Aylesbury Grammar School

Aylesbury Grammar School is a grammar school in Aylesbury, in the English county of Buckinghamshire, which educates approximately 1300 students.[2]

Aylesbury Grammar School
Address
Walton Road

Aylesbury
,
Buckinghamshire
,
HP21 7RP

England
Coordinates51.8139°N 0.8014°W / 51.8139; -0.8014
Information
TypeAcademy Grammar School
MottoLatin: Schola Ailesburia, Floreat Ailesburia
Educate Aylesbury, let Aylesbury flourish
Established1598 (1598)
FounderSir Henry Lee
SpecialistsScience (Primary)
Languages (Secondary)
Maths & Computing
Department for Education URN136884 Tables
HeadmasterMark Sturgeon[1]
Staff150 Teaching & Support staff
GenderBoys
Age11 to 18
Enrolment1329
HousesDenson  , Hampden  , Lee  , Paterson  , Phillips  , Ridley  
Colour(s)Maroon, Black and White    
PublicationThe Aylesburian
Former pupilsOld Aylesburians
Websitehttp://www.ags.bucks.sch.uk

Founded in 1598 by Sir Henry Lee, Champion of Queen Elizabeth I, Aylesbury Grammar School celebrated 100 years on its current site in Walton Road in 2007. It is commonly referred to by its students, staff and others in the local area by the abbreviation AGS.[3]

Admissions

As a selective state school, AGS's entry requirements are dictated by the Buckinghamshire Transfer Test, formerly known as the '11-plus'. The school also takes students from outside the catchment area or out-of-county locations such as Thame and Milton Keynes, if spaces remain after all qualified in-catchment candidates have taken up their places.

The school educates boys from the age of 11, in Year 7, through to the age of 18, in Year 13. The school has its largest intakes at Year 7 followed by Year 12.

The school is situated east of Aylesbury town centre on the southern side of the A41, between Walton (to the west) and Victoria Park (to the east). This site was built and opened in 1907, replacing an earlier building in St. Mary's Square in the town centre, which now forms part of the Buckinghamshire Museum.[4]

Specialist status

In September 1997 the school was awarded specialist school status in Technology, and later successfully gained Science College status as its primary specialism. In April 2006 AGS gained a second college status as a Language College and then gained a second secondary college status in Maths and Computing in January 2008. The Specialist School programme was ended by the Government in 2010.[5]

Academy status

In July 2011 the school became an Academy.[6]

History
Aylesbury Grammar School main building on the former site

Single sex school

The school was a boys' school from its foundation in 1598 until 1907, when the school relocated to a new site on Walton Road, where it remains to this day. A condition for receiving funding for the new premises was that the school should become co-educational. However, in the mid-1950s the school was rapidly outgrowing its site and so plans for a new school were made; the Council decided to reinstate AGS's single-sex status and in 1959 the girls of Aylesbury Grammar School moved into their new school on the opposite side of the road, now called Aylesbury High School.

The current Headmaster is Mark Sturgeon, who took over from Stephen Lehec at the start of the 2014–15 academic year.[7]

The Geography (left) and Maths (centre) blocks by the school field

Houses

Each student is placed into one of six houses upon starting at the school. Students are generally separated from others who they went to the same primary school with. The six houses are:[8]

HouseColourSignificance
Denson  Sky BlueNamed after the first President of the Old Boys' Association, Thomas Denson.
Hampden  GreenNamed after John Hampden, leader of the Parliamentarian forces in the Battle of Aylesbury in 1642.
Lee  YellowNamed after the founder of the school, Sir Henry Lee, Bart of Ditchley.
Paterson  PurpleNamed after Olive Paterson, a long-serving member and Chair of the Governing body, and former Mayor of Aylesbury.
Phillips  RedNamed after Henry Phillips of London, influential in the founding of the school.
Ridley  Dark BlueNamed after the Reverend Christopher Ridley, the last Headmaster of the Old School before it became a mixed school in 1907.

House trophy competitions

Each year, the school houses compete in two trophy competitions: the Brodie Trophy (sports) and the Watson Trophy (arts). The Brodie Trophy was first contested in 1939 and was named in memory of Mr Palmer Brodie, a popular teacher involved in organising extra-curricular activities who died in a car crash in 1938. The Watson Trophy was first contested in 1968 and was named in memory of Colonel F. W. Watson, a former Chair of the Governing Body and friend of the school who died in 1966. In the current era the two trophies include the following events: Brodie (athletics, badminton, basketball, cross-country running, football, rugby, squash, swimming and tennis), and Watson (art, chess, music, public speaking, quiz and writing).[9]

At the end of each event the houses gain points for their placements and at the end of the year these points are tallied up and a winner is declared for each trophy.

Students have one House assembly per week.

Teaching system
Foundation Hall, photograph taken from the Headmasters Quad

In the first two years of the school, students are almost exclusively taught in their houses (with the exceptions of Maths and Physical Education, in which pupils are streamed by ability in year 8–9). Pupils were also taught on in non-house groups for their second Foreign Language choice in year 8–9 until the 2008–9 academic year, when year 7s were assigned two languages – French and either German or Spanish according to the house (Denson, Hampden and Lee study German; Paterson, Phillips and Ridley study Spanish), all starting Latin in year 8. Tutor groups are also split up into groups of 20 for Design Technology lessons. Since the start of the 2018–19 Academic Year, students in Year 9 have been taught in teaching groups rather than their House groups.

In Year 10 and above, the year group is reshuffled into different classes for each subject depending on their GCSE options.

Academic performance

In 2009, the school achieved the highest A-level results in Buckinghamshire.[10]

AGS in the news

In May 1907 Aylesbury Grammar School moved to its current location on Walton Road, Aylesbury and the new premises, designed by local architect Fred Taylor A.R.I.B.A, were welcomed to cope with the ever-expanding numbers of students. The guest of honour at the opening ceremony was Lord Rothchild who had offered the land for purchase to Buckinghamshire County Council to build the school. As a condition of a grant from the Council to assist in constructing the new buildings both boys and girls were admitted to the new school.

In December 1953 damage was caused by a fire, later attributed to faulty electrical wiring. The school fully reopened in the Easter of 1954. The damaged roof was replaced and a new hall, entrance area and classrooms were constructed.

On 9 May 2014, boys at the school dressed up as the Jamaican bobsleigh team for their school-leaving celebrations and 'blacked up' as part of their costume. This came to public attention when an image of the schoolboys was tweeted by the then headmaster Stephen Lehec and was criticised for being racist. Lehec issued a formal apology, though in his analysis 'at no time was there an undertone of any act being of a derogatory or racist nature'. The matter was widely reported in local and national media.[11]

Notable people associated with Aylesbury Grammar School

Notable former pupils

See also

References
  1. Aylesbury Grammar School Website
  2. "History | Aylesbury Grammar School". Archived from the original on 3 January 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  3. Website is called AGS
  4. "School Office | Aylesbury Grammar School". Archived from the original on 4 January 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  5. "Specialisms | Aylesbury Grammar School". Archived from the original on 4 January 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  6. "Open academies map and schools submitting applications". Department for Education. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
  7. The High School can be seen on the map, just to the southwest of AGS, on this website: "School Office | Aylesbury Grammar School". Archived from the original on 4 January 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  8. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 August 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. "Houses". Aylesbury Grammar School. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  10. "Exam Results". Aylesbury High School. 26 August 2016. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  11. Claire Carter, 'Grammar school headteacher apologises for 'blacked up' picture of pupils', The Telegraph, 15 May 2014, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/10833705/Grammar-school-headteacher-apologises-for-blacked-up-picture-of-pupils.html ; "Headteacher apologises for 'blacked up' pupils", The Bucks Herald, 15 May 2014, http://www.bucksherald.co.uk/news/more-news/headteacher-apologises-for-blacked-up-pupils-1-6060046 Archived 17 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine.
  12. "Will Adam (Paterson '88)". 12 March 2021.
  13. Adams, Tim (22 April 2001). "Guardian.co.uk". The Guardian. London.
  14. "LSE staff biographies".
  15. "Parliamentary record". Archived from the original on 31 January 2013.
  16. "Rutland Broughton".
  17. "Andy Riley blog".
  18. Alaric Hall, Útrásarvíkingar! The Literature of the Icelandic Financial Crisis (2008–2014) (Earth, Milky Way: punctum, 2020), pp. 19-20, ISBN 9781950192694, doi:10.21983/P3.0272.1.00.
  19. Sale, Jonathan (3 August 2006). "Passed/Failed: An education in the life of Tim Harford, writer and economist". The Independent. London. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
  20. "Former Aylesbury Grammar School pupil with extremely rare disability lands first major acting role in Netflix drama". bucksherald.co.uk. 10 September 2018.
  21. "Sam Jones: 2012/2013 Biography & Statistics - London Wasps". Archived from the original on 28 April 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  22. "Former Aylesbury Grammar School pupil and footballer Richard Lee launches new book". www.bucksherald.co.uk. 18 October 2017. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  23. "BBC World Service - Discovery, The Life Scientific: Pete Smith".
  24. "Rob Stringer: One of the most powerful figures in the music business". independent.co.uk. 6 March 2006.
  25. Who's Who 2007. A & C Black. 1912. ISBN 978-0-7136-7527-6.
  26. "GB Lions Training Squad for 2023 rotation – British American Football".

News items
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