Leicester Grammar School

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Leicester Grammar School
Established 1981
Type Independent
Religious affiliation Anglican Christian
Headmaster Christopher King, MA
Location 8 Peacock Lane
Leicester
LE1 5PX
England Flag of England
LEA Leicester City Council
Staff 75 teachers, 25 support
Students c.700 pupils and students
Ages 10 to 18
Houses Masters, Dukes, Judges and Vice-Chancellors
School colours Gold and navy          
Publication The Leicestrian
Website http://www.leicestergrammar.org.uk/
Coordinates: 52°38′04″N 1°08′17″W / 52.6344, -1.1380

Leicester Grammar School (often abbreviated to LGS), is an independent secondary school situated in the centre of Leicester, England, close to Leicester Cathedral, with which it has close links. It was founded in 1981, after the loss of the city's state-funded grammar schools. The school's location is unusual for a secondary school in the United Kingdom for its proximity to the city centre, as well as being included in the Guildhall Conservation Area, one of three designated conservation areas within Leicester.

Leicester Grammar School is closely affiliated with Leicester Grammar Junior School, and in general over 95% of Junior School leavers are accepted by the senior school.[1]

The school has just over 70 teaching staff and 700 pupils[2], all of whom are day-students. It has its own preparatory form for children in Year 6, and its own sixth form for Years 12 and 13. Each student at the school is a member of a house, allowing a system of inter-school competition in sports and other pastimes such as chess, general knowledge and karaoke.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Founding

The school was founded in 1981 as an independent, selective, co-educational day school in an attempt to recapture the standards and traditions of the city’s former grammar schools[3]. Located in four late-Victorian buildings in Leicester City Centre, the school was established within close proximity to Leicester Cathedral and was founded with an Anglican Christian ethos. The first headmaster was John Higginbotham and under his stewardship the school grew from just 96 to 560 pupils within 10 years.[4]

[edit] Development

Over its short history, the school began to achieve a national reputation as one of the country’s leading academic institutions. In 1993, its headmaster was elected to the Headmasters’ Conference[5] and the school has remained in its first division since then. In the same year, the School was ranked 15th nationally on A-Level results[citation needed] and acknowledged as the country’s top co-educational school.[6]

[edit] Relocation

In February 2007 construction began on a new school campus, located on a green field site near Great Glen. The new development is to allow for school growth, restricted by its current location within the city centre. Leicester Grammar Senior School will share the new site with its sister school Leicester Grammar Junior School, but each will have its own facilities. Previously, the school had no playing fields of its own and had transport pupils to various sporting facilities by bus; the new school will have 75 acres of playing fields, hard tennis and netball courts with a pavilion, and a sports hall with 6 badminton courts, a gym and a fitness suite, and a 6-lane 25m indoor pool.[7] However, by moving the school will lose its proximity to the Cathedral, and its distinctive city-centre atmosphere.

[edit] Entrance assessment

In common with many other independent schools, it requires prospective pupils to undertake a series of entrance examinations before they are accepted into the school. The majority of these pupils take the entrance examination when 10 or 11 years old, and these pupils present a large proportion of new students.[citation needed] An entrance examination for pupils wishing to join the school after studying for GCSEs is also required before entry into the school's sixth form.

[edit] Location

The school is spread over several buildings within the city centre.

The St Nicholas Building, referred to as St Nicholas', was the original building the founders of Leicester Grammar School acquired[citation needed]. It houses classrooms used for sciences, including biology and chemistry, form rooms for pupils in junior years, modern foreign language, geography, Latin, ICT, mathematics classrooms and The Great Hall, a space used for house meetings and band practice as well as table tennis.

The St Martin Building (St Martin's), on Peacock Lane, provides form rooms for the preparatory year as well as art rooms and a design and technology department.

The St Katharine Building (St Katharine's), on Guildhall Lane, is dedicated to the English, history, politics and economics departments, in addition to a drama studio for pupils studying drama and theatre studies. The St Katharine Building also contains form rooms for more senior pupils, a sixth form common room and a canteen, which replaced the previous school kitchens situated in what is now the main design and technology workshop in the St Martin building. It also contains the maths office and senior and junior library

The school also has access to other buildings in the area, some of which are used by sixth formers for private study, notably a small building situated on Friar Lane.

[edit] Education

Leicester Grammar provides education for approximately 700 (2005/6) pupils aged between 10 and 18, including GCSEs and A-Levels. Some of the rarer subjects offered by the school include Ancient Greek and Latin (Latin is compulsory for years 7 and 8).

[edit] Houses

On entrance into the school, pupils and teachers alike are designated a house, to which they belong for the entirety of their stay at the school. New entrants to the school are always allocated to the same house as their older siblings. The four houses are named after the four original patrons of the school. Each house has a colour, which is incorporated into both the house jumpers and t-shirts used during sports.

See also: Leicester Grammar School uniform

[edit] Masters

Masters House is named after the Master of Christ's College, Cambridge. Its house colours are navy blue and gold.

[edit] Dukes

Dukes House is named after the Duke of Rutland. Its house colour is red.

[edit] Judges

Judges House is named after Mr Justice Skinner (now deceased). Its house colour is light blue. Until the 2005/6 school term, Judges remained the only house never to have won the Midland Bank Cup. This earned them the nickname "The House of Sorrow". However, in that term the house underwent a significant re-branding and changed their nickname to "The House of Tomorrow". Many students in the other houses give them the nickname "The House of Sadness". That year after success in House Drama and some of the sporting events (and a lack of a sports day, traditionally the house's weakness), they won the Midland Bank Cup for the first and only time.They are credited for their preformance in the arts, winning house drama and music for the last 4 years.

[edit] Vice-Chancellors

Vice Chancellors House (very commonly abbreviated to VCs) is named after the former Vice-Chancellor of Leicester University. Its house colour is green. VCs is the most successful house in the school's short history, having won the Midland Bank Cup the most times.

[edit] 2006-2007 house cup results

1st VCs 2nd Dukes 3rd Masters 4th Judges

[edit] Sports

As Leicester Grammar School is situated in the centre of Leicester, pupils are transported by bus to various sporting activities in and around Leicester.

[edit] Uniform

Leicester Grammar School pupils are obliged to wear a basic school uniform. Leicester Grammar School also issues an obligatory uniform for sports and physical education lessons, with PE shirt collars being the colour of the pupil's respective house.

[edit] Boys

  • Male sixth form pupils are able to wear suits and ties as long as they are deemed presentable to the public,
  • Pupils in lower years must wear navy blue blazers, white shirts and charcoal trousers, with a tie embossed with the school emblem.

[edit] Girls

  • Female pupils in the sixth form are able to wear smart clothes, including suits, as long as they are deemed presentable to the public,
  • Pupils in lower years must wear a skirt in the school tartan, a white blouse and a navy blue blazer similar to those worn by the boys.

[edit] House jumpers

Pupils in years below the sixth form also have the option of wearing a house jumper- a V-necked jumper with a line of colour (of their respective house) running around the neckline, apart from Masters which has yellow instead of dark blue on the jumper (because dark blue wouldn't show up).

[edit] Performance

Leicester Grammar School has come within the top 200 schools in Great Britain[citation needed] several times in the past few years. The school out-performs local state schools in both results and attendance.[8]

[edit] Local ties

The school is closely linked with Leicester Grammar Junior School, which the Leicester Grammar School Trust was given responsibility to in 1992 by the Sisters of Charity of St. Paul, based in Selly Park, Birmingham [1].

Leicester Grammar School remains close with Leicester Cathedral despite a significant presence of pupils from other faiths in the school. Choir rehearsals, School Foundation Day and Christmas services are held in the cathedral, as well as most daily school assemblies.

[edit] Notable alumni

Alumni of Leicester Grammar School are known as Old Leicestrians.

[edit] References

  1. ^ School Profile. Leicester Grammar Junior School website. Retrieved on 2007-05-27.
  2. ^ Academic Staff. Leicester Grammar School website. Retrieved on 2007-05-25.
  3. ^ Leicester Grammar School. The Guide to Independent Schools (2006-12-14). Retrieved on 2007-05-25.
  4. ^ Obituary of John Higginbotham. Times Online (2007-04-21). Retrieved on 2007-05-25.
  5. ^ HMC Schools H-L. The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference website. Retrieved on 2007-05-27.
  6. ^ Leicester Grammar School. Eteach: Education jobs online. Retrieved on 2007-05-27.
  7. ^ Relocation Latest. Leicester Grammar School website. Retrieved on 2007-05-25.
  8. ^ League Tables: Leicester Grammar School. BBC News (2006-01-19). Retrieved on 2007-05-25.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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