension, Classical Greek, Classical Greek Extension, French Continuers, French Extension, Italian Continuers, Italian Extension, German Continuers, German Extension, Chinese Continuers, Chinese Extension, Japanese Beginners, Music 1 and 2, Music Extension, Visual Art and PDHPE. Sanskrit, Design and Technology and Special Academic Courses are offered as non-HSC subjects. The Special Academic courses previously included a Form V (Year 11) course in extension chemistry and physics and a Form VI (Year 12) course in lagrangian dynamics and quantum mechanics; they are currently centred around 19th Century Russian literature, with a focus on the works of Pushkin and Dostoevsky, with a smaller study of Chekhov and Nikolai Gogol.

Co-curriculum[link]

Music[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2007)

SGS has won the AMEB Music Shield ten times in the past eleven years. Two-thirds of pupils in the School play a musical instrument or are involved with music in some way. SGS boasts scores of musical groups in mostly classical, chamber and jazz styles. The School Orchestra has received wide acclaim and frequently engages in both national and international tours. Grammar's choir programme involves hundreds of students, Old Boys, and parents, participating in its many annual concerts. The School's senior a cappella group is known as The Grammarphones and is composed of the best tenors, basses and baritones in the senior years.

Recently, SGS has embarked upon a five year programme entitled "Bach: 2010", in which all the known choral cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach will be performed in a series of concerts between 2005 and 2010.^[23] Sydney Grammar is one of the few institutions in the world seeking to engage in such an exercise and is aided by its newly installed Mander Organ in the Big School.^[24]

Under the current Head Master, an organic Rock-&-Roll movement has emerged and is currently thriving. The end of 2004 saw the consummation of years of practice in the first Grammarpalooza Rock Concert, which included the musical style of Old Boy band, Dappled Cities Fly.

Sport[link]

Head of the River crew, 1934

Sydney Grammar School is a member of the Athletic Association of the Great Public Schools of NSW (GPS). GPS sporting events are contested in rugby union, football, cricket, tennis, volleyball, cross country, basketball, rowing, swimming, athletics, rifle shooting, and debating.^[25][26] The School also competes in fencing and chess^[27] competitions.

Grammar participates in the annual Tri-Grammar competitions, a series of cricket and rowing competitions between the Firsts teams of Sydney Grammar School, Melbourne Grammar School and Brisbane Grammar School. Sydney and Melbourne Grammar School also compete for "The Bat" in the same competition. The Sydney-Melbourne match dates back to 1876, and in 1976, to mark the centenary of this rivalry, a "Bat" was struck, with the winner of the annual match taking possession. The bat was donated by John Crawford, the father of the captain of the 1976 premiership winning side Andrew Crawford.

Competition in rowing culminates in the Riverview Gold Cup for Junior Crews and the Head of the River for Senior Crews.

On 2 April 2011, the Sydney Grammar School first eight won the Major Rennie Trophy at the AAGPS Head of the River.^[28] The win was significant for Grammar as it heralded the return of the trophy to the School for the first time in more than thirty years.

Extra-curricular[link]

The school has numerous clubs and societies for students. Notable examples include:

• Air Force Cadets^[29] (Established in 1942^[30])
• Army Cadet Corps^[29] (Founded in 1871 by School Headmaster Albert Bythesea Weigall, the Corps is one of the oldest military units in the nation, even predating the Australian Army.^[15][31])
• Creative Writing Club,^[29] run by notable author John Hughes

A number of boys also assist in editing the School's yearly almanac, The Sydneian,^[29] over 400 editions of which have been produced since 1875.

Notable alumni[link]

Alumnus of Sydney Grammar School are commonly referred to as Old Boys or Old Sydneians,^[32] and may elect to join the schools alumni association, the Old Sydneians' Union (OSU).^[33][34]

In 2001, The Sun-Herald ranked Sydney Grammar School tenth in Australia's top ten boys' schools, based on the number of its alumni mentioned in the Who's Who in Australia (a listing of notable Australians).^[13][a] Notable alumni include Sir Edmund Barton, the first Prime Minister of Australia (1901–1903),^[35] Sir William McMahon, 20th Prime Minister of Australia (1971–1972),^[36] Bruce Gyngell, first person to appear on Australian television,^[37] Andrew "Boy" Charlton, an Olympic gold medallist swimmer^[38] and Banjo Paterson, who now has a library in the school named after him.

Notes[link]

• ^{^} Who's Who of boys' school rankings: 1.Scotch College, Melbourne, 2.Melbourne Grammar School, 3.Melbourne High School, 4.Geelong Grammar School, 5.Sydney Boys High School, 6.Wesley College, 7.Shore, 8.Fort Street Boys' High School, 9.North Sydney Boys High School, 10.Sydney Grammar School

References[link]