History
The Rochester Grammar School has a unique history. It was opened in 1888 under the Endowed School’s Act of 1869 which allowed the charitable trustees of the Bridge Wardens to donate the necessary funds for a girls’ grammar school. It was progressive even then, pioneering higher education for girls and its reputation has grown over the years. It is characterised by high expectations and the pursuit of personal excellence. Each year they celebrate their founding with a special service at Rochester Cathedral. In 1990 the school moved to a new site and since then it has grown in size to over 1100 students. The school is a combined Mathematics/ICT and Music specialist school, the first nationally. There are nearly 300 in the sixth form, including (since 2004) male students. The school’s mission statement is “Furthering Excellence through support, encouragement and achievement”.
In November 2010 the RGS became an “Academy of Excellence” under the Government’s academy programme for outstanding schools. The school has facilities including interactive whiteboards in all classrooms, network and wireless ICT, a sixth form centre, a newly built and hi-tech teaching and training suite named after one of the school’s famous ex-students – Evelyn Dunbar. Evelyn was the only female commissioned war artist. Pictures illustrating her famous sense of the home front during World War II decorate the suite.
The RGS has a flexible and unique curriculum, which includes early entry to advanced level studying and the prestigious International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. The school claims to have a commitment to the highest standards in teaching, attaining independence and lifelong learning.
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Famous quotes containing the word history:
“What would we not give for some great poem to read now, which would be in harmony with the scenery,—for if men read aright, methinks they would never read anything but poems. No history nor philosophy can supply their place.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“This above all makes history useful and desirable: it unfolds before our eyes a glorious record of exemplary actions.”
—Titus Livius (Livy)
“The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face; we, through their eyes. Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the universe? Why should not we have a poetry and philosophy of insight and not of tradition, and a religion by revelation to us, and not the history of theirs?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)