Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School

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Coordinates: 53°41′36″N 2°14′54″W / 53.6934°N 2.2482°W / 53.6934; -2.2482
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Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School
Address
Map
Glen Road

Waterfoot, Rossendale
,
Lancashire
,
BB4 7BJ

England
Coordinates53°41′36″N 2°14′54″W / 53.6934°N 2.2482°W / 53.6934; -2.2482
Information
TypeGrammar school;
Academy
MottoFide et Labore (through faith and labour)
Established1703; 321 years ago (1703) (as Newchurch Grammar School)
1913 (modern)[1]
Local authorityLancashire County Council
TrustStar Academies
Department for Education URN150261 Tables
OfstedReports
ChairDonna Rawding[2]
PrincipalJames L Johnstone[1]
GenderCoeducational
Age11 to 18
Enrolment1,291 as of August 2023
Websitehttp://www.brgs.org.uk/

Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School (BRGS) is a selective co-educational academy grammar school in Waterfoot, Rossendale, Lancashire, England. The school is named after the two main towns either side of Waterfoot, Bacup and Rawtenstall.

History[edit]

The school was founded in the 18th century as Newchurch Grammar School, opening in 1703[1] on land bequeathed by John Kershaw in 1701. In the 19th century, records conflated Newchurch Grammar School with the National School of St Nicholas Church, also in Newchurch, suggesting that Kershaw (who died in 1701) bequeathed the land in memory of his wife, Anne, who died in 1709, and that it subsequently opened two years later in 1711. Records from the middle of this century, when Newchurch Grammar School was still in operation, clarified the 1703 date. The tombstone of the couple features two inscriptions about the endowment for the school.[3][4]

The Kershaws' endowment formed a Trust for the education of local children, including building schools. The first school, built in 1701, was sited on Kershaw's Boothfold estate and was operational until 1787, when it was converted into cottages due to an expanded school for the Trust being built at a place called Bridleway nearby. This school itself was rebuilt on site twice, first in 1830 and again several decades later. The latter rebuild saw the 1830 structure demolished in 1889, but the new buildings would not open until 1890, with a temporary building used in the interim. The ambitious 1890 school, at a cost of £2200, was spearheaded by the headmaster, Rev. R. W. Hay, and considered a vast improvement both functionally (to deal with the hillside) and aesthetically (including a bell tower and collegiate architecture).[3] Two of Hay's sons were Military Cross-awarded flying aces: Hugh Hay (born at the school) and Roger Hay.[5][6][7]

In 1890, the management of the school formed a new plan to make it more popular and widen its intake, electing a twelve-member governing body comprising two members each selected by the Bacup and Rawtenstall town councils; one selected by the Newchurch School Board; one selected by Victoria University, to which the school was affiliated; and six local gentlemen. In July 1892, Mr. T. E. Jackson became headmaster.[3]

The school moved location again in the 20th century, to its current site in Waterfoot. The foundation stones for the current site were laid by the mayors of Bacup and Rawtenstall on 1 July 1911 and the buildings opened in 1913; the new name, Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School (BRGS), was thusly adopted. The school sits high in the Pennines, with the Edwardian buildings giving a view of the terraces below. It was turbulent in the later 20th century; with no new income following the Second World War, parents' associations at the school petitioned the Secretary of State throughout the following decades to give it control of its finances separate to the local authority, twice being awarded such. In 1989, on the second such occasion, the school accepted the reprieve, and used money to plan buildings for the Sixth Form. In 1988, Martyn Morris had been appointed headmaster; remaining in post into the 21st century, he was only the fifth headmaster over a span of three centuries at the school.[8] In the 1997 Birthday Honours, Martyn Morris, who had been a government adviser on education under four Secretaries of State during his time at BRGS, was made an OBE for services to education.[9]

Martyn Morris retired in December 2004, with Marc Morris (no relation) joining as headmaster in April 2005. Marc Morris then left to become headmaster of Sha Tin College in Hong Kong in July 2011 and the post was taken by Alan Porteous in 2012. Longstanding teacher Trevor Elkington served as interim headmaster.

In March 2023, BRGS made a choice to enforce all students to do RE GCSE and to cut double languages and drama. This was after the Year 10s chose them. This lead to a protest and revolution under the organisation name BRGS FREEDOM creating a website[10] and a petition as well as sending numerous letters and emails into school to get their point across. They were successful in getting the Year 10 choices reverted however they have been pulled for the forthcoming students meaning they have to complete 11 GCSEs in total.

Previously a foundation school administered by Lancashire County Council,[11] in September 2012 Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School converted to academy status.[12] The school then became part of the Star Academies trust in September 2023.[13][14]

Admissions[edit]

View of the school in 2006

One of only four grammar schools in Lancashire following the mass closure under Margaret Thatcher, the school continues its initial aim to educate local children. Pupils applying from Rossendale area primary schools are given preference. The school, a highly popular state school, administers its own entrance examination, rather than the eleven-plus. Highly competitive, it still attracts students who commute from cities and towns around the north of England, including as far as Liverpool and Bradford in the 1990s.[8]

The school is attended by approximately 1,300 students, split between the lower school (Years 7 to 11), which has 180 pupils per year (in six form groups of thirty pupils each), and the sixth form (Years 12 and 13) with approximately 200 students per year in several tutor groups.

Entry to the sixth form does not require an examination, but is conditional on the student having gained at least two grade 5 and two grade 6 GCSEs, and at least grade 4 in Maths and English Language.[15] Most of the lower school pupils stay on to become sixth form students, with more students taken from other secondary schools.[8]

Academic performance[edit]

In keeping with its grammar school status, BRGS has consistently produced strong academic results throughout its modern history, with GCSE and A-Level pass rates above 80% for the duration; in the 1990s, the success was credited to the majority of staff serving for decades having created stability in standards of teaching.[8]

The school ranks highly in British School league tables. In September 2013 it was rated as a 5 star school by Trinity Mirror.[16] The majority of students continue on to further education, and the school has a long history of sending students to the Russell Group and Oxbridge Universities.[8][17]

In 2015, BRGS was academically ranked in the top 10 in the country for English Baccalaureate performance.[18]

School life[edit]

Extracurricular activities[edit]

Sport[edit]

BRGS has a long sporting history.[19] Pupils have flourished in a variety of sports, with many going on to play Lancashire League cricket at one point. The school produced six England international hockey players, including an England Schools captain, in the 1970s and 80s,[8][20] and four England international handball players in the 2000s.[21] Still, BRGS is considered "traditionally a soccer school";[8] it has seen routine success in the sport[22] and sent its boys' teams to train with Valencia CF in the 2010s.[23][24] Into the 2020s one of its coaches, Mr. Baird, helps to organise the Rossendale Schools' football league.[22]

The school's 1920-21 hockey first team

Pupils have taken part in athletics since the school's 1913 inception. It has had girls' hockey and netball teams, and mixed swimming teams, since at least the 1920s. Since at least the 1930s it has had boys' football and cricket, girls' tennis, and mixed gymnastics teams. Cycling, rugby, rounders, chess, cross-country and basketball were introduced in the 1940s and 50s, as were second teams and age-group teams for many of the established sports, with badminton coming in the 1960s.[19] During teaching disputes, boys' sport suffered, but recovered in the 1990s.[8] In the 1990s, sports began to be organised by year group, with orienteering added, as well as non-competitive clubs for table tennis and climbing.[19]

Sport, both against other schools and inter-form, had been covered in the school newspaper (The Squirrel) since at least 1930, but in the 1970s a separate school magazine dedicated to sport, "Penny Sports", was run. By the 1980s, BRGS sport coverage was again under the remit of The Squirrel. The 1980s also saw the introduction of boys' hockey.[19]

The Sports Hall, for extracurricular sports as well as PE, was opened by Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex in 2005.[25]

Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme[edit]

The school is a facilitator of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award. A merit board for gold award recipients hangs in the main hall and was unveiled during a school visit by Prince Edward (a son of the Duke of Edinburgh).[25]

School culture and Ofsted reports[edit]

In the 1990s, pupils at the school were said to be "unaffected, delightfully self-contained youngsters with accents stronger than Victoria Wood's".[8]

In 2016, BRGS was rated "outstanding" by education standards overseer Ofsted, the highest possible rating. It was rated outstanding in each sub-discipline, making it the best rating possible.[26] The sixth form also received the highest possible rating, with the report saying that the school's culture creates "well-rounded citizens". There were recommendations, however, to find ways to improve the secondary school pupils' verbal communication skills, and to ensure everyone could take part in extracurricular activities.[27]

In 2022, the school was rated overall "inadequate", the lowest Ofsted rating, and put under special measures with a demand for immediate safeguarding reform. The 2022 report said that while education standards remained high and pupils were successful in extracurricular activities, welfare was terrible. It said that at the school a culture of bullying, racism, misogyny, "harmful sexual behaviour", and homophobia prevailed, and that pupils, students and parents had given up on reporting issues due to staff inaction. One area of education was rated poorly: failings in social and sex education, including at the sixth form, which contributed to the harmful sexual behaviour becoming "an accepted feature of school life" at BRGS. Pupils also failed to recognise that peers different to themselves are their equals. The report concluded that despite good grades and high ambitions, pupils leaving the school and students leaving the sixth form "are ill-prepared to take up their roles as responsible citizens in a modern Britain". A local councillor said that "Young people will have been traumatised by what they have experienced during their time there. They may never get over it".[28][29]

Notable former pupils and students[edit]

See also: Category:People educated at Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School

Arts and design[edit]

Sportspeople[edit]

Other[edit]

Former staff[edit]

Notable former teachers[edit]

Headmasters[edit]

Headmasters chronology
Name School Years
Rev. Thomas Wright Greenall Newchurch 1876–1879[61][62]
Matthias James Stephenson Newchurch 1879[63]
Rev. Hubert Edwards Chapman Newchurch 1880[64]
Rev. Reynell Wreford Hay Newchurch ?–1892
Thomas E. Jackson Newchurch, BRGS 1892–1921[65]
Edmund H. Holden BRGS 1921–1948[65]
William Copley BRGS 1949–1960[65]
Philip Clark BRGS 1969–1987[65]
Martyn R. Morris, OBE BRGS 1988–2004[65]
Marc Morris BRGS 2005–2011[65]
Alan Porteous BRGS 2012–2022

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School: About Us". Bacup & Rawtenstall Grammar School. 2023. Archived from the original on 17 June 2023. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  2. ^ "Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School: Governing Body". Bacup & Rawtenstall Grammar School. 2023. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Newbigging, Thomas (1893). History of the forest of Rossendale. University of California Libraries. Rawtenstall [Eng.] : J.J. Riley.
  4. ^ M.B. Ormerod. History of Newchurch Grammar School. 1701–1913
  5. ^ "Baptisms at St Nicholas in the Parish of Newchurch in Rossendale". Lancashire OnLine Parish Clerk Project. 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  6. ^ "Hugh Allport Hay". The Aerodrome. 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  7. ^ "Kelly's Directory of Wiltshire" (12th ed.). 1907. p. 110. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Clark, Philip Lane (1991). Good state schools guide : the only parents' guide to the best of state education. Internet Archive. London : Ebury Press. ISBN 978-0-85223-970-4.
  9. ^ "'Happy family' BRGS head stepping down". rossendale. 12 November 2004. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  10. ^ "BRGS FREEDOM Website".
  11. ^ "Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School - GOV.UK".
  12. ^ "Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School - GOV.UK".
  13. ^ "Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School - GOV.UK".
  14. ^ "Star Schools".
  15. ^ "Admissions to the Academy". Bacup & Rawtenstall Grammar School. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
  16. ^ "Trinity Mirror data team creates 'most comprehensive guide ever' to secondary schools in England and Wales". Press Gazette. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  17. ^ Evans, Natalie (29 September 2013). "Secondary schools league table: Find out where yours ranks". The Mirror. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  18. ^ Abbit, Beth (9 February 2015). "Rossendale grammar school ranked among best in country". Rossendale Free Press. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  19. ^ a b c d "Sport Archive | Bacup & Rawtenstall Grammar School". BRGS. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  20. ^ a b Clark, P. L. (1987) "A Pen Portrait — Six Internationals 1977-1987" The Squirrel [1]
  21. ^ a b c d "BRGS students who have competed in sport at international level | Bacup & Rawtenstall Grammar School".
  22. ^ a b Football news BRGS.
  23. ^ BRGS. "Valencia 2014", 25 February 2014. https://www.brgs.org.uk/news/2014-02-25-valencia-2014
  24. ^ BRGS. "Valencia Football Trip February 2010", 15 February 2010. https://www.brgs.org.uk/news/2010-02-15-valencia-football-trip-february-2010
  25. ^ a b HRH The Earl of Wessex visits B.R.G.S. BRGS. 31 October 2005
  26. ^ Roper, D. (18 July 2016). Outstanding BRGS celebrating 'best ever' Ofsted report Rossendale Free Press, 18 July 2016
  27. ^ Robinson, J. (10 February 2016). Headteacher hailed as 'exceptional and visionary' after school receives highest Ofsted grade Lancashire Telegraph
  28. ^ Tweed, Lyell (13 September 2022). "Once outstanding school now plagued by racism, homophobia, and more says report". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  29. ^ Beaney, A. (13 September 2022). Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School rated 'inadequate' by Ofsted Lancashire Telegraph
  30. ^ Humphreys, Jemma (2 February 2008). "Interview: Natalie Casey". Chorley Citizen. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  31. ^ "Valley's TV star Pattie dies of cancer". 19 October 2002.
  32. ^ Jajecznyk, S. (10 January 2018). Valley actor Agyness Deyn stars in primetime crime drama Hard Sun Rossendale Free Press
  33. ^ "The Return of Agyness Deyn, the Last Pre-Instagram Supermodel". 21 September 2019.
  34. ^ "Agyness Deyn: 'Who am I?'". TheGuardian.com. 26 February 2012.
  35. ^ BRGS, Duke Of Edinburgh Awards 2008-09 5 January 2009
  36. ^ "Our School - Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar, Waterfoot". 17 June 2002.
  37. ^ a b c d e "Ex-students from Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School celebrate a century of education". 22 October 2013.
  38. ^ "East Lancs rugby star is top player". 4 August 2010.
  39. ^ ""Dr Ice" is honoured by Valley". Lancashire Telegraph. 13 June 2006. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  40. ^ "Former student Mollie Campbell in GB Senior Basketball Team".
  41. ^ "England national age groups appointments | FIH". www.fih.ch. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  42. ^ Thomson, D. Nick Clark - England Hockey U18 Coach 22 February 2021.
  43. ^ Hoad, A. England under-21 hockey coach Nick Clark named new coach of Canterbury Hockey Club 12 August 2010.
  44. ^ England indoor squads announced FIH. 9 December 2008
  45. ^ "Hanley hopes to have found the winning formula". 29 December 2005.
  46. ^ "Loughborough Lightning hand captaincy to Rachel Henry for new campaign". Sky Sports. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  47. ^ Reese, B. Henry seeks last hurrah over Thunder 27 February 2015.
  48. ^ "Rachel's England call-up". rossendale. 11 March 2004. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  49. ^ a b Football debut for former student p. 7. Retrieved 7 January 2023
  50. ^ "Jess Leyden Rowing Success". www.brgs.org.uk.
  51. ^ Woods, M. (13 August 2022). British rowing bounces back with four golds in European Championships The Guardian
  52. ^ World Rowing Championships: GB win four golds on penultimate day BBC Sport. 24 September 2022.
  53. ^ MacDonald, R. (23 August 2022). Keira Walsh's Rossendale links honoured through surprise bus plans LancsLive.
  54. ^ Musical Events at B,R.G.S. 1986–87
  55. ^ "Tree Dedication".
  56. ^ "The Right Reverend John (Jack) Nicholls, Lord Bishop of Sheffield". Sheffield Hallam University. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  57. ^ Message Board p.14. Summer 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2023
  58. ^ The Squirrel Part 1
  59. ^ Obituary. Trevor Park
  60. ^ "A Servant of Two Masters – A BRGS Theatre Production".
  61. ^ Venn, J. A. Alumni cantabrigienses; a biographical list of all known students, graduates and holders of office at the University of Cambridge, from the earliest times to 1900 1954. p. 133. University of Cambridge
  62. ^ McDonalds History 1879.
  63. ^ "Lancashire OnLine Parish Clerk Project".
  64. ^ The History of Newchurch Grammar School (Part 1)
  65. ^ a b c d e f Staff of BRGS BRGS.

External links[edit]

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