Stockport Grammar School
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stockport Grammar School (SGS) is a co-educational independent school in Stockport, England, founded in 1487 by the 1482 Lord Mayor of London Sir Edmond Shaa.
The school motto is "Vincit qui patitur" - He who endures, conquers. The current Headmaster of the Senior School is Mr A H Chicken, B.A., M.Ed. The current Headmaster of the Junior School is Mr L Fairclough, and the Head of Sixth Form is Mrs M A Blackburn.
The initial site for the school was St Mary's Church in the town. Since then the school has occupied various sites, its current site being away from the town centre on the A6 (Buxton Road) on the edge of Davenport, next to the site of the now demolished Davenport Theatre, a famous venue for many of the North West's top variety stars, including Ken Dodd. The school has occupied this site since 1906.
Since becoming co-educational in 1980 the school has developed and grown rapidly. Acquisition of the adjacent convent school site at Woodsmoor allowed the enclosure of the playing fields and the creation of several football and rugby pitches.
In 1997 land was bought to extend the Junior School, and in 2001 a new sports and technology centre was built featuring a gym, sports hall. Food Technology and Textiles Technology classrooms were also erected. The building also includes a Design Technology workshop featuring state-of-the-art equipment including the ability to do Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacture.
In September 2005 a new library and learning centre was opened with over 14,000 books, and new Physics labs and an Information Technology suite. A nursery was also opened the following year.
The school has a well-established newsletter, Taking Stock, and an annual publication, The Stopfordian. It also has an alumni association and a parents' committee (the Old Stopfordians' Association and the Stopfordian Parents' Association).
The school was host to a Model United Nations (MUN) conference in March 2006, an event hoped by many to be repeated. Pupils have attended MUN conferences in many other locations, including Yale, Belfast, Paris, Bath and Cambridge. Many other activities also take place, such as Millennium Volunteers, Young Enterprise and the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. The School has an active debating society.
The School has four 'houses' - Arden, Nicholson, Vernon, and Warren - into which all the pupils are divided, for the purposes of competitive sports.
[edit] Alumni
- Admiral George Back, Arctic explorer
- Sir Frederic Calland Williams, computer pioneer
- Peter Boardman mountaineer
- Gordon Marsden, Labour MP
- Chris Jones rugby union player
- John Amaechi, basketball player
- Paul Morley, Music Journalist, who writes a very scathing account of his time at the school in his book Nothing
- Di Stewart, Sky Sports News Presenter
- Geoff Downes, rock keyboard player.
- Conor Kenny,professional footballer for Corinthians AFC
