Description
The RGS currently has 1216 pupils, of which 360 are in the sixth form and 186 in the Junior School, making it one of the largest in the independent sector. After 450 years as a boys' school, girls were first admitted to the sixth form in 2001. The school became fully co-educational in 2006. Former pupils of the RGS are known as Old Novocastrians ("Novocastrian" is Dog Latin for "citizen of Newcastle"), or Old Novos for short.
The RGS is located opposite Central Newcastle High School, a single-sex girls' school. The RGS often shares activities such as drama and school trips with them.
Throughout the school (years 3–13) are four houses, named Collingwood (yellow), Eldon (green), Horsley (blue) and Stowell (red), although the Junior School previously had separate houses, named after colours (red, white, and blue). The Senior School is located on Eskdale Terrace. The Junior School was housed on the adjoining Lambton Road, but a new Junior School on the main school site has been in use since September 2006.
The RGS has Combined Cadet Force (CCF) Army and Navy contingents, open to both boys and girls from the RGS, Central Newcastle High School and very recently, to pupils from Dame Allens and Church High, however some members of CCF who have moved schools, for a variety of reasons, are often still welcome to attend. The CCF provides leadership training by means of military exercises. Cadets have weekly training sessions after school, and opportunities to go on extended training and adventure trips during the holidays. The Army section of NRGS CCF are affiliated to the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, and the Navy Section are affiliated to HMS Calliope which is situated on the Tyne next to the Baltic.
In recent years the school's debating society has become increasingly prominent within the debating community. In October 2004 the school hosted the first Northern Junior Debating Championship, which has now become an annual competition. It is notable for being the first competition of the school calendar. The society also regularly enters teams for other competitions, and has reached the finals' day of both the Oxford Union and Cambridge Union schools' competitions in recent years, winning the Cambridge Union competition in 2010. At a junior level, RGS reached the final of the International Competition for Young Debaters in 2006 and 2007, and won the Northern Junior Debating Competition in 2005, 2006, and 2010.
The school has its own swimming pool and gym. The primary sports that are played at RGS are rugby, hockey, fencing, football, netball, cricket, swimming and athletics.
Dr. Bernard St. John Trafford has been headmaster of the school since 2008. He was previously headmaster of Wolverhampton Grammar School. His predecessor, James F X Miller, retired in 2008. The Second Master is Tony Bird. There are 91 members of teaching staff in the Senior School, 6 of whom are part-time. In the Junior School there are a further 6 members of teaching staff including the Headmaster Roland Craig (since 1999), and Deputy Head Ken Wilkinson. There are also approximately 68 members of maintenance staff under the management of Richard Metcalfe, the school Bursar (who previously worked at Durham University), as well as 14 private music tutors.
The RGS school uniform was updated for all new pupils as of September 2006.
The school magazine, Novo, comes out annually and features trip reports, society and sporting news, outstanding poetry and artwork, and a section on recently-joined or departing staff. A student-run newspaper, the Issue, came into being in the late 1990s; after a period of inactivity, it was relaunched in September 2003 and contained reviews, opinion columns, road-tests and humour pieces. It was famous for breaking the big story that football was to be introduced as a core sport alongside rugby. It ran roughly twice per term until its demise in summer 2005, but was replaced in early 2006 by The Grammar, a more serious and formal piece than the photocopied re-Issue, which has both printed and internet sections. At the end of the 2009–2010 academic year, The Grammar folded.In 2011 a new magaze was set by a group of 6th Form students called Vox and is currently going strong.
Since 1965, the school has held a "Prizegiving" ceremony each November, to recognise academic achievement and bring the school together. It was held at the Newcastle City Hall, since no space on campus could hold all teachers, students, and parents. Due to declining interest by parents, students, and teachers, the school replaced this in 2007 with a series of smaller gatherings and a public festival. This typified the general malaise of the school and its eagerness to leave tradition for a more fashionable approach to education, much to the despair of old pupils, teachers, and parents alike. However in 2009, Headmaster Bernard Trafford announced that a new Prizegiving ceremony "RGS Day" would be hosted on the Saturday of the penultimate week of the school year. This event would invite parents of all year groups to come and would involve the Prizegivings of the entire school as well as musical and dramatic performances, sporting events, a chance for Old Novos to return to the school and the opportunity for various departments to exhibit themselves. The Junior School's Prizegiving will be held the following Wednesday but they will also have activities on RGS Day.
Read more about this topic: Royal Grammar School, Newcastle
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