Hutchesons' Grammar School
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Hutchesons' Grammar School was founded by the Hutcheson brothers, George and Thomas, in 1641. It was opened originally to teach orphans and started with "12 boys on the roll". It is a fee-paying school in Glasgow, Scotland which enjoys a high reputation.
In 1876 a girls' school was opened on Kingarth Street. The Boys' and Girls' schools amalgamated in 1976 at Beaton Road, leaving Kingarth Street to house the primary school. In 2001, the school expanded into Glasgow's West End when it merged with Laurel Park School and created a nursery and primary school on Lilybank Terrace, although this has since closed.
Today, the school has around 2,000 pupils on the roll at its three sites and is one of Scotland's most successful independent schools.
The current rector is Dr Kenneth M Greig MA PhD.
History
The history of Hutchesons' Grammar School offers insight into the history of Glasgow over the past 360 years. When George and Thomas Hutcheson set aside money in 1641 for their school, they started an educational enterprise which has continued to flourish.
The brothers originally intended the School to be for orphans. Archibald Edmiston, an orphan himself, became the School's first pupil in 1643 and, seven years later, the School had the "12 boys on the roll", at least, according to the School song.
The stone built Hutchesons' Hospital Building in the Trongate - right in the heart of Glasgow - survived the devastating fire that destroyed so much of the city in 1652. It survived, too, the ravages of the earlier Civil Wars before peace - and, later, the monarchy - was restored.
So, after a stuttering beginning, Hutchesons' Grammar School began to grow in size and reputation - requiring several moves to accommodate its multiplying numbers. It twice changed address before Ingram Street became home to the school in 1802. By 1815, the year of Waterloo, the roll had risen to 76. By 1839 it stood at 120 which prompted the Patrons' decision to build a new school in Crown Street, Gorbals. The location was described as 'possessing quietness of situation, good air and a roomy open site'. The new building was opened in 1841 and remained in use until 1960.
In 1876, Hutchesons' Girls'School opened its doors for the first time in Elgin Street. The Girls' School was extremely successful and the number of pupils enrolled was far greater than the building was designed to hold. One final move saw Hutchesons' Girls' Grammar School, as it was now known, re-located in 1912 to the present Junior School building in Kingarth Street.
Beaton Road in Crossmyloof became home to Hutchesons' Boys' Grammar School half a century later in 1960. It was seen then as an extremely fashionable building, daring in its modernity.
Despite these many changes to the schools over the centuries, the single most significant change occurred in 1976. The year marked the amalgamation of Hutchesons' Girls' Grammar School and Hutchesons' Boys' Grammar School, to form Hutchesons' Grammar School, the co-educational institution which remains in this form today. The girls' site in Kingarth Street became the mixed junior school with all the senior pupils at what had been the boys' school in Beaton Road.
Perhaps the most rapid changes at Hutchesons' have occurred in the last decade. In 1991, a new 3-storey Science Block was erected in the Beaton Road carpark while 1994 saw the construction of a new Infant Block at Kingarth Street. A new multi-million pound Sports Building was developed on the Playing Fields at Beaton Road in 1998, allowing the old gymnasium in the Senior School to be converted into a state-of-the-art library in 1999.
The new Millennium saw the newly-purchased Pollokshields United Reformed Church, in Beaton Road, developed to accommodate new classrooms and offices for the Music and ICT departments. The merger between the school and Laurel Park School, announced in early 2001, has seen the arrival of new pupils and staff at Beaton Road from Laurel Park and the opening of Hutchesons' Lilybank Junior School in the West End of Glasgow, allowing easier access to Hutchesons' for new and existing pupils living on the North side of the city.
Ethos
The school has a very forceful self-image, and significant claims have been made as to its ethos, reputation and academic achievements. For example:-
Hutchesons' Grammar School has an outstanding record in placing its pupils in universities in Scotland and throughout the UK, including Oxford and Cambridge. In addition, many Hutchesons’ pupils spend a ‘gap’ year before proceeding to university.
As with all contentious claims, these can be supported by reference to publicly published data -examination results, careers of former pupils, for example - or disputed with reference to data relating to the characteristics of the pupil intake, comparisons with similar schools, or with those achieving more from a lower base, fewer resources etc. There is, however, no denying the school's continuing local and national reputation.
External link
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