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See Royal Grammar School for the other schools with the name RGS.
Colchester Royal Grammar School (CRGS) is a grammar school in Colchester, Essex, founded in AD 1206[citation needed] and granted two Royal Charters by Henry VIII (in 1539) and by Elizabeth I (in 1584). The main school buildings are located in the Lexden area of Colchester, with the school's playing fields located three minutes' walk away on Queen's Road. The school is one of the United Kingdom's most academically successful schools, consistently achieving high results - often ranking top, nationally - in A-level and GCSE league tables, and regularly placing above public schools such as Eton.1 The school has around 700 pupils aged 11-18, with girls admitted in the two upper years only. The school features extensive gardens, incorporating Gurney Benham House (named for a former Mayor of Colchester) and Elyanore House, as well as playing fields in Lexden. The school is officially a specialist science school, and has recently built a new chemistry block.
[edit] AcademicAs a grammar school, CRGS's stated main aim is to ensure the academic success of its pupils. The school is consistently placed within the top few state schools in the country for A-level results and achieves similar success at GCSE 1. In 2004, it was named as the top state school in the country by the BBC[citation needed]. Headmaster Ken Jenkinson has explained this success by saying that "although as a grammar school the academic success of our students is our principal priority, I tend to see the results as the by-product of an ethos where we encourage students to aim high in all that they do and approach challenges with confidence."[citation needed] The school's success was recognised by Prime Minister Tony Blair who in 1999 invited the then headmaster of CRGS, Stewart Francis, among other heads of the country's top schools, to a meeting to discuss the improvement of education in Britain. The school's 'value added' score is higher than the national average[1]. [edit] SubjectsSubjects studied at the school are:
The school is also trialling extra single Year 10 GCSEs in Astronomy (See Edexcel Specification) and Physical Education. [edit] ClassicsCRGS is one of a very small number of British state schools which still offer Ancient Greek for GCSE and A-Level. Between 1994 and 2004 the Greek government funded teaching of the subject, in an effort to halt its decline in the United Kingdom state sector, thanks to a pupil-led campaign[citation needed]. The Classics department remains an integral and defining part of the school's ethos, especially given that all students take Latin lessons for their first three years, and have the option of Ancient Greek in the second. The school was also the first in the country to teach Classical Civilisation at A Level.[citation needed] [edit] Admission and classesBeing a selective school, in the Consortium of Selective Schools in Essex "(CSSE)", entrants are required to pass the eleven plus exam. The eleven plus exam has a variable pass rate of 3% to 20% depending on the set of students[citation needed]. The new intake in year 7 consists of 96 pupils, split into three classes of 32. The three forms are given the initials of 7C, 7R and 7G. At the end of the year, when pupils are asked to choose between Greek and German as a language, the groups of pupils are changed around. This changing around of forms continues until year 10, when students are placed in permanent forms for their GCSE courses, unless an express wish of a student, his parents or a teacher cause a particular student to be moved forms. However this is extremely rare. There is also a small intake of four students at age 13 (after Year 8) to make four classes of roughly 25 (the fourth class taking the initial S)[citation needed]. The sixth form has a separate admissions policy, and its forms are not labelled C, R, G and S but instead 12Aa where Aa is the two letter teacher code of the form tutor. Applicants must achieve 3 A grades and 2 B grades at GCSE to be accepted ater undergoing an interview. [edit] Facilities[edit] Classrooms and other buildingsThe school has the following facilities:
(numbers in brackets show rooms that are shared between two subjects, e.g. English and Mathematics share a room) [edit] Boarding houseOne of CRGS's defining characteristics is its boarding house, which is home to 30 sixth form students predominantly from the Far East (most are from Hong Kong and from the United Kingdom and occasionally from elsewhere in the European Union. The school is noted for the large number of overseas students, primarily from Asian countries, who come to the school in its sixth form and stay either at the boarding house or under the care of host families. It is felt by the school that as well as offering excellent opportunities for academic progress, life in the boarding house prepares the student for the future, when he or she is separated from their family and subject to the demands of university life.3 [edit] Inspectors' feedback on the boarding houseThe following comments were made by Ofsted, the UK schools inspectorate4
[edit] School housesThe four school houses, named after past headmasters, are as follows[citation needed]:
Named after William Dugard
Named after William Harsnett
Named after Samuel Parr.
Named after Peter Shaw Jeffrey The house competition occurs each year, with the winner of the 2007-08 competition being Dugard's, winning the competition for the first time since 2001. [edit] Awarding of pointsThere is an annual house competition, with points awarded with reference to Houses' performances in various competitions, including:[citation needed]:
At the end of the year the house with the most points wins the house trophy. [edit] UniformPupils in the main school wear a distinctive uniform comprising a purple blazer and tie with house badge, as well as a white shirt and black trousers and socks. Various 'custom' ties are available, recognising achievement or dedication to the school. Students in the Sixth Form do not wear the uniform, but must instead wear smart clothes, typically a suit.[2] The removal of the need to wear uniform in the Sixth Form happened in 1971 after a campaign by students (including myself)[Alan Scott]. Until c1905 the school blazer had been green - but the same colour was adopted by other schools in the area and the then Headmaster (Shaw Jeffrey) approached the main local tailor and asked what the most expensive dye was. When told that it was purple that was decreed to be the colour in future.[3] [edit] HistoryPast headmaster Shaw Jeffrey attributed the founding of the school to two key people prior to the granting of its charters:
With the dissolution of the monasteries by King Henry VIII, the Royal Charter of 1539 ensured revenues were granted to the bailiffs and commonality of Colchester on the condition that they founded a school; this was then enacted by the Charter of Queen Elizabeth in 1585, on condition that at least £13 6s 8d be set aside annually for the schoolmaster. Revenue from other property was also granted, but this was later challenged in court during the reign of King William III, and the arrangements were legally reconfirmed. By 1750, under the stewardship of Philip Morant, these revenues were worth £45 per annum, as well as providing scholarships for two boys to go up Cambridge University. The school was small and run mainly out of the headmaster's house for most of its early life, with only minor changes until 1852 when the "Big School" was built. At this time there was very little secondary education in this part of Essex, and difficulties were exacerbated through friction between the then headmaster of the school and the town's Corporation. Pupils numbers dropped although the school took in a few "parlour boarders" to prepare for Army or University entry. This changed with the appointment of Shaw Jeffrey from Clifton College to become headmaster in September 1899. He took over a school with 29 boarders, and barely any staff. Shaw Jeffrey's reforms rapidly turned the school about; he introduced day boys and a prep school, a cadet corps, orchestra, bugle band, school entertainments and theatrical performances. He was a national pioneer of the teaching of modern European languages through phonetics, employed language teachers from Germany and France, and set up arrangements for foreign study during holidays. He also founded the Old Colcestrian Society to reconnect the school with its old boys, with Councilor W Gurney Benham chairing its inaugural meeting on 23 June 1901. The resulting academic success, scholarships and local goodwill that followed thus enabled Shaw Jeffrey to expand the school buildings, inspired by the designs of rival Ipswich and Earls Colne Grammar Schools. Firstly Mansfield House was bought in 1903 and renamed Gilberd House. In 1908 he convinced the Governors and local Education Board to expand the Big School and build a New School building for £4000 on land that was previously the kitchen gardens. This was designed by architects Newman, Jaques and Round, and was opened by Lord Rosebery with Colchester Corporation dignitaries in May 1910. In 1911 the school was gifted 12 acres of playing field, and opened tennis courts and a small rifle range. By 1912 numbers had grown to 144 pupils in the main school, split into three Houses (Schoolhouse, North Town and South Town), and 169 younger boys in an attached preparatory school that the headmaster also started as a private venture. Pupils wore different coloured caps depending on their house, until Shaw Jeffrey noted that other local elementary schools were copying the colours. To confound this, he asked the local hatter "what was the most expensive colour and most hard to get", and hence chose purple and gold, which established the colour of the school uniform. This growth continued through the world wars until, in 1947, under headmaster A S Mason, there were 700 boys, and five scholarships for pupils to pursue university education. An outdoor swimming pool was constructed in the 1920s and remains in use. The educational expansion of the 1960s allowed the construction of new classrooms and gym; but the scholarships were no longer required with the introduction of free university education. The 1960s buildings have mainly been replaced; a new art building was opened in 2003 and the technology block was upgraded. In 2006 a new extension to the science building was completed and two new Chemistry laboratories were opened. Until 2000[citation needed] the headmaster was resident in a house in the school grounds, but this has since been converted into extra classrooms and boarding facilities. [edit] Old ColcestriansAn Old Colcestrian is the phrase given to a person who formerly attended the school. They are also known as old boys. There is a society of OCs who have a cricket team who annually play against the school's 1st XI. Some notable OCs include:
[edit] School SongCarmen Colchestriense by Shaw Jeffrey First Verse: Now hands about for Colchester Chorus: Sing! boys, sing! Second Verse: By mullioned panes the ivy climbs, Chorus Third Verse: Tradition gives us pride of birth, [edit] References
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