Manchester Grammar School

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Manchester Grammar School

Sapere Aude (Latin: "Dare to be wise")
Established	1515
School type	Independent
High Master	Christopher Ray
Surmaster	N. A. Sheldon
Location	Fallowfield, Manchester, England
Founder	Hugh Oldham
Website	www.mgs.org

The Manchester Grammar School (MGS) is an independent boys' school (ages 11-18) in Fallowfield, 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 sapere aude (dare to be wise). This is a quote from Horace, famously used by Immanuel Kant, and also the Motto of The Enlightenment. The school badge is an outline of an owl, carrying a banner with the word "dom" on it. 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 by geographical proximity.

1 Foundation
2 History
3 Funding
4 Alumni
5 Trivia
6 Buildings
7 Entrance
8 Discipline
9 Highmasters
10 External links

[edit] Foundation

Hugh Oldham attended Exeter College, Oxford and Queens' College, Cambridge, after having been tutored in the house of Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby. In spite of this, historical accounts suggest that he was not a particularly learned man. He was appointed Bishop of Exeter in 1504, being a favoured protégé of Countess Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII. His great wealth came from his water-powered corn mills on the River Irk.

On the 2nd July 1515 he signed an endowment trust deed establishing the Manchester Free Grammar School for Lancashire Boys. A site was purchased in September 1516 and construction took place between April 1517 and August 1518. The combined cost was £218.13s.5d, largely given by Oldham, but with the help of his and the Beswick families.

The school was situated between Manchester Cathedral, then a collegiate church, and the church’s domestic quarters, subsequently Chetham's School of Music. From the original statutes we see that its purpose was to promote “godliness and good learning,” and that its premise was that any boy showing sufficient academic ability, regardless of background, might attend.

Two years later his great friend Richard Fox, the Bishop of Winchester, wished to found a monastry. Oldham, however, convinced him instead to found Corpus Christi College in Oxford and contributed 6000 marks. Thus he did a great deal in establishing places of higher learning.

[edit] History

Aerial Shot of the Fallowfield site from 1950

In 1654, the world’s first free public library was formed next door to MGS in what had been the church’s living quarters. This was facilitated by a bequest from a wealthy businessman (and ex-pupil) Humphrey Chetham, which also served to create a bluecoat orphanage there, schooling 40 poor boys.

During the 1840s, Victoria Station was completed opposite the school and the church became Manchester Cathedral. Then, in the 1870s, a second building, the Manchester Grammar Extension, was built, designed by Alfred Waterhouse. It was connected to the original by a first-storey bridge. It is said that the bridge’s purpose was not for ease of movement between the parts of the school, but rather to dwarf Chetham’s gatehouse both in terms of size and grandeur.

In the early 1930s, the school moved out of the city centre to accommodate a growing student body. The new location chosen was Old Hall Lane in Fallowfield, where the school still stands. The budget was so tight at this time that, in order to finance construction of the new school, the topsoil surrounding the foundations was sold; as a result, the grounds lie below the main building as though the school were surrounded by a moat. Furthermore, the buildings are themselves below street level.

Both of the school’s earlier buildings lay empty, and while the former was destroyed in World War Two, the latter, renamed the Long Millgate Building, became a teacher training college in the 1950s. In 1969, Chetham’s School of Music was founded and occupied what had been the orphanage. When the teacher training college closed in 1978, Chetham’s took over the premises.

[edit] Funding

Owls are perched on every post along the playing fields fence.

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 (2006), the Appeal has accumulated a value of over £11m and finances bursaries, given to boys whose parents are unable to afford the school fees. Scholarships, i.e. monetary prizes awarded on merit regardless of need however, are not awarded.

[edit] Alumni

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

[edit] Mathematicians

Sir Michael Francis Atiyah is a prolific geometer who studied at the school for two years as preparation for Cambridge. He went on to attain a Fields Medal, the Abel Prize and the Order of Merit, as well as the positions of President of the Royal Society and Master of Trinity, his former college.

Edmund Taylor Whittaker also went on to study at Trinity settling at Edinburgh to make significant contributions to Mathematical Physics.

Clifford Cocks and Malcolm J. Williamson were peers at the school. They achieved silver and gold medals respectively at the 1968 IMO in Moscow while studying at MGS. They both went on to become cryptographers at GCHQ, a British intelligence agency, dealing with security of communications. While both made their own contributions to cryptography in the mid 70s, their results were considered national secrets and when they were discovered independently (about four years later in both cases) they received no credit for their work. It was only in 1997 that GCHQ chose to reveal their achievements. Clifford Cocks had developed RSA encryption, used in all online commerce, but named after the three men who first published the work.

[edit] MPs

Current MPs for Manchester Withington and Walthamstow, John Leech and Neil Gerrard respectively.

[edit] Cricketers

Michael Atherton captained the English cricket team in the mid nineties, which then included fellow old mancunian John Crawley. Mark Chilton and Gary Yates play at the county level for Lancashire and Hampshire respectively. However all four have played for Lancashire.

[edit] Others

Authors Alan Garner, William Harrison Ainsworth, Harold Brighouse (Hobson's Choice) and Thomas de Quincey
Poet Samuel Bamford
Journalists Jim White and Michael Crick
Actors Sir Ben Kingsley, George Coulouris, and Robert Powell
Double Academy Award winner Robert Bolt,
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
Pianist John Ogdon
Theatre and film director Nicholas Hytner
Historian Michael Wood

[edit] Trivia

The Alan Garner Junior Library is situated next to the Memorial Hall. Boys in lower school spend one library lesson per cycle reading here.

Poster for a dramatic performance from 1920 featruring actor George Coulouris. It was his stage debut.

Several months into their school careers, first year (or in modern parlance, Year 7) pupils (known as "sprogs") must endure The Sprog Jog, a long jog, typically twice around the school grounds. Performances are noted down and used to assess pupils' fitness and sporting ability. This takes place every year at the beginning of the Michelmas term. The Gatley, another long jog through the surrounding area has taken place as a voluntary inter-form event at the end of the Easter term for boys in years 7-10 for many years. During the past several years the school has failed to maintain this long held tradition and it is unknown whether it will ever return.

Every Friday that is also the 13th of the month is termed Sprog Bashing Day. In recent years this has served only as a lighthearted rumour. Serious threats or actual intimidation as a result of this historical oddity are unheard of, though it is unknown as to how real this event ever was.

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. Wide games such as Bull-dog take place in the field, and orienteering challenges in Lyme Park. The school takes steps to ensure that pupils do not enter 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.

The school operates a seven-day working week, called the Seven Day Cycle, as opposed to the timetable repeating according to a five-day week. For example, a particular Monday's schedule will next be repeated on the following Wednesday.

There are four annual School Camps which have been in existence for many decades. They are held at Grasmere, Lucton, Bassenthwaite and Borrowdale. Due to their popularity, another camp has been set up in 2006 to allow more pupils to go on camp.

Every February, Charities Fortnight is held. The school charities committee, formed of pupils in the sixth form, annually chooses four charities between which money raised is to be split. Each of these offers an assembly to the Lower School, and sometimes to the whole school, in order to raise awareness.

Money is raised by various means, starting with an own clothes day, known as Mufti Day. During the first week, the Memorial Hall hosts the "Grand Bazaar" for three days. At this, pupils operate stalls selling items, or operating casino and computer games. CDT's giant connect 4 game is usually present and there is a shoe-shine stall outside the lecture theatre. The following week sees four staff shows running Monday through Thursday. These take the form of well known TV shows such as Gladiators and Shooting Stars, and feature members of the Common Room.

There are four publications focusing on the school. Ulula is an annual glossy magazine detailing life at MGS that year. It contains activities of the societies, results achieved by the sports teams, dramatic and musical performances that have occurred, as well as a selection of literary and fine art work made by the boys. It also serves to announce new appointments, retirements and departures of staff members. For those pupils who leave in the year prior to the issue of Ulula, the university or sixth form college to which they are moving is listed. The New Mancunian, the school student newspaper is written and produced by students and has won several national awards. There is also a termly glossy magazine produced with similar content as well as the quarterly report by the Old Mancunians' Society.

Upon becoming head of the Maths department in 2003, Mr David Jeys had a recreation of a historical mathematical plaque installed at the northern end of the Maths corridor. It translates from the Greek as: Let No One Ignorant of Geometry Enter, and is recorded as having been inscribed above the entrance to Plato's Academy. [1]

The school operates secular assemblies most days and these are from 9:15 to 9:30. Lower school assembly takes place in the lecture theatre whilst the main assembly is in the Memorial Hall. They are usually given by the head of lower school and the highmaster respectively. On Fridays however religious assemblies of many denominations occur.

A bus service from MGS to Manchester's two main train stations Picadilly and Victoria has recently begun. Called the MGS Shuttle, it has three timetabled journeys, one before school and two after to cater for those leaving immediately and also those staying for an after school activity. A return journey costs £1.40.

[edit] Buildings

Interior of the Michael Atherton Sports Hall

The Swimming Pool

The Main Building, in keeping with in the style of Oxbridge, features a quadrangle and a grandiose memorial hall. There is also the Paton Library, Alan Garner Junior Library, staff common room, lecture theatre, refectory, medical room, book shop, gymnasium and swimming pool. This is in addition to classrooms (subjects taught in this building are Mathematics, Classics, Latin, Greek, History and Religious Studies) and administrative offices. In 2006 the school announced its first major construction work on the main building for some time, with the launch of a plan to refurbish the Lecture Theatre, with the view of bringing it up to the standard of a modern professional theatre.

The Mason Building is the school's language department. On the ground floor there are the Language Labs, two suites of listening stations, mainly used to practise the listening parts of national exams. Mr Cittanova has on occasion used the exterior wall for rock climbing, and some of the grips which he had installed are still present.

The Physics Block, just west of the main building, hosts the following departments: Physics, General Science (taken by first and second years - before the subject splits into the usual three divisions), Geography and some Mathematics. There are four physics laboratories, including one for radioactive experimentation, on the ground floor.

The English Block is just south of the physics block. It was intended to feature a drama hall in the centre, but this plan was scrapped due to a lack of funding. The third floor, accessible only from the eastern staircase, is used for the storage of the English department's large numbers of plays, poetry and fiction.

The Michael Atherton Sports Hall was opened by Mr. Atherton in 1997 and subsequently used by the Manchester Hallé Orchestra in recording of a live CD. The conductor, on a tour of the school, is said to have, upon entering, clapped loudly and then immediately requested the venue for the purpose, on hearing the acoustic qualities.

The Squash Courts are next door to the sports hall.

The Music Building is at the Telfer Avenue entrance at the rear of the school. There is a music library in the basement as well as a dozen or so music practise room, each having a piano, used for private lessons. It contains a keyboard suite allowing first and second years to learn basic keyboard playing and a hall on the west side used primariliy for orchestra rehearsals.

The Chemistry Building is adjoined to the Main Building. It houses the Chemistry department, and the upper floor is used for Middle School (years 9-11) Biology classes. The building, inconveniently, has two entrances (one near the Music Block, and one from the Main Building near the Refectory) leading to two non-connected corridors. This design element may have arisen out of a safety concern, since it currently serves to separate middle school exeriments from those undertaken by sixth formers.

The Rectory is located near the Michael Atherton Sports Hall, and is the home of the Biology Department. However it is only A-level biology that is taught there.

The Parker Art Hall is a three storey arts studio, situated in the south side of the main building. It includes a ceramics department with two kilns on the ground floor and also a dark room for photography.

The Pavilion contains changing rooms for sports teams and a cricket score board, is linked to the Butty Bar, a cafe serving MGS Burgers, Sandwiches, Slush Puppies etc., as well as the computing room and long room upstairs. The long room is now used as the sixth form common room, which was previously next to the photocopying room in the main stairwell.

[edit] Entrance

The School Uniform is worn by boys below the Sixth Form; thereafter, suits are worn.

Following optional attendance at open days (the second Saturday in October, and the following Tuesday), prospective pupils undertake the Part One Entrance Exam. This consists of a Mathematics exam and an English Exam. This first exam is taken by approximately 700-1000 boys on the last Friday in January. Its purpose is to select a smaller number of boys to undertake the second exam, which is more time-consuming to mark.

About 400 boys are invited to take part in the Part Two Entrance Exam on the first Friday in February. It also consists of both a Mathematics paper and an English paper. The latter consists of a comprehension and a creative writing exercise. Those allocated a place by the school may tour the school in March Tours Week. By the end of the month, the boy/parents must choose to accept or decline the place offered.

Boys are most likely to apply to more than one school, and hence may not accept their place. For this reason a number of boys are, after both exams, given a reserve place. As people with guaranteed places accept or reject their place, reserve offers are converted to proper places accordingly.

M.G.S. is among a small number of selective schools to select purely on the basis of examination performance, with no need for interviews. However some of those on the reserve list are interviewed in the interim between the second exam and Tours Week.

[edit] Discipline

A drawing of the Chetham's Gatehouse circa 1600.

Deputy Prefect: A term used to describe those members of sixth form applying to become prefects. They assume the role of a silver prefect for a month after the middle of Michaelmas Term before being accepted or rejected by the master in charge of prefects. Selection is usually based on their record of attendance of their weekly duties, logged by their Gold Prefect in charge. However, conduct and behaviour inside and outside of school, as well as general academic performance can also have an effect. For example, boys who are frequently late with no excuse, consistently hand in sub-standard work or have committed severe infractions can be rejected.

Silver Prefect: Over 90% of lower sixth formers become Silver Prefects or a more senior position after fulfilling their role as deputy prefects. Prefects wear a silver Owl badge, a different tie and usually have two weekly duties, mainly involving patrolling corridors or monitoring queues, during non-lesson time. However, by the time these boys reach the middle of Michaelmas Term of Upper Sixth, their duties are transferred back to the new Lower Sixth.

Gold Prefects: 12 pupils in Sixth and Seventh form, each assigned a number of silver prefects whose duties they are to organise and oversee. All Lower Sixth Silver Prefects are candidates for selection. The selection procedure is based on a number of factors. During Summer Term, a vote takes place among all Lower Sixth boys, who choose a shortlist of 5 people who they think should become Gold Prefects. The staff also make their recommendations, and the High Master makes the final decision. Gold Prefects are often chosen based on their academic performance and contribution to school during their entire time at MGS. Once the 12 Gold Prefects are decided, the High Master will interview all of them, and out of these prefects, four are chosen to become the School Officers (one Captain and three Vice-Captains).

Owl List: A red pocket book, listing all pupils of the school, organised by year and form. It is issued annually to all teaching and administrative staff and also the gold prefects.

PPS: Prefect Punishment School. This form of punishment has recently fallen out of use. Previously, it was a punishment that could be given by any prefect. It consisted of half an hour copying out text in the Sieff Theatre during the second half of Thursday lunchtime. Silver Prefects were able to issue PPS's, which then had to be checked and signed by a Gold Prefect or School Officer. Similarly, Gold Prefects and School Officers were able to issue and sign their own PPS to the offending pupil.

CS: Communication Slip. This is an orange slip that is sometimes sent home to parents to inform them of misdemeanors committed by pupils, that are too minor for a PS, but still need bringing to the attention of a pupil's parents. It is then up to the parents to discipline the pupil. An example of an offense that could result in a CS would be talking out of turn in lessons.

PS: Punishment School. Detentions that take place on Tuesday and Thursday early evenings and Saturday mornings. They last for half an hour or an hour in the former case and one or two hours in the latter case. Saturday PS's are imposed for more serious infractions than those on weekdays, even when the detention is of the same duration. An example of an offense that could lead to a weekday PS would be turning up late for lessons with no valid reason. A saturday morning PS tends to be reserved to greater misdemeanors such as being disruptive in lessons.

The school also operates Exclusion and Expulsion policies for serious issues such as Bullying and Drugs.