Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne

The gates of the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle

Newcastle upon Tyne Royal Grammar School, known locally as The RGS, is a long-established co-educational, independent school. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, located in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.

History

The RGS was founded in 1525 by Thomas Horsley, within the grounds of St Nicholas' Church, Newcastle. Planning is believed to have begun as early as 1477. The site has moved five times since then, most recently to Jesmond in 1906. The new school building was officially opened on January 17th 1907. An 1868 description reads,

There are many public schools, the principal one being the Royal Free Grammar school founded in 1525 by Thomas Horsley, Mayor of Newcastle, and made a royal foundation by Queen Elizabeth. It is held in the old hall of St. Mary's Hospital, built in the reign of James I., and has an income from endowment of about £500, besides a share in Bishop Crew's 12 exhibitions at Lincoln College, Oxford, lately abolished, and several exhibitions to Cambridge. The number of scholars is about 140. Hugh Moises, and Dawes, author of "Miscellanea Critica," were once head-masters, and many celebrated men have ranked among its pupils, including W. Elstob, Bishop Ridley, Mark Akenside, the poet, Chief Justice Chambers, Brand, the antiquary and town historian, Horsley, the antiquary, and Lords Eldon, Stowell, and Collingwood.

Description

The RGS currently has 1216 pupils, of which 360 are in the sixth form and 186 in the Junior School, making it one of the largest in the independent sector. After 450 years as a boys' school, girls were first admitted to the sixth form in 2001. The school became totally co-educational in 2006. Former pupils of the RGS are known as Old Novocastrians ("Novocastrian" is Dog Latin for "citizen of Newcastle"), or Old Novos for short.

The school is noted for its all-round excellence in the North East: academically, musically, and in sport.

The RGS is located opposite Central Newcastle High School, a single-sex girls' school. The RGS often shares activities such as drama and school trips with them.

Within the Senior School (years 7 - 11 and the sixth form) are four houses, named Collingwood, Eldon, Horsley and Stowell. In the Junior School (years 3 - 6) are four houses, named Red, White, Blue and Green. The Senior School is located on Eskdale Terrace, while the Junior School is currently housed on the adjoining Lambton Road, but a new Junior School on the main school site will be in use from September 2006.

The RGS has Combined Cadet Force (CCF) Army and Navy contingents, open to both boys and girls from the RGS and Central Newcastle High School, however some members of CCF who have moved schools, for a variety of reasons, are often still welcome to attend. The CCF provides leadership training by means of military exercises. Cadets have weekly training sessions after school, and opportunities to go on extended training and adventure trips during the holidays. The Army section of NRGS CCF are affiliated to the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, and the Navy Section are affiliated to HMS Calliope which is situated on the Tyne next to the Baltic.

In recent years the school's debating society has become increasingly prominent within the debating community. In October 2004 the school hosted the first Northern Junior Debating Championship, which has now become an annual competition. It is notable for being the first competition of the school calendar. The society also regularly enters teams for other competitions, and has reached the finals' day of both the Oxford Union and Cambridge Union schools' competitions in recent years, and reached the final of the International Competition for Young Debaters in 2006.

The school is very strong in sport. The primary sports that are played at RGS are rugby, hockey, football, netball, cricket, swimming and athletics. The school is dominant in each of these fields of sport, moreso in rugby than the other sports with some of their pupils representing England RFSU at U16 and U18 level. Fred Burdon (U16), Tom Jokelson and Michael Johnson (U18) are the 3 latest players to have represented their country at international level.

James Miller has been headmaster of the school since 1994. He intends to retire in 2008. He will be succeeded by Dr. Bernard Trafford, currently headmaster of Wolverhampton Grammar School. The Second Master is Tony Bird. There are 91 members of teaching staff in the Senior School, 6 of whom are part-time. In the Junior School there are a further 6 members of teaching staff including the Headmaster Roland Craig (since 1999), and Deputy Head Ken Wilkinson. There are also approximately 68 members of maintenance staff under the management of Richard Metcalfe, the school Bursar (who previously worked at Durham University), as well as 14 private music tutors.

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RGS school uniform as updated in 2006

The RGS school uniform was updated for all new pupils as of September 2006. The accompanying picture, from a school brochure, depicts the new design.

The school magazine, Novo, comes out once per term and features trip reports, sporting news, outstanding poetry and artwork, and a section on recently-joined or departing staff. A student-run newspaper, the re-Issue, was created in September 2003 and contained reviews, opinion columns, road-tests and humour pieces. It ran roughly twice per term until its demise in summer 2005, but was replaced in early 2006 by The Grammar, a more serious and formal piece than the photocopied re-Issue, which has both printed and internet sections. The publication's website, thegrammar.com, features a blog by the Head of Careers, among others.

Since 1965, the school has held a "Prizegiving" ceremony each November, to recognise academic achievement and bring the school together. It was held at the Newcastle City Hall, since no space on campus could hold all teachers, students, and parents. Due to declining interest by parents, students, and teachers, the school announced in 2007 that it will it, in favour of a series of smaller gatherings and a public festival.

Buildings and grounds

The RGS's main buildings are in a complex located on Eskdale Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne.

There have since been a number of large-scale building operations to provide the school with better facilities and to accommodate for the expansion of the school as it prepares to admit girls at all major entrance points from September 2006.

In 1997, Professor Richard Dawkins opened the new Science and Technology Centre (STC), with Physics and Design & Technology laboratories downstairs, and Chemistry and Biology laboratories upstairs. In 2003 the STC was renamed The Neil Goldie Centre in memory of Neil Goldie, who died earlier that year. At the time he was the school's Head of Science and Technology.

In 1998, a new Sports' Hall containing basketball courts and updated gymnastics facilities was opened. The building also provides facilities for table tennis, fencing, and weight-training, plus a gymnasium available to pupils of the school in their free time. During the height of summer examination seasons the hall is used for pupils sitting public examinations and is closed to all other activities.

In 2005, the music and economics block was demolished. A new Performing Arts Centre and Modern Languages department was completed in September 2006. It includes a 300-seat auditorium for school concerts and productions, a musical recital hall, a drama/dance studio, recording facilities, a band room, a percussion room, and a number of classrooms where modern languages and music will be taught. Also in 2005, an extension to the school's dining hall which has been created as the new Junior School site.

A floodlit all-weather surface has been in use since January 2006, on land that once was part of the school field. Aside from the school field, which is primarily used for rugby, the school also owns land in nearby Jesmond for sports use. A full size football pitch was created there in early 2005. The school has also recently agreed a 50-year lease of the County Cricket Ground on Osborne Avenue, Jesmond.

Notable former pupils

• Nicholas Ridley (died October 16, 1555). English clergyman and Protestant martyr.
• George Hall, Bishop of Dromore (fl. 1662-1668) [3]
• William Elstob (1674? -1715), Anglo-Saxon scholar and Church of England clergyman.
• Mark Akenside (1721-1770), 18th Century English poet and physician
• John Brand (1744-1806), 18th Century English historian
• William Scott, 1st Baron Stowell (1745-1836), English judge and jurist
• Cuthbert Collingwood (1750-1810), Admiral Lord Collingwood of Trafalgar fame
• John Scott (1751-1838), 1st Earl of Eldon, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
• George Swinburne (1861–1928) Australian engineer, politician and public man
• Basil Bunting (1900-1985), poet
• Lúcio Costa(1902-1998), Brazilian architect, designer of the Pilot Plan of Brasília.
• Sir Richard Southern (1912-2001), historian
• Brian Redhead (1929-1994), presenter of BBC Radio 4's Today programme (1975-1993)
• Peter Taylor (1930-1997), Baron Taylor of Gosforth and Lord Chief Justice (1992-96)
• Sir Alistair Graham (1942- ), Chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life
• Paul W. S. Anderson (1965-), film director, producer and screenwriter
• Bharat Nalluri (1965-), BAFTA winning British television and film director
• Nick Bell (1983- ), entrepreneur and winner of North East Business Executive of the Year 2004
• Fraser Forster (1988- ), professional footballer

External links

• RGS website
• Website of The Grammar, the student news magazine
• Old Novocastrians Association website
• Google Maps satellite image of the main school in Jesmond