Bradford Grammar School
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Bradford Grammar School was founded in 1548 and granted its Charter as the Free Grammar School of King Charles II in 1662. It is now an Independent School although it was a Direct Grant School until 1975. It is situated in Frizinghall, close to the Shipley Road (A650). Many pupils use Frizinghall railway station for their daily journey.
Pupils are selected by competitive examination and in 2005 there were 915 pupils in the Senior School, including 272 in the Sixth Form, 80 of whom are girls and 192 in the Junior School (Clock House). The school became fully co-educational in September 1999, with girls being admitted at all ages of admission: Over one third of the September 2002 entrants were girls.
Current school fees are around £12000 per annum with school meals at £2 per day. Many bursaries are available to help with fees. 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 Hoc Age (Latin:"Do It").
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[edit] 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, cross-country, swimming, cricket 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 quite popular. Along with the astro-turf, the school also built four new tennis courts, making the total number of tennis courts nine. 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, a sports hall (that has also recently had its carpet replaced), a well equipped gym, a new swimming pool, and another indoor hall for basket ball and aerobics.
As an alternative or a supplement to extra-curricular sport, the school maintains a volunteer Combined Cadet Force.
[edit] 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 through 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 will be staging "The Wiz", which is a jazz version of "The Wizard of Oz".
[edit] Notable Old Bradfordians
- John Sharp (1645–1714), Archbishop of York
- Abraham Sharp (1653–1742), mathematician and scientific instrument maker
- David Hartley (1705–1757), philosopher and physician
- James Scott (1733–1814), writer
- John William Whittaker (1790–1854), clergyman
- George Douglas (1859–1947), dyer
- Hudson Shaw (1859–1944), historian and orator
- Frederick Delius (1862–1934), composer
- C. J. Cutcliffe-Hyne (1865–1944), novelist
- Henry de Beltgens Gibbins (1865–1907), economic historian
- Henry Ward (1865–1911), photographer and author
- William Binnie (1867–1949), civil engineer
- Sir Frank Dyson (1868–1939), Astronomer Royal
- Charles Wilson (1869–1959), physicist
- John Lawrence Hammond (1872–1949), historian and journalist
- Sir William Rothenstein (1872–1945), artist
- Albert Rutherston (1881–1953), painter and illustrator
- Sir Henry Clay (1883–1954), economist and Warden of Nuffield College, Oxford
- Humbert Wolfe (1885–1930), poet and civil servant
- Charles Fairburn (1887–1945), railway engineer
- John Rawlings Rees (1890–1969), psychiatrist
- Sir Mortimer Wheeler (1890–1976), archaeologist and broadcaster
- Arthur Raistrick (1896–1991), civil engineer, industrial archaeologist and pacifist
- Harry McEvoy (1902–1984), breakfast cereal manufacturer
- Richard Eurich (1903–1992), painter
- H. L. A. Hart (1907–1992), legal philosopher
- Geoffrey Barraclough (1908–1984), historian
- Ronald Illingworth (1909–1990), paediatrician
- William Henry Walsh (1913–1986), philosopher
- Michael Wharton (1913–2006), columnist Peter Simple
- Alan Bullock (1914–2004), a.k.a. Baron Bullock of Leafield, historian
- Denis Healey, Baron Healey (born 1917), Chancellor of the Exchequer
- Sir John Harvey-Jones (born 1924), Chief Executive of ICI and broadcaster (The Troubleshooter)
- David Hockney (born 1937), artist
- Michael Jack (born 1946), politician
- Jonathan Silver (1949–1997), entrepreneur and art gallery owner
- Adrian Moorhouse (born 1964), Olympic gold medallist swimmer
- Robert Hardy (born 1980), bassist of Franz Ferdinand
- Charlie Hodgson (born 1980), England rugby union player (Fly half)
- Georgie Henley (born 1995), English actress
