Skegness Grammar School

Skegness Grammar School
Address
Map
Vernon Road

Skegness
,
Lincolnshire
,
PE25 2QS

England
Coordinates53°08′56″N 0°20′02″E / 53.1490°N 0.3340°E / 53.1490; 0.3340
Information
TypeGrammar school
Academy
MottoLatin: Murus Aeneus Conscientia Sana
(A sound conscience is a wall of brass)
Established1483; 542 years ago (1483)
(1933 at current site)
FounderWilliam de Waynflete
Department for Education URN138757 Tables
OfstedReports
Head teacherJude Hunton
GenderCoeducational
Age11 to 19 (in certain cases)
Enrolment670 pupils
HousesLumley
Magdalen
Newton
Tennyson
Colour(s)Bottle Green and Gold
Websitehttp://www.skegnessgrammar.co.uk/

Skegness Grammar School (sometimes SGS) is a coeducational grammar school and sixth form with academy status, located in Skegness, Lincolnshire, England.

Selection to the school is by the eleven-plus examination by entry test or personal interview. The school roll consists of 472 pupils including 106 pupils in the sixth form.

Skegness Grammar School was founded over 500 years ago by a Lord High Chancellor of England. It was the first British secondary school to be awarded Grant Maintained status by the government in 1988. The school has been classed as a High Performing Specialist School.

History

Magdalen School

In 1483 William Waynflete, also called William of Wainfleet, later the Bishop of Winchester, Provost of Eton College and Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain founded Magdalen College School in his home town of Wainfleet to act as a satellite feeder school for Magdalen College at Oxford University that he had also founded.[1]

In 1933 Magdalen College School closed and was incorporated into its newer and larger buildings at Skegness where it became Skegness Grammar School.[1] The school opened on Wednesday 20 September 1933, and cost £30,000 for 200 places.[2] The headteacher was Kenneth George Spendlove.[3]

School houses

The school is organised into four houses all named after historically prominent people or famous Lincolnshire men:

Lumley - after Aldred Lumley, 10th Earl of Scarbrough a major local landowner who was responsible for developing Skegness as a major Victorian holiday resort.

Magdalen - after the Magdalen College School in Wainfleet founded by William of Waynflete, one-time Bishop of Winchester and founder of the college by the same name at Oxford University.

Newton - after Lincolnshire's most famous son Sir Isaac Newton, FRS (4 January 1643 – 31 March 1727) who was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist and theologian.

Tennyson - after locally born Alfred Lord Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) who was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom and one of the most popular classical English poets of all time.

Competitions

The school competed against a team from Boston High School on Wednesday 14 September 1983 on Top of the Form on Radio 4. The team was Belinda Raisen aged 17, Mark Finney aged 15, Paula Baumber, Neil Ingham aged 12. The team lost 65-58. Paula gained Geography and Biology A-level in 1987.[4][5]

Grant maintained

The Education Reform Act of 1988 introduced the concept of Grant-maintained schools which shifted the school funding away from the local education authority to direct grant support by central government. Skegness Grammar was the first school in the UK to both apply for and be awarded grant maintained status.[6]

The grant maintained system was dis-established by the new Labour government in 1998 and schools were offered the choice of returning to local education authority funding or opting for foundation status.

Academy

The school converted to academy status on 1 September 2012, and is now sponsored by the David Ross Education Trust.

Notable alumni

See also: Category:People educated at The Skegness Grammar School

Former teachers

References

  1. ^ a b "The Magdalen College School, Wainfleet, Lincolnshire, UK". BBC. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
  2. ^ Times Wednesday 20 September 1933
  3. ^ Times Saturday 26 August 1933, page 11
  4. ^ Skegness Standard Friday 21 August 1987, page 24
  5. ^ Skegness Standard Friday 23 September 1983, page 22
  6. ^ "First grant maintained school". Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  7. ^ "Noël Greig obituary", The Guardian, 23 September 2009. Retrieved 28 July 2011
  8. ^ "Former Boston and Skegness UKIP candidate takes up new post". Boston Standard. 23 May 2016.
  9. ^ Times Tuesday 22 September 2009, page 59