Bristol Grammar School
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Bristol Grammar School is a coeducational public school in Clifton, Bristol, England.
It was founded in 1532 by two brothers, Robert and Nicholas Thorne, as part of the new founding of schools after Henry VIII's closure of the monasteries, where previously a large proportion of England's education had occurred.
It is divided into three separate sections: the Lower School takes children from the ages of 7-11, and the Upper School is for students aged between 11-16 studying for GCSEs. The Sixth Form is for students from 16-18 studying for their AS Levels. There are currently around 1050 children in the Upper School & Sixth Form, of which around a third are girls, since its switch from boys-only to coeducational in 1980. BGS recently celebrated 25 years of girls at the school. The Lower School has over 200 children with a similar ratio of boys to girls.
The ratio of boys to girls remains steady at a third girls to two thirds boys. This appears to result in many parents not entering their girls for the school, and thus could be a self-perpetuating trend, as well as the larger number of girls-only equivalent schools to boys-only in the area.
Entrance into the School
Primarily the School accepts pupils at the age of 7 to the Lower School, and 11 for the Upper School. The School also accepts pupils at 12 from Prep Schools. The Sixth Form also accepts pupils from surrounding schools (mainly Redmaids and Clifton High, as these are Girls Schools) at 17. All pupils must pass an exam to gain entry, and this is very competitive.Progression through the school is more or less automatic without additional examination, although transition between Lower and Upper School requires the same entrance examination as other candidates, although Lower School entrants rarely fail. Assuming a pupil passes sufficient GCSEs, progression from the Upper School to the Sixth Form is also automatic, though some do choose to leave at this point, and fewer still do not achieve the grades required to progress to AS Levels. Entrance at this level to the school is by interview and offers based upon GCSE grades.
Campus
Bristol Grammar School occupies a triangle of land between the University of Bristol on the University road side, what used to be Dingles on the lower side, and a series of houses on the Elton Road side known as Tyndalls Park.The school has been expanding of late, and while it has always owned all the houses to one side of the main campus until recently only four (Bartons, Norwoods, and the Music and Art Schools) were occupied. Lately two or more have been converted into specialist subject areas. The School is waiting for the leases (which are before the current Rent Act) to be relinquished by the tenants before they can use the buildings. They have planning permission to join all the buildings together.
The school has an excellent theatre, extensive IT facilities, and large playing fields outside of Bristol at Failand.
Buildings
Elton Road
- Bartons: Once only housed the Classics Department, but now also houses the Geography Department and the School Uniform Shop underneath. To the rear is a portakabin where the Maintenance Department has its workshop.
- Music School: The building contains sound-proofed rooms and a full studio at the top of the building. Underneath the building is the Cookery area, where there are two full teaching kitchens.
- Art School: In the basement is the sixth form area. To the rear of this building and the Music School is a landscaped garden spanning both properties.
- Norwoods: Houses the Modern Languages Department.
- No.3: Another Classics Department building. Also houses a computer room.
- No.4: Another Modern Languages Department building.
Main Campus
- Great Hall: The foundation stone was laid on 10 June 1877. The school moved here during 1879 and it is the largest first floor hall in the United Kingdom. In 1996 the old servery was removed and the hall was restored to its old layout. There is a full kitchen between the Great Hall and the Science Wing. Underneath the Great Hall is the staff room, the Pople room, and the school offices.
- Lower School Hall and Rehearsal Room: This building was rebuilt in 1999. The old sports areas, where there used to be fives courts and an old sports hall, were demolished. The offices used by the House Masters and the Staff Smoking Room were untouched. The end result was a re-landscaped playground in the top corner of the site for the lower school, and a suite of rooms with IT facilities for the lower school. A new rehearsal room was added for the school orchestra, which previously used the old sports hall.
- Science (Fenwick Richards) Wing: Opened in 1909, this wing houses Year 11 and the History Department, as well as the science laboratories.
- University Road Building: This building appears to have been once used for chemistry, since the whole building is designed to give the maximum light possible. It now houses the Year 10 form rooms and the English Department.
- Sports Hall: The sports hall contains a full sized hall, four glass fronted squash courts, a climbing wall, and the Graveney room (for aerobics and dance). There was originally supposed to be a swimming pool underneath the main hall. However it was not possible to place such a large body of water next to the edge of the site due to the height differential, which would have resulted in the bank giving way.
- Princess Anne Block: The "PA Block", as it is known, houses the form rooms of Years 7 and 8 and the Mathematics Department.
- Porters' Lodge: Currently used by Facilities and the Development Office.
- Elton Road Building: This building was destroyed during the Blitz and was rebuilt after the war. It houses Year 9 form rooms, the Religious Studies Department, the Mathematics Department, and an IT room.
- Mackay Theatre: The theatre adjoins the Elton Road Building and is also used for year assemblies.
- Lower School: Previously the Headmaster's House until the Lower School was evacuated to it in 1940; it has been located there ever since.
- DT Centre: This building houses the four Design and Technology Department workshops, which were in portakabins prior to 1994. There is also a CAD room, a workshop for the stores department, a car maintenance bay and a metal work room.
- Sixth Form Block: This houses the entire sixth form, although their forms are much smaller than those lower down the school and are split up all over the campus, using spare rooms as form rooms. Downstairs much of the block is dedicated to the Junior Common Room with its own servery hatch. There are also offices, a prefects' room, and two computing labs. Upstairs there are teaching rooms, a careers room and careers computing lab.
- Library: Also houses the archives.
School Song
BGS has a school song, called Carmen Bristoliense (Song of the Bristolians), which is in Latin. The song was written in 1909 by the Headmaster (then Mr. Cyril Norwood), and set to music by the Director of Music (then Mr. C. W. Stear). It is traditionally sung in the final school assembly each term, and at other school or related events such as the annual prize giving ceremony and old boys' (and girls') dinners. The song consists of four verses and a chorus, although usually only the first verse and chorus are sung. These are reproduced below (note that the fourth line had to be updated from Norwood's original on the 400th anniversary of the School's founding):
Nunc universo gaudio,
Ludo pensisque functi,
Scholam dilectam sedulo
Concelebremus cuncti.
Iam quadringentos amplius
Annos laudem meretur,
Merendo et durabimus,
Dum nostra urbs servetur.
Sit clarior, sit dignior,
quotquot labuntur menses:
Sit primus nobis hic decor,
Sumus Bristolienses.
Laudemus iam gratissimi
Qui ante nos fuere:
Domi forisque splendidi
Scholam exornavere
Per illos est laudabilis,
Est musis cara sedes,
Et nos illos est laudabilis,
Est musis cara sedes,
Et nos illorum nominis
Nunc stamus hic haeredes
Sit clarior, etc.
Si ludi sit contentio,
Pro puerili parte,
Ne superemur proelio
Summa nitamur arte:
Et, si vocamur ad libros,
Intenti hoc agamus;
Ludo librisque nonne nos
Iam palmam auferamus?
Sit clarior, etc.
Sic placuit nil perperam
Nil improbi patrare,
Nam Scholam urbem patriam
Hic discimus amare:
In altiora tendimus,
Scholamque veneremur:
Dum adsumus, augebimus,
Nec post obliviscemur.
Sit clarior, etc.
[Click here] for a midi file of the music.
It has been a tradition, since at least the 1960s, to shout the word 'Quotquot', although nobody is entirely sure why that might be. Before this it was tradition to shout "Shit clarior, Shit dignior" rather than the true words. A rather clumsy translation of the first verse is below.
Now with universal joy,
Having performed games and tasks,
Let us together celebrate
our beloved school attentively.
Now for more than four hundred years
It has deserved praise,
It will continue to endure and deserve,
Whilst it serves our city.
Let it be more famous, let it be more worthy,
However many months we must labour:
Let this be our first right,
We are Bristolians.
Headmasters
Until the 19th century the Headmaster was known simply as the "Master", and his assistants as "Ushers". Little is known of those of the 16th century and nothing of any before Thomas Moffat, the "scolemaster" of the City Audit Book of 1532 who took the School to the Bartholomews. The first few dates are conjectural.
- 1532 (or earlier) to c. 1542. Thomas Moffat.
- c. 1542. to c. 1561. John Harris.
- c. 1561-2. Mr Dyconson.
- c. 1564-5. Mr Style.
- c. 1565-6. Mr Turner.
- c. 1570-1. Mr Dunne.
- c. 1582-3 Mr White
- c. 1584. Nr Akexabder Woodsonne.
- c. 1600-22. William Swift, M.A., Christ Church, Oxford.
- c. 1622. Richard (?) Payne, M.A., New College, Oxford.
- c. 1622-36. Richard Cheynie, M.A., Magdalen College, Oxford.
- c. 1636-38. Henry James, M.A., Trinity College, Oxford.
- c. 1638-42. Bartholomew Man, M.A., Corpus Christi College, Oxford.
- c. 1642-57. Walter Rainsthorp, M.A., St John's College, Oxford.
- c. 1657-62. John Stephens, M.A., B.C.L., Trinity College, Oxford.
- c. 1662-70. William Ball, M.A., Wadham College, Oxford.
- c. 1670-87. John Rainsthorp, M.A., St John's College, Oxford.
- c. 1687-89. William Stephens, M.A., St Edmund Hall, Oxford.
- c. 1689-97. Thomas Wotton. M.A., Wadham College, Oxford, and King's College, Cambridge.
- c. 1697-1702. Robert Welstead, M.A.
- c. 1702-9. Edward Pearce, M.A., University College, Oxford.
- c. 1709-17. William Goldwin, M.A., King's College, Cambridge.
- c. 1717-22. James Taylor, M.A., Oriel College, Oxford.
- c. 1722-43. Alexander Stopford Catcott, M.A., St John's College, Oxford.
- c. 1743-64. Samuel Seyer, M.A., Pembroke College, Oxford.
- c. 1764-1811. Charles Lee.
- c. 1812-44. John Joseph Goodenough, M.A., New College, Oxford.
- c. 1847-54. Robert Evans, M.A., D.C.L., Jesus College Oxford.
- c. 1855-60. Charles Thomas Hudson, M.A., St John's College Cambridge.
- c. 1860-83. John William Caldicott, M.A., D.D., Pembroke and Jesus Colleges, Oxford.
- c. 1833-1906. Robert Leighton Leighton, M.A., Balliol College, Oxford.
- c. 1906-16. Cyril Norwood, M.A. D.Litt., St John's College, Oxford
- c. 1917-38. Joseph Edwin Barton, M.A., Pembroke College, Oxford.
- c. 1938-42. Ralph Westwood Moore, M.A., Christ Church Oxford.
- c. 1943- . John Garrett, M.A., Exeter College Oxford.
BGS Enterprises
BGS Enterprises runs the Sports Centre out of hours as a gym/health centre.Trivia
- The school motto Ex Spinis Uvas, which roughly translates as "Grapes from Thorns", is a play upon the names of the school founders Robert and Nicholas Thorne.
- The Rev. John Joseph Goodenough was appointed Master of Bristol Grammar School during March 1812. Goodenough practised Pluralism and during the time he was Master of the school the population of the school fell. He considered himself bound only to teach the learned languages and by 1829 the school was empty and remained empty for 16 years! It took the Trustees of the School until 1845 to remove him as Master and over £3000 in litigation.
Notable Old Bristolians
- Robert Huntington (c.1637–1701), Provost of Trinity College, Dublin and orientalist
- Thomas Fry (1718–1772), classicist and President of St John's College, Oxford
- Alexander Catcott (1725–1779), geologist and theologian
- John Seally (1741–1795), writer
- Sir John Coxe Hippisley (1745–1825), politician
- Sir Benjamin Hobhouse (1757–1831), politician
- William Gregor (1761–1817), mineralogist, discoverer of titanium
- Jonathan Sewell (c.1766–1839), Chief Justice and Speaker of the Legislative Council of Lower Canada, 1808–1839, and President of the Executive Council of Lower Canada, 1808–1830
- John Tobin (1770–1804), dramatist
- Samuel Daniel Broughton (1787–1837), military surgeon
- Edward Hodges Bailey (1788–1867), sculptor of Nelson's Statue in Trafalgar Square
- Thomas Edward Bowdich (c.1791–1824), writer and African explorer
- Thomas William Allies (1813–1903), theologian
- John Norton (1823–1904), architect
- Charles McArthur (1844–1910), politician and marine insurance broker
- Robert Drew Hicks (1850–1929), classicist
- Frank Edward Brightman (1856–1932), liturgical scholar
- Charles Whibley (1859–1930), journalist and author
- Leonard Whibley (1863–1941), classicist
- Sir Llewellyn Smith (1864–1945), Permanent Secretary of the Board of Trade, 1907–1919, and Chief Economic Adviser to the Government, 1919–1927
- Leonard Raven-Hill (1867–1942), illustrator and cartoonist
- Sir John Herbert Parsons (1868–1957), ophthalmologist and physiologist
- Robert Chambers, philanthropist and peace activist
- Roland Allen (1868–1947), missionary in China
- Terrot Reaveley Glover (1869–1943), classicist and historian
- Sir Reginald Stradling (1891–1952), civil engineer
- Sir Douglas Veale (1891–1973), Registrar of the University of Oxford, 1930–1958
- Leonard Matthews (1901–1986), zoologist and naturalist
- Sir Allen Lane (1902–1970), founder of Penguin Books
- Douglas Cleverdon (1903–1987), bookseller and BBC Radio producer
- Sir Ivor Jennings (1903–1965), Downing Professor of the Laws of England, University of Cambridge, 1962–1965
- Paul Drury (1903–1987), artist
- Oliver Franks, Baron Franks (1905–1992), philosopher, diplomat and civil servant
- Sir Richard Sheppard (1910–1982), architect
- Kenneth Brill (1911–1991), social worker
- Gonville ffrench-Beytagh (1912–1991), Dean of Johannesburg, 1965–1972
- Geoffrey Keen (1916–2005), actor
- Sir John Pople (1925–2004), chemist and Nobel Laureate
- Peter Nichols (born 1927), writer
- Timothy West (born 1934), actor
- Julian Glover (born 1935), actor
- David Prowse (born 1935), actor
- Chris Hawkins (born 1937), politician
- Alan Belk (born 1947), philosopher
- Nick Brimble, actor
- Shaun Woodward (born 1958), politician
- Jeremy Northam (born 1961), actor
External links
References
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