Saltus Grammar School
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Saltus Grammar School, founded in 1888, is an independent school in Hamilton, the capital of Bermuda. It was a boys school until 1992 when it became fully co-educational. It has two campuses, one for the Preparatory Department (ages 5-7) and one for the Junior Department, Senior Department and Graduate Year. In 2005 it has some 1033 students, of whom 73% are Bermudians. Saltus is credited with being one of the top 3 most successful education institutions on the island.
Saltus Grammar School is a member of the US-based National Association of Independent Schools.
[edit] School History
The school was born of a bequest in the will of Samuel Saltus, who died in 1880, for the founding of a boys' school. It was not until 6th February, 1888 that Saltus Grammar School first opened its doors in the Pembroke Sunday School Building at the corner of North and Angle Streets in Hamilton, with thirty-five students enrolled.
In 1893, the school moved to Woodlands, an historic house which still serves as the heart of the current main campus. The following decade saw modest improvements being made. Classrooms were added in 1923 to accommodate the increase in students, the veranda was added to the main building in 1953 and, by the middle 1960's, enrolment had reached 170. Up until this time the school had been grant aided, but in 1971 the Trustees made the major decision to have Saltus become a completely independent, fee-paying school.
Saltus continued to progress, growing and adapting to meet the needs of its students in the context of a rapidly changing world. To handle the larger numbers and the increasingly diverse curriculum, major additions were made to the campus to the Laboratory and Science Block in 1969 and the Cavendish-Preparatory Department in 1972. Saltus leased Cavendish Hall in 1972, thus establishing a second campus. Thanks to the generosity of the Cavendish Trustees, that school has now been incorporated into Saltus Grammar School.
Other major projects since then included:The Reiss Library (1975), The Haygarth Gymnasium (1979), and The Henry Hallett Art and Music Facility (1982). Also in 1982, land leased to the Bermuda Swimming Association enabled a 25-metre swimming pool to be constructed on the main campus with the school having use of the facility.
In 1990, the Trustees made the decision to extend co-education, previously only at Grade 12 level, throughout the school and, in September, 1991, eighty-nine girls joined 608 boys to commence a new era in the history of the school. At the same time, an extensive building programme was undertaken, adding a new block to Cavendish plus several additional classrooms at the main campus and including major reconstruction to the interior of Woodlands. Rebuilt in 1993, the new Woodlands Centre now contains: Junior Department classrooms, Senior & Junior Art classrooms and the Senior Design Technology department.
This phase of construction was concluded in late 1993 when total enrolment stood at 780, including 156 girls. By this time, the teaching staff numbered 59, and the school was led by its 6th Headmaster in 106 years, Mr. James Keith McPhee.
In August 1995, Mr. R. Trevor Rowell joined the school as its next Headmaster and immediately launched a consultative School Development Plan with input from staff, parents, trustees and students. This outlined the school's growth and development during Mr. Rowell's energetic tenure which saw the continuation of the Saltus tradition of academic excellence and to a stated aim to make the school a world-class institution.
Mr. Rowell's achievements between 1995 and his departure in 1999 to become Head of the British School at The Hague, The Netherlands, included many significant milestones made possible by an energetic fund raising programme which netted a total of over $6 million in three years. These include:adding three new classrooms, two reading rooms and providing an administrative suite at Saltus-Cavendish School; adding five new classrooms, new boys and girls changing rooms, improved access and parking, and a computer suite at the Junior Department; refurbishing the Reiss Centre for the SGY programme and Senior Music Department; moving the school's central administration to historic Woodlands; creation of the new 'high-tech' Dudley Butterfield Learning Resource Centre for the Senior Department; doubling the size of the Senior Department computer area by adding the Donald Lines Computer Centre; complete refurbishment of the exterior of the Senior Department including replacement of all windows; redecorating the interior of both the Junior and Senior Department Halls, and the classroom and hallway areas of the Senior Department; launching the 'Learning Through Laptops' initiative; and reducing the School's indebtedness by $2.5 million.
In June, 1999, Mr. Nigel J. G. Kermode, then a twenty-two year veteran teacher at Saltus, became the school's 8th Headmaster. He is committed to continuing the pace of the school's recent advances whilst retaining both its high academic standards and its nurturing and caring atmosphere.
