Chatham House Grammar School
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Chatham House Grammar School is a grammar school in Ramsgate, Kent founded in 1797 (originally under the name Humbles Boys' School). [1]
The school has 750 students, mostly drawn from the Isle of Thanet that encompasses Ramsgate, Broadstairs and Margate, but some from as far away as Herne Bay.
The school was recently awarded specialist Science, Mathematics and IT status and construction of an extension to the Redman Wing to house extra classrooms and IT facilities was recently completed. There is a heavy emphasis on IT facilities within the school with plenty of state of the art equipment available for use by students and staff alike.
The school motto is "Floreat Domus Chathamensis", which translates as "may Chatham House flourish".
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[edit] House system
The school has a house system with the junior school consisting of years 7 and 8. From year 9 the pupils join the senior houses. In total there are 8 houses, 4 junior school houses and 4 senior school houses. In the senior houses pupils wear a tie indicative of their house. In year 12 (or lower sixth) the form groups are split into two. The nomenclature for representing a pupil's house is: 7La, 11He, 12He(ii)
The first number represents the year the pupil is currently in followed by their form. In the case of year 12 an additional (i) or (ii) is also required.
- Junior Houses - all wear a dark green tie
- Brackenbury's (usually known as Brack's)
- Larkin's
- Norman's
- Whitehead's (usually known as White's)
- Senior Houses
- Heath's - white stripes on a dark green tie
- Mann's - orange stripes on a dark green tie
- Pearce's - light green stripes on a dark green tie
- Thomas' - pink stripes on a dark green tie
- Previous Senior Houses (no longer in existence)
- Coleman's - sky blue stripes on a dark green tie
- Searle's - red stripes on a dark green tie
- Simmons's - royal blue stripes on a dark green tie
- Thornton's - yellow stripes on a dark green tie
In the sixth form years, students can also earn 'colours.' These are ties of yet a different design which are awarded to those who achieve excellence in the fields of sport or music. 'House colours' are similar to the house tie but with a white stripe running along each side of the coloured stripe. 'School colours' are a single white school crest on a dark green tie with a white stripe.
School prefects also have a seperate tie. The current design is a miniature version of the school crest coloured white repeated in a symmetrical pattern on a dark green tie. Prefects also wear a full school crest badge on the pocket of their blazer which is sewn over the standard crest
The house system is used for sporting events - house fixtures results accumulate over the academic year - and for various other competitions, including acting and design contests. The results from all of these fixtures are tallied at the end of the year to determine the winner of the Cock House Trophy.
[edit] Alumni
Famous alumni include Olympic athlete Sean Kerly, Sir William Wratten who led the RAF in the first Gulf War as well as Sir Edward Heath, the second state school educated Prime Minister after the Second World War (the first was Harold Wilson). For the media, the school produced as varied a selection as humorist Frank Muir, Hawkwind member Nik Turner, fantasy writers Dave Lee Stone and Marc Gascoigne, and noted television director Dominic Savage. Chatham House has the sixth highest number of Who's Who entries for state schools.
[edit] Senior Staff
- Mr. John D. Matthews - Headteacher; Governor
- Mr. A. J. Williamson - Deputy Head Pastoral/Organisation; Coordinator PHSE; i/c Careers; DCPC EVC, Geography Teacher
- Dr. P. Birchley - Assistant Head, Director of Studies, KS3 Co-ordinator, Physics Teacher
- Mr. M. J. Moody - Deputy Head; Head of Sixth Form; School Improvement Plan; Staff Development; Geography Teacher
- Mr. C. J. Harvey - Assistant Head; Head of English; i/c Graduate Teachers & NQTs
[edit] Trivia
When Ramsgate was bombed during World War II, a bomb hit the school library (where a skylight now stands) but did not detonate. Prior to that, the library had been the school chapel, as evidenced by the quantity of stained glass.
[edit] Charity
Chatham House encourages charity donations by having an award for the House that raises the most money in each year. This cup contributes to the main House Cup. Every year each form has a different charity and all of the money raised by the House is donated to that House's charity. Most years each form raises around £1,000 for that year's chosen charity.
