Bradford Grammar School

Bradford Grammar School
Motto Hoc Age ('Do It')
Established 1548
Type Independent grammar school
Headteacher Mr. Stephen Davidson
Location Keighley Road
Bradford
West Yorkshire
 England
Students 1100
Gender Co-educational
Ages 6 to 18
School colours Blue & maroon
Built 1945
Went Co-ed 1999
Website BradfordGrammar.com

Bradford Grammar School is an independent, co-educational, public school in West Yorkshire. Headmaster, Stephen Davidson is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC). The school was founded in 1548 and granted its Charter by King Charles II in 1662.

Pupils are selected by a highly competitive examination. There are currently 925 pupils in the Senior School, including 276 in the Sixth Form and 188 in the Junior School (Clock House). The school became fully co-educational in September 1999, and girls now make up 30% of the school population.

Current senior school fees are around £11,900 per annum. Some bursaries are available to help with fees.

It is situated in Frizinghall, close to the Shipley Road (A650). Many pupils use Frizinghall railway station for their daily journey.

The school grounds have been used as a helicopter landing ground by the royal family when they are visiting the local area due to its large fields. The most recent landing was by the Princess Royal. Prince Charles has also landed at the school.

The school motto is Latin: Hoc Age (Do This1).

Contents

Education

The school is renowned nationally for attaining excellent pass rates in both A-Levels and GCSEs. In 2007, the pass rate for GCSE (Grades A* - C) was 100%, which was equalled by the A-Level students. 31 courses are offered for A-Levels, and 97% of sixth-form pupils went on to study further education or deferred a year2

The pupil to teacher ratio is 15:1, which is above average by today's school standards. Class sizes start at around 20 in the first year and are often below 10 by the final year. Currently there are 94 members of staff at the school, 17 of whom are part-time.

Facilities

The school has also recently built a multi-million pound Sixth Form Centre, funded primarily by Roger Evans and pupils' fund-raising. A popular addition to the Sixth Form life at BGS has been the cafe in the new Sixth Form Centre, nicknamed 'Angie's'. Paul Hockney, brother of artist David Hockney, funded the large theatre, where many school productions are performed. It is adjacent to the sports hall.

The school's IT facilities have been updated regularly in the past few years, and the school now has over 10 IT suites. Pupils have access to their files and email from home, by remote login. All pupils have access to the internet and email throughout the day, and sixth formers have an IT room with printer in the Sixth Form Centre that can be used at any time.

The school has a well-equipped DT department with over 4 labs, as well as an electronics department, and in 2006 BGS had the best electronics A-Level results in the country. The school's science suite is excellent with a building dedicated to the subjects of science. There are 5 Chemistry labs, 4 Biology labs, and 7 Physics labs in total.

The grammar school also has a well kept classics department, and it is compulsory for all pupils to study Latin for two years. Pupils can choose to go on to study Latin, Classical Civilisation or Ancient Greek to A-Level. The school's Modern Languages department is very well equipped. Pupils have the option to study Japanese, Russian, Spanish, French and German, and the school has a laboratory to facilitate the active learning of modern languages. There are over 20 networked computers, all equipped with language software and the ability to speak to a member of staff, as well as to be paired up to perform role-plays.

Sport

The school's first sport for boys is rugby, whilst for girls it is netball. The school also has facilities for many other sports including squash, tennis, table-tennis, cross-country, swimming, canoeing, sailing, cricket, golf and rowing, on the River Aire. All students have a choice of which sport they would like to do and they can take up this sport on Wednesday afternoon when school ends at 12.45pm.

The school recently built a new all-weather pitch, and since the completion, hockey has become very popular. Along with the astro-turf, the school also built four new tennis courts, making the total number of tennis courts nine. The school also had a new pavilion built in 2008. The school has two squash courts (each with their own showers and changing rooms) that also have been revamped in the last few years. BGS has five rugby pitches, and many national tournaments are held in the grounds. The sports hall is large and has recently been refloored. The school has an equipped gym with rowing machines, cycling machines, a treadmill and weights, along with an impressive climbing wall, a new swimming pool, and a further junior gym for basketball. Although many machines seem dilapidated, nly getting a fresh coat of paint to hide the rust. Some machines are also part broken. The school has just completed a £1,000,000 pavilion.

Other extracurricular activities

Combined Cadet Force

As an alternative or a supplement to extracurricular sport, the school maintains a volunteer Combined Cadet Force. In the 1960s, this was reduced to just the Army contingent. However, in recent years the numbers have swelled and the RAF section has been reopened. Pupils now regularly fly and partake in RAF courses.

Debating

The school is well known at national level for its competitive debating teams. Three pupils over the past five years have been selected for the England Schools' Debating team which competes at the World Schools Debating Championships, the best record of any school in England, and former pupils of the school have reached the Grand Final of the World Universities Debating Championships.

Music

The school has many musical groups and clubs including an orchestra, folk group, early music group, choir, junior orchestra, windband, samba band and string group. As well as this pupils can have private music lessons in school.

The arts

The interior walls of the school are decorated with artwork by pupils. A number of David Hockney's works are on display in public and private areas of the school. The music suite has several practice rooms and holds many concerts throughout the year - some with major orchestral works, some featuring one instrument and some featuring the musicians of a particular year group. A musical is staged every year and rock and folk concerts end the year. The Hockney Theatre hosts a programme through the year and a full-time technician manages a student production team to service the performances. Curriculum evenings by lower school drama groups or the A-Level Theatre Studies groups are placed between plays written specifically for pupils, Shakespeare performances, comedies and musicals. Recent productions have included Oliver!, Grease, Hedda Gabler, As You Like It, Blood Brothers, The Merchant of Venice, Peer Gynt and The Merry Wives of Windsor. In March 2007 the BGS Dramatic Society staged The Wiz, a jazz version of The Wizard of Oz.

History

The War

The 'new' school building in Frizinghall was actually completed in 1939, However the start of World War II prevented the building from being opened as a school. During the war, the main school building was used as a Primary Training Centre 3, and there is still evidence of this around the building. During this time, many of the pupils from BGS were evacuated to Settle4 and returned when the building was released from army occupation and completed. Inside the school there is a large memorial to the former pupils who died in the war.

The station

Frizinghall station closed in 1965 and remained closed for 22 years. During this time, staff and pupils at the school campaigned hard to get the station reopened. In the end, it was due to the efforts of an English teacher, Dr Robin Sisson who has since died, that the station was reopened. Now, over half of the passengers travelling on the Bradford lines alight or embark at Frizinghall station.

Notable Old Bradfordians

See also: Category:Old Bradfordians

References

  1. ^ Merriam-Webster definition of Hoc-Age
  2. ^ "isbi Schools"
  3. ^ The people's warA recollection by a soldier who was at BGS during the war.
  4. ^ The peoples war
  5. ^ Fellows biography
  6. ^ Cambridge biography
  7. ^ Schoolnet info
  8. ^ Bradford Libraries
  9. ^ Bradford Uni info leaflet
  10. ^ Oxford biography
  11. ^ History Honor Society
  12. ^ The Times obituary
  13. ^ Leeds University Honorary graduands
  14. ^ Autobiography
  15. ^ Leeds University presentation
  16. ^ David Hockney biography
  17. ^ Michael Jack official website
  18. ^ T&A article
  19. ^ PlayLouder interview
  20. ^ RFU profile
  21. ^ Beijing Olympics GB profile

External links

Wikipedia content modification information:

  • This page was last modified on 9 January 2009, at 17:29.

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