Reigate Grammar School

Reigate Grammar School is a 2–18^[2] co-educational private day school in Reigate, Surrey, England. It was established in 1675 by Henry Smith.

Reigate Grammar School
Address
Reigate Road Reigate , Surrey , RH2 0QS England
Coordinates	51.2373973°N 0.1955290°W / 51.2373973; -0.1955290
Information
Type	Private day school Grammar school
Established	1675; 349 years ago (1675)
Founder	Henry Smith
Department for Education URN	125422 Tables
Headmaster	Shaun Fenton[1]
Staff	120~
Gender	Mixed
Age range	11–18
Enrolment	1,463 (2021)[2]
Capacity	1,480[2]
Houses	Williamson Cranston Bird Hodgson
Colour(s)	Blue and white
School hymn	'To Be a Pilgrim'
Alumni	Old Reigatians
School Fees	£21,595 per year
Website	www.reigategrammar.org

History

The school was founded as a free school for poor boys in 1675 by Alderman Henry Smith with Jon Williamson, the vicar of Reigate, as master. It remained in the hands of the church until 1862 when a board of governors was appointed.^{[citation needed]} Under the Education Act of 1944 it became a voluntary aided grammar school, providing access on the basis of academic ability as measured by the 11-Plus examination. In 1976, it converted to its current fee-paying independent status; pupils already studying there continued to not pay fees.^[3] At the same time the sixth form was opened up to girls. In 1993, the school became fully co-educational. In 2003, the school merged with a local prep school St. Mary's School.^[4] This is now called Reigate St Mary's Prep and Choir School and serves as the junior school, taking children from three to eleven, most of whom then proceed to the senior school.

School life

Terms

As in most schools in England, there are three terms in the academic year.

• The Michaelmas Term from early September to mid-December. This is the normal term for new students to be admitted into the school
• The Lent Term from early January to a time a week or two before Easter falls that year
• The Trinity Term from mid-late April to early July, during which time students sit most public exams

House system

There are four houses at Reigate Grammar School:

House Name	House Colour
Williamson	Yellow
Cranston	Purple
Hodgson	Red
Bird	Green

Each pupil is assigned to one of the four houses upon joining the school, and a pupil's house is shown by the house PE top and by an optional house badge. Any subsequent family members joining the school are usually put into the same house. There are inter-house competitions throughout the year (including rugby, hockey, netball, and chess) points awarded in each event throughout the year are added up, and the house with most points is awarded the House Cup at the end of the Lent Term. The counting of points begins again at the beginning of the Trinity Term.

The school's livery colour is dark blue.

Reigate Grammar School Vietnam

Reigate Grammar School officially opened Reigate Grammar School Vietnam in April 2022,^[5] being the first UK independent school in the country.^[6] The school came to be following a joint venture and merger of the former International School of Vietnam, with the latter rebranding between 2020 and 2022. The school consists of a Preparatory school for Pre-K up to Year 6, a secondary school for Years 7 to 11, and its Sixth form, for years 12 to 13. Reigate Grammar School Vietnam is an IB world school and as such offers the PYP, the MYP, and the Diploma Program. The school is a Cambridge-accredited testing centre and as such a range of IGCSE programs are available.

Sixth-form students have the option of studying Cambridge International A-levels or the IBDP, with both programmes currently being taught on the main campus at Hoàng Mai. A planned separate campus is in the works exclusively for Sixth-form students undertaking A-levels in Hoàn Kiếm.

Other International schools

Reigate Grammar School has three international schools already open in China (Nanjing, Shenzhen, and Zhangjiagang), and one in Saudi Arabia (Riyadh), with partnerships with schools in Morocco and China.^[7]

Facilities

The school site is split into two locations separated by the churchyard. On the "Broadfield" site, named so because of the playing field dubbed "Broadfield" behind the old science block, there are several old and new buildings. Until recently, Broadfield house, an old Reigate home, was where History, Economics, Business studies, Politics and other subjects were taught. It is now used for Drama. Opposite Broadfield house is the Cornwallis building, which is another old Reigate home.

Offsite, the school owns the playing fields at "Hartswood" nearby Woodhatch, where most home matches in most sports are played. Nearby is Reigate Saint Mary's church where every student goes once a week in place of assembly. The nearby Reigate St Mary's Preparatory School is owned by the RGS Foundation, which also operates Reigate Grammar.^[8]

Headmaster

Shaun Fenton, son of Alvin Stardust^[9] is the headmaster at Reigate Grammar school and executive headmaster of Reigate Grammar School Vietnam. He was previously headmaster at Pate's Grammar School and Sir John Lawes School. He is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.

International Headmasters

Patrick Glennon is the current headmaster of Reigate Grammar School Vietnam^[10]

Controversy

In 2013 the school offered to give financial support to Dunottar School in Reigate, and in return Reigate Grammar School would help manage Dunottar. Then in late 2013 it was announced that Dunottar would be closed due to dwindling pupil numbers and poor finances. This caused uproar from the current parents, who planned to manage the school themselves. Reasons for the planned take-over include the selling of Dunottar's school property to fund the new Centre of Learning at Reigate Grammar School. However Reigate Grammar School was unsuccessful and the parents had Dunottar school sign a 10-year contract with United Learning after negotiations.^[11] As a result, the new Centre of Learning was funded by Sir Peter Harrison's Reigate-based Peter Harrison Foundation.^[12]

Notable former pupils

See also: Category:People educated at Reigate Grammar School

• Will Beer, cricketer, Sussex County Cricket Club
• Steve Benbow, folk guitar player, singer and music director
• Andrew Cantrill, organist^[13]
• Norman Cook, or Fatboy Slim, musician^[13]
• Andrew Cooper, Conservative peer^[13]
• Vice Admiral Sir Geoffrey Dalton, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic, later Secretary General of Mencap^[13]
• Ben Edwards, BBC Formula One racing commentator and former racing driver^[14]
• Bill Frindall, BBC cricket scorer^[13]
• Peter Gershon, British businessman, civil servant and chairman of the National Grid plc^[13]
• Susan Gritton, singer^[15]
• Sir David Hall, British paediatrician^{[citation needed]}
• John Haybittle, British Medical Physicist and co-inventor of the Haybittle–Peto boundary^[13]
• Anthony Hidden, high court judge^[16]
• Bevis Hillier, English art historian, author and journalist;^[13] hoaxer and scourge of A.N. Wilson, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
• Godfrey Ince, civil servant^[13]
• Trevor Kavanagh, political editor of The Sun^[15]
• Peter Lampl, actor, political activist and organist^[17]
• Ray Mears, TV presenter and survival expert^[18]
• Ben Mee, journalist, author and subject of the film We Bought a Zoo^[13]
• John Murrell (chemist), British theoretical chemist who made important contributions to the understanding of the spectra of organic molecules, the theory of Intermolecular force and to the construction of Potential energy surface^[13]
• Romesh Ranganathan, British stand-up comedian and actor^[13]
• Jon Beach, Advertising Creative, winner of Cannes Advertising Awards^[13]
• Alec Harley Reeves, electronics engineer, inventor of pulse-code modulation^[13]
• Robert Shearman, playwright, short story writer and screenwriter for Doctor Who - "Dalek" (2005)
• Keir Starmer, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• Jeffrey Sterling, Conservative peer and one-time chairman of P&O^[15][13]
• Fred Streeter, horticulturalist and broadcaster^[13]
• Andrew Sullivan, journalist, blogger, and political commentator^[13]
• Derek Twine, charity CEO, who was Chief Scout Executive 1997-2013^[13]
• John Westbrook, English theatre actor who appeared in the film The Tomb of Ligeia
• David Walliams, actor, writer and co-star of Little Britain^[19]

References

1. "Headmaster's Welcome". Reigate Grammar School. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
2. "Reigate Grammar School". Get information about schools. GOV.UK. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
3. "Voluntary schools which have become independent schools". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 5 November 1980. col. 579W.
4. "History & tradition". Reigate Grammar School. Archived from the original on 13 September 2009. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
5. dựng, Báo Xây (5 April 2022). "Lễ gắn biển trường tiểu học, THCS và THPT Reigate Grammar Việt Nam". Báo Xây dựng (in Vietnamese). Retrieved 3 February 2023.
6. "ISV to become the 1st ever school in Vietnam with UK brand and trademark". reigategrammar.edu.vn. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
7. "Our Schools". 4 June 2022.
8. "Establishment: Reigate Grammar School". Department for Education. Archived from the original on 28 April 2016. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
9. Alvin Stardust's son swaps glam for grammar, The Daily Telegraph, 08 September 2006
10. "Board of Management". reigategrammar.edu.vn. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
11. Stubbings, David (28 February 2014). "Parents over the moon as school's future is secured". getsurrey. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
12. "New State-of-the-Art Learning Centre at the heart of RGS". 21 October 2015.
13. Notable Reigatians at rgs.foundation, accessed 11 June 2020
14. CMT, CMT (15 May 2012). "Ben Edwards (RGS 1978-1983)". Reigate Grammar School. Reigate. Archived from the original on 12 August 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
15. "Reigate Grammar School". UK Schools Guide. 2005. Archived from the original on 7 February 2006.
16. "Sir Anthony Hidden, judge - obituary". Telegraph. 8 March 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
17. Cook, Chris (26 July 2013). "Lunch with the FT: Sir Peter Lampl". Financial Times.
18. Sale, Jonathan (20 September 2007). "Passed/Failed: An education in the life of Ray Mears, survival expert". The Independent. London. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
19. Maley, Jacqueline (7 July 2006). "He's an incredibly single-minded individual. He didn't miss a single training session in nine months". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 22 May 2010.

External links

• Official website