Skegness Grammar School
Encyclopedia
The Skegness Grammar School is a selective grammar school
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...

, a sixth form centre
Sixth form college
A sixth form college is an educational institution in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Belize, Hong Kong or Malta where students aged 16 to 18 typically study for advanced school-level qualifications, such as A-levels, or school-level qualifications such as GCSEs. In Singapore and India, this is...

 and a specialist school with two disciplines
Specialist school
The specialist schools programme was a UK government initiative which encouraged secondary schools in England to specialise in certain areas of the curriculum to boost achievement. The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust was responsible for the delivery of the programme...

, firstly as a sport college
Sports College
Sports Colleges were introduced in 1997 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enables secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, PE, sports and dance. Schools that successfully apply to the Specialist Schools Trust and become Sports...

 and since 2006 also a mathematics and computing college
Mathematics and Computing College
Mathematics and Computing Colleges were introduced in England in 2002 as part of the Government's Specialist Schools Programme which was designed to raise standards in secondary education. Specialist schools focus specifically on their chosen specialism but must also meet the requirements of the...

, located in Skegness
Skegness
Skegness is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. Located on the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, east of the city of Lincoln it has a total resident population of 18,910....

 Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...

 for children aged between eleven and eighteen. Selection to the school roll is by Lincolnshire's eleven plus examination or, in the case of boarders by entry test or personal interview.

The current school roll consists of 760 pupils including the sixth forms whilst the sixth form consists of 204 pupils. Unusually for a state grammar school it is able to offer a local boarding facility
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...

 for around seventy state boarding children who do not live locally, or whose parents are required to work away from Lincolnshire or abroad.

Originally founded over five hundred years ago by a notable Lord High Chancellor of England, Skegness Grammar School was the very first British secondary school to be awarded Grant Maintained
Grant-maintained school
Grant-maintained schools were state schools in England and Wales between 1988 and 1998 that had opted out of local government control, being funded directly by a grant from central government...

 status by the government in 1988. The school has been classed as a High Performing Specialist School
Specialist school
The specialist schools programme was a UK government initiative which encouraged secondary schools in England to specialise in certain areas of the curriculum to boost achievement. The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust was responsible for the delivery of the programme...

, due to the progress the students have made over the five years of compulsory education in years seven to eleven. Formal evaluation of the recent Sixth Form results has shown that they have established and maintained excellent teaching standards that have led to equally high levels of progress.

The school's name is frequently shortened by pupils, teachers and local residents to 'TSGS'.

Magdalen School

In 1483 William Waynflete
William Waynflete
William Waynflete , born William Patten, was Bishop of Winchester from 1447 to 1486, and Lord Chancellor of England from 1456 to 1460. He is best remembered as the founder of Magdalen College and Magdalen College School in Oxford....

, also called William of Wainfleet, later the Bishop of Winchester
Bishop of Winchester
The Bishop of Winchester is the head of the Church of England diocese of Winchester, with his cathedra at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire.The bishop is one of five Church of England bishops to be among the Lords Spiritual regardless of their length of service. His diocese is one of the oldest and...

, Provost of Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....

 and Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
Lord Chancellor
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...

 founded Magdalen College School in his home town of Wainfleet
Wainfleet, Lincolnshire
Wainfleet All Saints is an ancient port and market town on the east coast of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the B1195 between Spilsby and Boston. The town stands on the small rivers Steeping and Limb that form Wainfleet Haven. The town is close to Skegness, Boston, Spilsby, the Lincolnshire...

 to act as a satellite feeder school for Magdalen College at Oxford University
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...

 that he had also founded.

In 1933 Magdalen College School closed and was incorporated into its newer and larger buildings at Skegness where it became Skegness Grammar School.

There is also a school named after Waynflete (Waynflete School
Waynflete School
Waynflete School is a private, coeducational, college preparatory day school for early childhood education to twelfth grade, in Portland, Maine. Established in 1898, it is one of three independent private schools in the greater Portland area....

} at Portland, Maine
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...

, USA.

Boarding at the school

Since 1991 the school has been able to offer state boarders accommodation in the school's Wainfleet Hall boarding facility on Low Road, Wainfleet. The house can accommodate up to seventy boarders. The Skegness Grammar's boarding facility is run on behalf of the school by the husband and wife team of Mr and Mrs V Camp.

A 'buddy' system is used at Wainfleet Hall to make new boarders feel at home and pre-school open days are arranged.

School houses

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

Lumley - named after Lord Lumley, the ninth Earl of Scarbrough
Earl of Scarbrough
Earl of Scarbrough is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1690 for Richard Lumley, 2nd Viscount Lumley. He is best remembered as one of the Immortal Seven who invited William of Orange to invade England and depose his father-in-law James II...

 a major local landowner who was responsible for developing Skegness as a major Victorian holiday resort.

Magdalen - named 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 - named after Lincolnshire's most famous son Sir Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."...

, FRS (4 January 1643 31 March 1727) who was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...

, mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....

, astronomer
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...

, natural philosopher
Natural philosophy
Natural philosophy or the philosophy of nature , is a term applied to the study of nature and the physical universe that was dominant before the development of modern science...

, alchemist
Alchemy
Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...

 and theologian
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

.

Tennyson - named after locally born Alfred Lord Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular poets in the English language....

 (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) who was Poet Laureate
Poet Laureate
A poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events...

 of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and one of the most popular classical English poets of all time.

Grant Maintained

The Education Reform Act of 1988
Education Reform Act 1988
The Education Reform Act 1988 is widely regarded as the most important single piece of education legislation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland since the 'Butler' Education Act 1944...

 introduced the concept of Grant-maintained school
Grant-maintained school
Grant-maintained schools were state schools in England and Wales between 1988 and 1998 that had opted out of local government control, being funded directly by a grant from central government...

s 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.

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
Foundation school
In England and Wales, a foundation school is a state-funded school in which the governing body has greater freedom in the running of the school than in community schools....

.

Specialist College status

In 2004 The Skegness Grammar was awarded specialist school status
Specialist school
The specialist schools programme was a UK government initiative which encouraged secondary schools in England to specialise in certain areas of the curriculum to boost achievement. The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust was responsible for the delivery of the programme...

 as a Sports College
Sports College
Sports Colleges were introduced in 1997 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enables secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, PE, sports and dance. Schools that successfully apply to the Specialist Schools Trust and become Sports...

. The new sports facilities provided include a multi use astroturf all weather pitch
AstroTurf
AstroTurf is a brand of artificial turf. Although the term is a registered trademark, it is sometimes used as a generic description of any kind of artificial turf. The original AstroTurf product was a short pile synthetic turf while the current products incorporate modern features such as...

, sports hall, four tennis courts and eight mini courts, cricket nets, sports pavilion and climbing wall, but the climbing wall is not accessible to the schools students. As a Sports College the available facilities are up to date and second to none. The college was awarded the Sportsmark
Sportsmark
Sportsmark is Sport England's accreditation scheme for secondary schools. The scheme recognises a school's out of hours sports provision.Sportsmark awards are given to secondary schools for provision for sport and physical education. They are currently being reviewed along with Activemark awards...

 in 2006 and 2007 as well as becoming a Coach Centre of Excellence. Skegness is now the hub school for the Lincolnshire Coastal Sports Partnership with a membership of 8 Secondary and 32 Primary and Special Schools.

Two years later in 2006 a second speciality was added to the school when it was granted specialist status as a Mathematics and Computing College
Mathematics and Computing College
Mathematics and Computing Colleges were introduced in England in 2002 as part of the Government's Specialist Schools Programme which was designed to raise standards in secondary education. Specialist schools focus specifically on their chosen specialism but must also meet the requirements of the...

. Technology is used to underpin teaching and learning across the curriculum and the school has added three recently modernised and refurbished ICT suites. Recently a new Conference Centre with video conferencing facilities for pupils has been added.

Sixth Form Centre

The latest addition to the school, a sixth form centre, has been recently opened on the site to house students in years twelve and thirteen with separate study and common room facilities.

Two anniversaries

In 2008 Skegness Grammar School celebrated the school's seventy fifth anniversary of the move from Wainfleet to Skegness and the 525th anniversary of its original founding.

Results

In the 2006 school league table results for secondary schools in the county of Lincolnshire, the school came 5th out of 35 for attainment at A level/AS level. The school also ranked 7th in the whole of the East Midlands
East Midlands
The East Midlands is one of the regions of England, consisting of most of the eastern half of the traditional region of the Midlands. It encompasses the combined area of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Northamptonshire and most of Lincolnshire...

 region.

Ofsted

Following the Ofsted inspection in 2000 the school was awarded the Ofsted gold standard. Following the inspection in 2004, the school received a first class award.

Ofsted specifically commented:

"TSGS is renowned across the county and beyond for its academic success and for the development of well rounded, inspired and motivated individuals. This was widely commented on in our last Ofsted report. An emphasis on high academic standards and strong discipline but with a wide range of sporting and other activities. It receives able pupils who are keen to do well and the school is particularly successful in creating an orderly and productive environment where standards of behaviour are excellent and relationships very good." (Ofsted 2004)

In the most recent 2008 Ofsted report Skegness Grammar received a Grade 1 assessment for the school's performance and Grade 2 for both the boarding facility and the sixth form.

School badge

The school badge is the Coat of Arms of the Earldom of Scarbrough. It depicts an Escutcheon Argent bearing Fess Gules with three Hunting Hawks, the crest depicts a Cormorant astride a crown. Its meaning is:
  • The escutcheon is the shield and the colour argent or white represents "Peace and sincerity".
  • The fess is the broad cross band and its colour of gules or red stands for "Military fortitude and strength".
  • The three hunting hawks stands for "One who fears not to signal his approach in peace or war".
  • The cormorant astride the crown depicts a "Swift striking warrior and conqueror of foreign kingdoms".

Notable former pupils

  • Jack Cotton, professional footballer with Lincoln City F.C.
    Lincoln City F.C.
    Lincoln City Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Lincoln, Lincolnshire. The club are currently members of the Conference National in 2011–12 following relegation from the Football League....

  • Noël Greig
    Noël Greig
    Noël Antony Miller Greig was a British playwright most noted for his work in radical gay theatre. Greig wrote over 50 plays, as well as directed and produced numerous companies in both the United Kingdom and around the world.One of the hallmarks of Greig's plays is there demonstration of gay...

    , playwright.
  • Adam Millson, professional footballer with Boston United
  • Neil Wallis
    Neil Wallis
    Neil John Wallis is a former newspaper editor in the United Kingdom.-Early life:Wallis was born in Lincolnshire. He attended Skegness Grammar School.-Journalism:...

    , deputy editor of the News of the World
    News of the World
    The News of the World was a national red top newspaper published in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the biggest selling English language newspaper in the world, and at closure still had one of the highest English language circulations...

    , former editor of the Sunday People
    The People
    The People, previously known as the Sunday People, is a British tabloid Sunday-only newspaper. The paper was founded on 16 October 1881.It is published by the Trinity Mirror Group.In July 2011 it had an average daily circulation of 806,544....

    .

External links

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