Bury Grammar School is an independent grammar school in Bury, Greater Manchester, England, that has existed since c.1570. The current headmaster is the Reverend Steven Harvey MA. The previous headmaster, Keith Richards MA, retired after sixteen years of headmastership on 7 April 2006. The Headmistress of the Girls' School is Roberta (Bobby) Georghiou.
Bury Grammar School celebrates its Founders' Day on the first Friday after 5 May. 6 May (the Feast of St John before the Latin Gate) is the date that Roger Kay, who re-founded the School with a generous bequest, specified the Trustees should meet annually to inspect the School. On this particular Friday, a procession leads from school through the major street of Bury to Bury Parish Church, led by the Combined Cadet Force (CCF). Since the CCF is attached to the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, a regiment with the Freedom of the Borough, the cadets are permitted to march with swords drawn, drums beating and colours flying. After a commemoration service, the pupils are awarded a half-holiday. Services for younger pupils are held simultaneously in the Roger Kay Hall (located in the Girls School).
In 1977, the Boys' School celebrated the 250th anniversary of its re-founding by Roger Kay, and the school was visited by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
The Grammar School, originally housed in buildings in The Wylde (which exists today as The Blackburn Hall) behind the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, moved to a new building on Tenterden Street which it shared with the local girls' high school, then known as Bury High School for Girls. The girls' school was subsequently renamed Bury Grammar School for Girls and the two schools, whilst remaining separate entities, shared the same building until the erection of a more modern facility for the boys across Bridge Road. The schools recently publicly announced their intention to build a joint sixth form centre for day use only, and certain subjects in the sixth form are taught jointly across the two schools. The Roger Kay bequest specified that the Headmaster had to be an Oxford or Cambridge graduate, hence the reason for the predominance of dark and light blue in the school uniforms.
The school's crest (depicted opposite and worn with pride on the blazer and cap) dates from c. 1840. It depicts a swan gripping a key in its beak tenaciously, under which is the motto: Sanctas Clavis Fores Aperit (Latin for "the key opens the sacred doors"). Both are largely considered to have been created by the Revd Henry Crewe Boutflower, a former headmaster. The tenacious swan is from the device of John, Duke of Berry, who may, or may not, have been an ancestor of the Founder, Revd. Henry Bury (but was more likely chosen due to the similar names), whilst the key is believed to be a play on the name of the re-founder, the Reverend Roger Kay.
The current school fees are £8,736 p.a. for senior students and £6,492 p.a. in the junior school.
Read more about Bury Grammar School: Publications and Alumni Activities, Houses, Current Curriculum in The Boys' School, History of The Girls' School, Uniform, Link With Harvard College and The Henry Dunster Society, Notable Masters, Notable Alumni
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—Willa Cather (1873–1947)
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—John Simon (b. 1925)
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—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)