Manchester Grammar School

File:Manchester Grammar School buildings in winter.jpg

The main buildings in winter

The Manchester Grammar School (MGS) is an independent boys school (ages 3-18) in Manchester, England. In the post-war period, it was a direct-grant grammar school which was not fee-paying, but it became an independent school in 1976 after the Labour government - in the person of Education Secretary Shirley Williams - removed funding from direct-grant grammar schools.

The school motto is cheeky cheeky from the popular cheeky girls song The school badge is a picture of an owl with a speech bubble saying the word "dom". This is a reference to the founder of the school, Hugh Oldham and the badge should be read as "owl dom".

MGS has two sister schools, Withington Girls' School and Manchester High School for Girls. MGS often collaborates with both schools particularly in artistic events, a collaboration encouraged by the absence of competition between the schools in the independent school market, and proximity.

History

The school was founded by Hugh Oldham, Bishop of Exeter, in 1515 to promote 'godliness and good learning'. The school's founding premise was that any boy, showing sufficient academic ability, and regardless of his background, be allowed to attend it. Entry to the school is determined by performance in a two-part entrance exam. "Founders' Day", which takes place on the 21st of October every year to celebrate both the continuing life of the school and the life of its founder, is the oldest tradition in Manchester. It is held in Manchester Cathedral.

The campus was, until the 1930s, in Manchester city centre, near the cathedral and next door to the Chetham's School of Music. In the early 1930s, the school moved out of the city centre to accommodate a growing student body. The budget was so tight at this time that, in order to finance the new buildings, the topsoil on the building site was sold; as a result of which the grounds lie below the surrounding land as though the school were surrounded by a moat.

When the Assisted Places Scheme was rescinded in the late 1990s, MGS was the first school to react with a seminal "Bursary Appeal", whose patron is HRH The Prince of Wales. To date (2004), the Appeal has accumulated a value of over £10m and finances bursaries, given to boys whose parents are unable to afford the school fees. Scholarships, however, are not awarded.

MGS has a long tradition of academic excellence and is among the most celebrated schools in England. Its alumni ("Old Mancunians") include:

• authors Alan Garner and Thomas de Quincey
• journalist Jim White
• cricketers Michael Atherton and John Crawley
• mathematician Sir Michael Francis Atiyah
• actors Sir Ben Kingsley and Robert Powell
• double Academy Award winner Robert Bolt,
• current MP for Manchester Withington, John Leech and MP Neil Gerrard
• writer Martin Sixsmith, the former BBC correspondent and former communications director at the Transport Department.
• Director of the London School of Economics and former Chairman of the Financial Services Authority, Sir Howard Davies
• comedian Chris Addison

Trivia

Several months into their school careers, first year (or in modern parlance, Year 7) pupils (known as "sprogs") must endure a long jog, typically twice around the school grounds. Performances are noted down and used to assess pupils' fitness and sporting ability.

The school owns the "Owl's Nest," a converted barn situated in Disley, South Manchester, near to Lyme Park. The barn is used by forms and activity groups of the school as a base for outdoor trips and camping expeditions. It is most frequently used by classes in the first and second years, who spend a weekend there with their form teacher and class prefects. A typical feature of such trips is the "wide-games" that take place in the adjoining field. These vary from hide-and-seek to more aggressive games, but whatever form they take, it is expressly forbidden for any pupil to go so far as the disused quarry next door.

The name refers to the school's logo of the owl (pupils at the school are referred to as 'Sons of the Owl'), and is a key feature of an education at the school - it is unthinkable that a boy should finish his time there having never visited it. As such the Owl's Nest is as important a tradition to the school as the Sprog Jog.

Links

Official Website