Bury Grammar School - History of The Girls' School

History of The Girls' School

Although only boys were admitted to Bury Grammar when the school was founded, on the re-founding by Roger Kay in 1726 he bequeathed money specifically for girls, the bequest stating: "I charge my Estate called Warth in Ratcliff with the payment of £5 yearly in order that ten poor girls born or to be born in the parish and town of Bury might receive an education....to make them perfect in reading The Bible, to teach them to write well and to be good accountants to fit them for Trades or to be good servants."

In 1884, Bury High School for Girls was opened on 22 January as a fee-paying school. The first headmistress was Miss Jane Penelope Kitchener, a cousin of the more famous Lord Kitchener Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener. The school was in Bolton Street, in a building since demolished, on a site opposite the current Leisure Centre. There were 23 girls in attendance and lessons (Latin, French Science, Mathematics, English, Music, Needlework and Games) were taught from 9am to 1pm, with a half hour break each day.

Around 1900, the girls' school's name was changed to Bury Grammar School for Girls. In 1903 the Boys' School moved from The Wylde to half of the current girls' school site and the following year, 1904, the cornerstone of the Girls' school was laid. When this part of the building was completed, in 1906, the girls moved into it. The Roger Kay Hall cornerstone was laid in 1906, with the hall being opened in 1907.

School uniform was first introduced after the end of the First World War, in 1919.