Aylesbury Grammar School
Motto	Schola Ailesburia (Latin: Aylesbury School)
Established	1598
Type	Grammar school
Category	Voluntary controlled
Gender	Boys
Headteacher	Mr Steven Harvey
Students	1,260
Age range	11-18
Location	Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
LEA	Buckinghamshire
Colours	maroon, black and white
Email	office@ags.bucks.sch.uk
Website	ags.bucks.sch.uk

The Geography (l) and Maths blocks by the school field

Aylesbury Grammar School is a single-sex male grammar school which educates 1,250 pupils. As a selective state school, its entry requirements are dictated by the exam taken at the age of 10-11. In September 1997 the school was awarded specialist school status in Technology, and then Languages in April 2006. Image File history File links AGS_Badge. ... A motto (from Italian) is a phrase or a short list of words meant formally to describe the general motivation or intention of an entity, social group, or organization. ... For other uses, see Latin (disambiguation). ... Events January 7 - Boris Godunov seizes the throne of Russia following the death of his brother-in-law, Tsar Feodor I. April 13 - Edict of Nantes - Henry IV of France grants French Huguenots equal rights with Catholics. ... Educational institutions are often categorised along several dimensions. ... A grammar school is a school that may, depending on regional usage as exemplified below, provide either secondary education or, a much less common usage, primary education (also known as elementary). Grammar schools trace their origins back to medieval Europe, as schools in which university preparatory subjects, such as Latin... In a voluntary controlled school in England (almost always church schools), the land and buildings are often owned by a charitable foundation. ... Gender in common usage refers to the sexual distinction between male and female. ... Aylesbury is the county town of Buckinghamshire in south east England. ... Buckinghamshire (abbreviated Bucks) is one of the home counties in South East England. ... A Local Education Authority (LEA) is the part of a council in England or Wales that is responsible for education within that councils jurisdiction. ... School colors are the colors chosen by a school to represent it on uniforms and other items of identification. ... A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos and other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN. A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML... Image File history File links AGS_Field. ... Image File history File links AGS_Field. ... A grammar school is a school that may, depending on regional usage as exemplified below, provide either secondary education or, a much less common usage, primary education (also known as elementary). Grammar schools trace their origins back to medieval Europe, as schools in which university preparatory subjects, such as Latin... The Eleven Plus is an examination which was given to students in their last year of primary education in the United Kingdom under the Tripartite System. ... The specialist schools programme is a UK government programme which encourages secondary schools to specialise in certain areas to boost acheivement. ... Institute of technology, and polytechnic, are designations employed in a wide range of learning institutions awarding different types of degrees and operating often at variable levels of the educational system. ...

The school educates boys from the age of 11, in year 7, through to the age of 18, in year 13 (Upper VI). The school has its largest intakes at Year 7 followed by Year 12 (Lower VI). On completing GCSEs, most pupils stay on to complete their A-levels at the school's sixth-form. GCSE is an acronym that can refer to: General Certificate of Secondary Education global common subexpression elimination - an optimisation technique used by some compilers This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The A-level, short for Advanced Level, is a General Certificate of Education qualification in the United Kingdom, usually taken by students during the optional final two years of secondary school (Years 12 & 13, commonly called the Sixth Form), or at a separate sixth form college or further education college... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into sixth form college. ...

History

Founded, 1598 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire by Sir Henry Lee, Aylesbury Grammar School will celebrate 100 years on the current site in Walton Road in 2007. It is commonly referred to by its students and staff by the abbreviation 'AGS' or 'The Grammar'. Events January 7 - Boris Godunov seizes the throne of Russia following the death of his brother-in-law, Tsar Feodor I. April 13 - Edict of Nantes - Henry IV of France grants French Huguenots equal rights with Catholics. ... Aylesbury is the county town of Buckinghamshire in south east England. ... Buckinghamshire (abbreviated Bucks) is one of the home counties in South East England. ... Sir Henry Lee by Antonis Mor, 1568. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ...

The school was previously a mixed sex school but then parted and the girls' school became Aylesbury High School, which is across the road from AGS. Aylesbury High School (AHS) was founded in 1959, in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, when the previously co-educational Aylesbury Grammar School became boys-only. ...

The school styles itself after public schools in some ways - for example, making rugby the main sport rather than football, awarding special ties for sports performances, and appointing prefects and a Head Boy. ^{[citation needed]}

The current headmaster is Steve Harvey, however it has been announced that he will be retiring as of August 2008.

Houses

Each pupil is placed into one of six houses upon starting at the school. The six houses are:

John Hampden John Hampden as depicted in the 1851 Illustrated London Reading Book John Hampden (circa 1595—1643) was an English politician, the eldest son of William Hampden, of Hampden House, Great Hampden in Buckinghamshire, a descendant of a very ancient family of that county, said to have been established... The Roundheads was the nickname given to the supporters of Parliament during the English Civil War. ... On the 1st November 1642, Royalist forces, under the command of Prince Rupert engaged Aylesburys Parliamentarian garrison, at Holmans Bridge. ... Events January 4 - Charles I attempts to arrest five leading members of the Long Parliament, but they escape. ... Sir Henry Lee by Antonis Mor, 1568. ...

Sanctions

The school is well known for being very demanding of its students and so has a comprehensive sanctions policy.^{[citation needed]}

For minor offences, pupils may be required to attend a short break or lunchtime detention, should they, however, fail to attend this or commit a more serious offence they may be given an after school detention. These come in two varieties, the private detention (which comes with a yellow slip) and a school detention (white slip with red wording). A private detention should in theory be given to a pupil should he misbehave to a fairly serious level, or consistently miss deadlines. The detention will be supervised by the department who gave it. A school detention is given to more serious offences, for example violence. These are held in the lecture theatre and are supervised by a senior member of staff. They are also recorded on the pupils' records. There are rumours however that some teachers give red detentions too leniently to save themselves the bother of attending their own detentions.

At AGS detentions are often referred to as "dets", so to receive a private detention with a subject teacher would be to receive a "yellow det".

For more serious offences still, bullying being one, a merit holiday (inset day) may be denied.

For persistent defiance and misbehaviour a suspension may be given. These may be internal or external.

Finally, if a pupil was to not respond to any of these punishments or was caught committing a very serious offence then a full expulsion would be implemented. However this is mainly in the hands of the County and LEA (Local Education Authority).

House trophy competitions

Each year, the school houses compete for the Brodie Trophy for sports and the Watson Trophy for all other activities (including art, music and public speaking). The awards are named for former pupils who made a great contribution to the school's life. The competitions have been taking place for over 300 years, when the 'houses' were groups of boarders living in one building.^[1] There is also a defunct trophy called 'Merit Marks', which was abolished due to imbalances in the willingness of various teachers to distribute them.

Boys are encouraged throughout the year to participate in team events, as well as some individual events. Most of the encouragement comes from their heads of house, who are in charge of 210 pupils on average (or 7 tutor groups, each consisting of 30 pupils).

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

Uniform

Students are currently required, as part of uniform, to wear a white shirt, school tie (black, white and maroon diagonal striped), black trousers, black school blazer (optional in summer) and black leather shoes. In the VI form, students are permitted to wear coloured shirts. However, it has just been put through the junior school council that pupils may be allowed to wear their own suits, such as the pupils of the Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School, also in Aylesbury. Discussions are taking place, and this may come into effect within the next few years.^{[citation needed]} Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School and Performing Arts College is a co-educational grammar school in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. ...

The sixth form were polled about retaining the school uniform some years ago, and decided that it should remain mandatory.^{[citation needed]} However for families in financial difficulties, there remains the option of purchasing second hand uniform from the school thrift shop.

Teaching System

In the first three years of the school, pupils are almost exclusively taught in their houses, or 'tutor groups' (with the exceptions of Maths, in which pupils are streamed by ability in year 8-9, and by their second Foreign Language choice in year 8-9). Tutor groups are also split up into groups of 20 for Design Technology lessons, and into groups of 20 is also used for Art and Ceramics in Years 8-9. Euclid, Greek mathematician, 3rd century BC, as imagined by by Raphael in this detail from The School of Athens. ... Design Technology is an IB course focusing on design, materials, and manufacturing processes. ... This article is about the philosophical concept of Art. ... Ceramics can refer to: Ceramic, a type of material Ceramics (art), a fine art. ...

In Year 10 and above, the year group is reshuffled into 7 smaller sized 'forms' for teaching of the sciences, English and P.E., whilst pupils' different GCSE choices mean they may not see others from either tutor group or form. From this point onwards, the houses play no significant role other than teams for the Watson or Brodie trophies. Part of a scientific laboratory at the University of Cologne. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Physical education (PE) is the interdisciplinary study of all area of science relating to the transmission of physical knowledge and skills to an individual or a group, the application of these skills, and their results. ... GCSE is an acronym that can refer to: General Certificate of Secondary Education global common subexpression elimination - an optimisation technique used by some compilers This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

The teaching staff at Aylesbury Grammar School includes Dr. Carol Blyth, who has received a 'Teacher of the Decade' award^[2] as well as Dr Kevin Bond, author and Chairman of Examiners for Computer Science.^[3]

Notable alumni

• Jake Arnott (b. 1961) author, left school at 16
• Richard Baron (b. 1958), philosopher
• Tim Besley, economist and Member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee
• Angela Billingham (b. 1939-07-31), politician
• Richard Bracewell (b. circa 1970), director, producer and scriptwriter
• Rutland Boughton (1878 – 1960), composer
• Kevin Cecil, scriptwriter
• Derek Dick (Fish) (b. 1958), singer (briefly)
• John Edwards (1904 – 1959), politician
• Sean Forbes, Rough Trade Records director
• Tim Harford (b. 1973), journalist and presenter^[4]
• Peter Jukes (b. 1960), author & scriptwriter^[5]
• Richard Lee (b.1982), goalkeeper for Championship side Watford, currently second choice after veteran Estonian Mart Poom
• Kris Needs (b. 1954), journalist and author
• David Millar (b. 1977), Cyclist
• Harry Gerald Oxley, 1950, pioneer in community studies in South Africa and Australia^[6]
• Andy Riley, author and scriptwriter
• Peter Rost, politician
• Kevin Sacre, actor
• Frederick Taylor, historian
• Shailesh Vara, politician
• Alexander Vince, actor, currently attends the school

Jake Arnott is a British novelist who was born in Buckinghamshire in 1961 and now lives in North London. ... Richard Baron (born 1958) is a philosopher living in London. ... Timothy J. Besley has served on the Bank of Englands Monetary Policy Committee from September 2006 to present. ... The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is a committee of the Bank of England, which meets every month to decide the official interest rate in the United Kingdom. ... Angela Theodora Billingham, Baroness Billingham JP (b. ... Year 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 212th day of the year (213th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Richard Bracewell is a film director with fledgeling UK film production company Punk Cinema. ... Rutland Boughton (1878-1960), a pupil of Charles Villiers Stanford at the Royal College of Music in London, became well known in the early 20th century as a composer of orchestral and choral music. ... Kevin Cecil is a British scriptwriter. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... (Lewis) John Edwards, OBE (27 May 1904 – 23 November 1959) was a British university lecturer, trade union leader and Labour Party politician. ... Rough Trade Records, now a member of the RIAA[1], began as an independent record label, based in London, England. ... Tim Harford (born 1973) is an English journalist. ... Peter Jukes is an author and screenwriter who has written books, articles, radio and TV scripts, including Waking the Dead, Sea of Souls, In Deep (En immersion) and The Inspector Lynley Mysteries. ... Richard Lee is an English goalkeeper who plays for Blackburn Rovers FC. He was signed on loan from Watford fc in August 2005 with the option of a permanent move come the end of the season. ... Kris Needs is a British journalist and author, primarily known for his writings on the music scene from the 1970s onwards. ... David Millar (born January 4, 1977 in Malta) is a Scottish road racing cyclist, currently racing for UCI ProTeam Saunier Duval-Prodir as a time-trial specialist. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For other persons named Peter Rost, see Peter Rost (disambiguation). ... Kevin Sacre plays the role of Jake Dean in the British Soap Hollyoaks He graduated from Middlesex University with a BA in performing arts, however he formerly wanted to do a degree in biochemistry, but changed his mind at the last minute. ... Frederick Taylor is a British historian, author of , Bloomsbury 2004 (ISBN 0747570787) about the bombing of Dresden in World War II. He was educated at Aylesbury Grammar School and read History and Modern Languages at Oxford University. ... Shailesh Vara Shailesh Lakhman Vara (born September 4, 1960) is a British Conservative Party politician. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

References

1. ^ Mead, W.R. (1997). Aylesbury Grammar School 1598-1998: a Commemorative Volume. The Peterhouse Press. ISBN 0-946312-06-0. 
2. ^ Dr. Carol Blyth is 'Teacher of the Decade'
3. ^ One of Dr. Kevin Bond's Books
4. ^ The Independent Online
5. ^ Peter Jukes CV Accessed 2007-01-15
6. ^ Dorothy K. Billings, Australian Journal of Anthropology, August, 2005 Accessed 2007-01-15

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 15th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 15th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Aylesbury Grammar School website
• OFSTED entry and inspection report
• DfES Performance Tables

Coordinates: 51.484685° N 0.480219° W Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...

Photos of the School

The old school site in Aylesbury town centre that hosted the school from 1598 to 1907 Image File history File linksMetadata AylesburyOldGrammarSchool. ...

The main school hall, used for Upper School Assembly and drama productions, among others, was constructed in the 1950s Image File history File linksMetadata AGS_Main_Hall. ...

The Languages block (known as the Tower block until 2003) hosts Modern Foreign Language lessons, as well as Classics and various other 'overflows' Image File history File linksMetadata AGS_Language_Block. ...

The John Mason Raven Sports Hall, opened at Easter 2003, is one of the newest constructions and has replaced the Gym as the primary sports facility. The building includes a large viewing balcony Image File history File linksMetadata AGS_Sports_Hall. ...