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Torquay Boys' Grammar School

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Torquay Boys' Grammar School
Address
Map
Shiphay Manor Drive

Torquay
,
Devon
,
TQ2 7EL

England England
Information
TypeTrust, selective
MottoAude Sapere
Dare to be wise
Established1904
Local authorityDevon
SpecialistLanguages and Business and Enterprise
OfstedReports
Chairman of GovernorsBrian Wills Pope
Head teacherMr. R. E. Pike, B.A., B.Ed., F.R.S.A.
GenderBoys
Age11 to 18
Enrollment1040
HousesBlake, Davys, Frobisher, Gilbert, Hawkins, Ralegh
Colour(s)Blue  /Red 
PublicationTorquin
Websitehttp://www.tbgs.co.uk

Torquay Boys' Grammar School is a selective single sex grammar school in Torquay, Devon, England. As of 2009, it has approximately 1040 students[citation needed] 40 of which are thought to be highly homosexual. The school was founded in 1904 and celebrated its centenary in 2004. It has six houses named after famous British mariners.

Notable alumni include Members of Parliament, international rowers, clergymen, moot and a recent player for the England cricket team

History

The school was founded in 1904 as "The Torquay Pupil Teachers Centre", with premises in Abbey Hall, Rock Road. It opened its doors on 4 September 1904. The school, by now called "Torquay Secondary School", later moved to its new location in Barton Road, where it was established under its current name. The new School was rebuilt on land purchased from Torquay Grammar School for Girls in 1982.

The school currently occupies Shiphay Manor, a 17th century manor with extensive parkland, known as 'the paddock', used by boys in year 10 or above for recreation.

Observatory

The school has its own astronomical observatory. Opened in 1989, it houses a 19.2" (0.5m) Newtonian reflector, and is used by the school itself, by the Torbay Astronomical Society, and is also regularly open to the public.[1]

The famous astronomer and broadcaster Sir Patrick Moore is a patron of the school and has maintained close ties- Ralegh House even performed the premiere of his operetta "Galileo" in the 1980s.

Academic

The school consistently has amongst the best public examination results in Devon and has become a candidate school which, as of academic year 2009-2011, will offer the International Baccalaureate as a sixth form examination option in addition to A levels.

The school has also performed well at national academic competitions; winning the UK Mathematics Trust and the Further Maths Network "Mathematics Challenge"[2], finishing as runners up in the national quiz championship for schools[3] and finishing third in the Ogden Trust National Schools Business Competition[4], to name but a few.

Nearly every student from the school goes on to study at university, with between twenty and thirty students going to Oxford or Cambridge each year. The school has been ranked amongst the top 10 boys' schools of its type in the UK for some years.

House system

Upon joining the school, a boy is assigned to one of the school's six houses.[5] The houses, consisting of around 25 pupils from a year group making a form group, compete in both academic and sporting disciplines to gain points in that year's House Championship. The Houses, of which six are currently in existence, are named after British seafarers.

In the sixth form, many lessons are shared with the neighbouring Torquay Grammar School for Girls, allowing students to benefit from each school's specialities. The Lower Sixth share the common room in Shiphay Manor, owned by the boys' school, while the two Upper Sixths share the Upper Sixth common room in the E Block boys' school.

Blake house

Admiral Robert Blake

Blake house is named after Admiral Robert Blake (1599–1657); its house colour is blue.[6] The Head of House is Mr. B. Prince, who is a complete half wit, oddly he also teaches Physical Education and was formerly deputy-head of Frobisher House. As with all of the school's houses, Blake has a strong tradition of charity work. As well as the separately-run form activities, Blake House have until recently written, produced and performed a show for the Gateway Club, which normally took the form of a variety show. However in 2007 they ran a production of The Wizard of Oz. In 2008 Blake house produced one show specifically for the Gateway Club, and a full show for the general public later will follow in 2009.

Davys house

Davys House is named after John Davis (1543—1605); its colour is white.[7] The Head of House is old grammarian Steve Margetts, who also heads the Department of Economics and Business Studies. The Deputy Head of House is David Hore, head of Key Stage 3 History.

Davys House, while not producing a student-led production each year, have recently carried out "Staff Pantomimes" including Cinderella and A Christmas Carol. These have always been shown to the Students of Davys House during the last House Assembly before the Christmas break, and then shown again during lunchtime to the whole school for a small entrance fee, with all money raised going towards the Davys House Charity.

With the dawn of Steve Margetts' headship of Davys House, entered the dawn of a completely new approach to the school's annual "Away Day", where the House now does "a little good to the community... with a twist", where all the Pupils assist in improving the surrounding area of Torbay in one way or another. The debut in 2006 was linked in with the local Paignton Zoo, where the whole House made Pinatas on School campus to subsequently feed to Baboons at the Zoo. Though the reception of this idea was positive by both Pupils and the Zoo alike, due to the mess created by the Pinatas, the likelihood of a similar idea in the future seems minimal. In the subsequent two years, Steve Margetts and Davys House linked up with Living Coasts to help clean up beaches in the Local area, followed up by a tournament of Football once the cleanup had finished. This has proved a very successful and worthwhile idea, and there is scope for future events of this nature to occur.

Another key, and now defining, feature that Steve Margetts brought to the Davys House is the introduction of the "Friday Form Group" or "Vertical Form Group", where Pupils of the House are mixed into various years (contrary to the normal placement of a Tutor Group consisting of only one year, seen throughout the school) and assigned a teacher different to their normal Form Tutor. This event usually happens every Friday, but come together for special occasions such as the Away Day. This idea was initially implemented to enhance the relations between the various years in the school, thus creating a more well rounded and untited House. However, since its introduction, the Vertical Tutor Group system has been used in competitions, allowing a more fair spread of ability than various years against each other. The rivalry between the different Vertical Tutor Groups are kept on a leader board, where points are awarded for various competitions, how well the group does in school and on how much money they raise for the Davys House Charity, which the House still holds dear as one of its Main focuses and Goals.[citation needed]

Frobisher house

Frobisher House is named after Sir Martin Frobisher (c. 1535 or 1539–1594).[8] It is the second-youngest of the current houses (splitting from the Ralegh House in 1994) and its house colour is gold. The current head of house is Mrs Jones, an Art and Technology teacher. Frobisher has narrowly missed out on winning the House Championship during the previous 5 years, the closest was in the 2004–2005 academic year when Ralegh pipped Frobisher to the post by just 1/4pt.

The intake for the academic year 1993–1994 was increased to allow for the creation of an extra form group called 7 Frobisher-Ralegh. For the purposes of the House Championship, the form group was considered part of Ralegh, but otherwise it was a separate House under Mr J G A Palmer.

In the academic year 1994–1995, Frobisher became a truly separate house. Adjustments made because of the House's small size included Frobisher assembles taking place in the school library rather than school hall (until the academic year 1995–1996).

Frobisher have a long history of producing a show for the school. This year the show will be an adaptation of "A Knight's Tale". This particular show is a new type of production in the school, since it is to be performed in the round.

Gilbert house

Gilbert house is named after Sir Sir Humphrey Gilbert. (c. 1537–1583)[9] The current Head of House is PE teacher Mr Lyne-Ley, former deputy Head of House for Hawkins. The deputy Head of House is RE Teacher Mr R Davies. The house colour is green. England cricketer Chris Read was a pupil in Gilbert House, and was guest of honour at the opening of the school's new changing rooms. Gilbert is also known for its charity work, raising large sums for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Gilbert is one of the most steadfast houses in producing a pantomime each year. 2007 brought the show Aladdin, which was almost entirely produced by students from the Gilbert house, with some performers coming from the Grammar School for Girls.

Hawkins house

Sir John Hawkins

Hawkins house is named after Sir John Hawkins (1532–1595).[10] Hawkins house is the newest house, established in the academic year 2006–2007. Its creation was mainly due to headmaster Roy Pike's wishes for class sizes to be reduced across the school. The head of house for Hawkins is Mrs Morath, formerly the deputy head of Ralegh House. Its house colour is purple. As of academic year 2008-2009, the deputy head of Hawkins is Mr. J. Bainbridge. In the first two years of its existence, Hawkins produced two shows: an adaptation of Snow White and The Rocky Monster Show.

Ralegh house

Ralegh house is named after Sir Walter Raleigh (1552–1618).[11] Ralegh is one of the original four houses and its house colour is red. The Head of House is the art teacher David Reshad. The Deputy head is Adam Last. Ralegh House has won the House Championship for the last six years running

Ralegh have not regularly produced a show at the school but there is now a possibility that a talent show, taking a similar form to Britain's Got Talent, may be produced during 2009.

Centenary

To celebrate the school's centenary in 2004, the school decided to create a new theatre and hall, which was completed in 2007 and staged its first production, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, in early May of that year. The hall was officially opened in March 2008 by HRH Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex,[12] and named the 'Cavanna Centenary Hall' in recognition of donations from local business the Cavanna Group.

Notable members of staff

  • Retired teacher Dave Berry was awarded the Ted Wragg Teaching Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2006.[13]

Famous alumni

Notes

  1. ^ The Torquay Boys' Grammar School Observatory
  2. ^ Further Mathematics Network
  3. ^ Junior Challenge 2007
  4. ^ Business Competition
  5. ^ Torquay Boys' Grammar School - Pastoral System
  6. ^ Torquay Boys' Grammar School - Blake House
  7. ^ Torquay Boys' Grammar School - Davys House
  8. ^ Torquay Boys' Grammar School - Frobisher House
  9. ^ Torquay Boys' Grammar School - Gilbert House
  10. ^ Torquay Boys' Grammar School - Hawkins House
  11. ^ Torquay Boys' Grammar School - Ralegh House
  12. ^ "Prince Tells Students to Take Up Challenge", Herald Express, March 04, 2008, retrieved 2008-05-14 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help).
  13. ^ Hindmarch, Sonali (July 07, 2006), "Inspirational tales as teachers of the year are announced", SecEd, retrieved 2008-05-14 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help).
  14. ^ Sheehy, Noel (2003), Fifty Key Thinkers in Psychology, London: Routledge, p. 61, ISBN 0415167744.
  15. ^ Waller, Robert; Criddle, Byron (1999), The Almanac of British Politics, London: Routledge, p. 692.

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