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Ermysted's Grammar School

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Ermysteds Grammar School
Address
Map
Gargrave Road

Skipton
,
North Yorkshire
,
BD23 1PL

England England
Information
TypeVoluntary aided grammar
MottoSuivez La Raison
Established1492
FounderPeter Toller, William Ermysted
Local authorityNorth Yorkshire
SpecialistScience
OfstedReports
Deputy HeadsMr. D G Clough, Mr. I McMechan
HeadmasterMr. G Hamilton
PredecessorMr. T L Ashworth
Staff50
GenderBoys
Age11 to 18
Enrollment750
HousesErmysted  
Hartley  
Petyt  
Toller  
Colour(s)Black and White   
Head BoyAndrew Cairns
Deputy Head BoysToby Coughlin, Joshua Ellis-Jones, Andrew Watson
Websitehttp://www.ermysteds.n-yorks.sch.uk/

Ermysteds Grammar School is a LEA-funded selective boys' Grammar School in Skipton, North Yorkshire teaching over 700 pupils.

It is the seventh oldest state school in Britain and was founded by Peter Toller in the 15th century. The first official record of the school was seen in Peter Toller's will in 1492. Therefore the school records its establishment as the same year.

The motto of the school is 'Suivez La Raison'. Translation from the French is roughly 'follow the truth'. The school operates a house system with inter-house competition in sports, and an annual house quiz held around Christmas. The four houses, Toller (blue tie), Ermysted (yellow tie), Petyt (green tie) and Hartley (red/burgundy tie), are named after key figures in the school's history. Whilst it operated a boarding house Ermysted's boarders were members of School House (red tie) which was affiliated with Ermysted House for the purposes of inter-house competition.

The current headmaster is Mr. Graham Hamilton, his predecessor, Mr. Thomas Ashworth, retired at the end of the 2007/2008 school year. The departing headboy is Richard Carr, and his successor will be Andrew Cairns.

The A-level results of 2006 officially placed it as the best school in Yorkshire, ranking higher than fee paying schools, and amongst the top 25 nationally.[1] The school repeated this success in the 2007 exams, placing amongst the top schools nationally again.[2]

Brief history

Sylvester Petyt who endowed the school with £30,000. Portrait from the National Portrait Gallery

1492 - Peter Toller's will confirmed that he had already founded a school in his chantry of St Nicholas in the parish church, the school takes this as its founding date.

1548 - Edward VI's government took over all chantry lands. William Ermysted re-founded the school with new lands and moved it to the bottom of Shortbank Road.

1707 & 1719 - Wills of Old Boys William and Sylvester Petyt were responsible for gifts to the school, and foundation of the Petyt Library and Petyt Trust.

1773 - Leeds and Liverpool Canal reached Skipton, partly built on E.G.S. land.

1875 - Gargrave Road building begun for 50 day boys and 50 boarders.

1876-1907 - Mr E. T. Hartley, headmaster at the new school.

1882 - Pool & Old Gym (now I.C.T., music and R.E. rooms) begun.

1895 - Science block built (A.P.L. + quiet room).

1924 - First World War, memorial library set up by old boys' society (now Governors' Board Room).

1929 - First award of Cook Cup for champion house (won by Hartley).

1933 - "New buildings" opened (rooms A-H, staff room and science laboratories).

1959 - Memorial Hall (to those lost in the Second World War).

1989 - School House closes its doors to boarders.

1992 - Quincentenary celebrations - visit by H.R.H. The Princess Royal; pageant; new sports hall.

2002 - "The Great Gas Leak of 2002" - one of the school's typically decrepit gas taps causes the entire school to be evacuated onto the bottom fields

2003 - New English/CDT block. Opened by H.R.H. The Duke of Kent.

2006 - Ermysted's gains specialist status in science and mathematics.

2007 - New refectory replaces the ageing canteen as the communal food hall. Built on the site of the 1927 'San'(atorium).

2008 - New gym installed in the sports hall.

2008 - Old gym and sixth form common room converted into two new ICT classrooms and two new religious studies classrooms.

2008- School library merged with IT1 to extend library.

2009 - Old Library refurnished and new Sixth Form Library created replacing old Boarders' Dining Room.

Buildings

The school is situated between Gargrave Road and Grassington Road. The bulk of the buildings are 19th and early 20th centuries, although many newer buildings now exist, such as the sports hall and Refectory to the north of the site, and the 'English Block', housing CDT, English and ICT facilities to the east. Following recent increases in funding and money, resulting from the school's specialist status, most of the classrooms in the older buildings have been refurbished and brought up to modern standards; such as the introduction of electronic whiteboards in many of the science laboratories and languages and Maths classrooms. A Food Technology building is in the course of construction (between the English Block and the Refectory).

OFSTED Inspections

In the 2000 OFSTED inspection, the school's results were 'very high' against the national average, especially upon entry, where year 7s (age 11/12) work to a level 'expected of pupils aged 14.' It has an 'outstanding' 6th form with a wide range of subjects.

The school is 'very successful' at allowing pupils to reach high academic standards, and the quality of teaching is 'good.'

In the past decade the school has ranked among the top state schools in England for 'A'-level results.[citation needed]

In the 2005 OFSTED inspection, the sixth form was described as “outstanding” and achieved Grade 1 Outstanding in every category of assessment.[3]

The 2008 OFSTED inspection was on Wednesday 22 October and the school was delighted to receive an "Outstanding" verdict overall. Seven out of eight areas were given an outstanding verdict.[4] The report is now available to view on the Ofsted website [5]

Events

The school has two principal annual events. Founders' Day, in December, when a service is held in Skipton Parish Church to commemorate it's founders and benefactors attracts many Old Boys both to the service and following dinner. Speech Day in July is the annual prize-giving and summation of the school year. The active Parents' Association organises many social and fund-raising events such as a biennial Spring Ball, wine tasting and big band nights.

Sport

Sport is a major part of Ermysted's life. The school competes in Rugby Union, Cross-Country, Orienteering, Cricket and Football tournaments with teams, and gains considerable success in events entered. The 1st XI Football are currently enjoying a fruitful campaign and won the county shield, and the 1st XV Rugby team won the Daily Mail Vase Final 2007, the national schools competition. Meanwhile the cross country team continues to dominate in the North of England perhaps due to the fact that once every year all students are required to participate in a school cross country race, which takes place in Aireville Park during the Autumn Term. In December Ermysted's "Inter Boys team finished runners-up in the National Final of the English Schools' Cross-Country Cup competition, held at St. Albans. This repeated the performance of 2005 Junior Boys team at Leeds. Occurring annually in the Summer term is Sports Day, during which students compete at athletics in front of a huge crowd.

Rugby Kit
Football Kit

Music

The school's successful Big Band has twice toured Germany, and has another tour planned for 2010, under the tutelage of music teacher Simon Gregory and regularly performs in concerts at school as well as at other prestigious local venues. To date they have produced two CDs. Ermysted's also has a developing string group, providing ensemble experience to young pupils and a chance for the virtuosic older pupils in regular solos. The Junior Big Band is a stepping stone to the Senior Big Band and is primarily for pupils in Years 7-9. A significant proportion of boys receive musical tuition at school and there are now three practise rooms in addition to the main music room and the hall available for pupils and their amateur bands to rehearse. Recently, a highly successful covers band, fronted by head boy '07-'08 Christopher Greenwood, 'Topher G and The Smoochies' has taken both fundraisers and proms by storm.

The school has a notable record in ensembles at all levels. The two most recent leaders of the highly commended Harrogate Youth Jazz Orchestra have come from Ermysted's. It is always well represented in the other senior ensembles of Harrogate Music Centre and has provided the County ensembles with no fewer than a dozen members over the last few years. Two ex-Ermysted's pupils played for the National Youth Orchestra and National Youth Jazz Orchestra during their time at Ermysted's and have both gone to Chetham's to take their music further.

Drama

Although Drama is not taught as a subject in its own right, it forms an integral part of the English curriculum, and a weekly Drama Club meets every Monday lunchtime at 12.00pm.

School plays occur once every two years, in conjunction with Skipton Girls' High School. The latest production was Theatro Diablo based on the 70's musical Disco Inferno and written by a group of enthusiastic Year 11s. The musical was directed by Vahan Salorian, and the show was, overall, extremely well received, with rave reviews in the local newspaper, the Craven Herald & Pioneer.

In addition to various pantomimes and subject-related (namely Latin and Modern Foreign Languages) drama activities, house plays by Years 7-9 occur annually in the Autumn term, with an independent adjudicator voting for the best play.

A group of students also take part in the annual English Schools' Shakespeare Festival. In 2007, an edited version of Julius Caesar was performed at Bradford's Priestley Theatre, and just before the Autumn half-term 2008 an abridged version of Hamlet was performed at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.

One of the first drama productions was "First Years" in 1990, a school-based comedy written and directed by David Gray-Clough, who was then Head of English at the school. Head of Music Simon Gregory was responsible for the music, and jokingly said he regretted working with Clough ever since, claims the latter of the two in the school's official annual publication, the Chronicles of Ermysted's.

Debating

The school has a long history of competitive debating, and after a hiatus of some years, a debating club was set up in late 2006. The school puts forward teams in many events, with some success: in 2007, Ermysted's pupils were placed 3rd out of 24 schools in the 'Great Shakespeare Debate' in Stratford-upon-Avon, and reached the regional final of the ESU Schools Debating Mace. A Sixth Form team will also participate in the European Youth Parliament Debating Forum National Final in September 2009, having won the "Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Final".

School Publications

The Chronicles of Ermysted's is the official annual school publication, containing details of any notable school events, student visits, results, destinations, school activities and, more recently, what the student would like to include. The latest publications of the Chronicles was entirely written, designed and edited by Sixth Formers for the first time as it put on a new, modernised flavour, a relief to the more senior pupils who were getting quite bored of the old chronicles. This was pleasing to the young members of the school but considered "too much like Ted" by some teachers. Ted is an entirely student-run school magazine, started by the notable leavers of 2008, and carried on by the current sixth formers. It is a site of much inside-joking, ranting and fun-making, and, while not received well by everyone due to its controversies and type of humour, it is always highly anticipated by others. Online publications of the magazine can be found at: http://ermysted.freeblogit.com/

Famous alumni

Trivia

  • Ermysted's Rugby 1st Team recently played at Twickenham, beating Wilmslow High School 3–0 to claim the Daily Mail Vase.[8]
  • A House Quiz takes place annually in school during which sixteen pupils from each year are chosen to represent their houses.
  • Mr Howarth, Head of History, published a book, A Grammar School At War in 2007, focusing upon the 54 Old Boys and Masters of the Skipton School who died serving in the armed forces during World War One. Copies are still available at the school and at the "Craven Museum" in the Skipton Town Hall. The profits generated went towards the construction of a commemorative plaque for the fallen Old Boys.
  • The father of utilitarian philosopher Henry Sidgwick, Reverend W. Sidgwick, was headmaster at Ermysteds during the 19th century. However, Henry himself was educated at Rugby School.
  • A team in Year 10 achieved a place in the national final of the Ifs Student Investor competition in 2009.
  • David Ingham, a former pupil of the school, has painted a picture of headmaster Mr Forster, who expelled him from the school. The painting will be hung in the School Library[9]

References

  1. ^ Ermysted's Grammar School - News
  2. ^ Pupils have A-level success down to a fine art - Yorkshire Post
  3. ^ "OFSTED 2005".
  4. ^ "OFSTED 2008" (PDF).
  5. ^ "OFSTED REPORT 2008".
  6. ^ http://twitter.com/ChrisMasonBBC
  7. ^ http://www.trussel.com/maig/archive7.htm
  8. ^ "Final heartbreak". Wilmslow Express. MEN Media. 2007-04-04. Retrieved 2008-11-03.
  9. ^ http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2559996/Artist-paints-portrait-of-school-head-who-expelled-him.html
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