| Portsmouth Grammar School |
 | | Praemia Virtutis Honores | | Established | 1732 | | School type | Independent Coeducational | | Locale | {{{locale}}} | | Grades | {{{grades}}} | | Headmaster | Dr. T.R. Hands | | {{{head_name2}}} | {{{head2}}} | | Location | Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK | | Enrollment | {{{students}}} | | Faculty | {{{faculty}}} | | Athletics | {{{athletics}}} | | Colors | {{{school_colors}}} | | Mascot | {{{mascot}}} | | {{{free_label}}} | {{{free}}} | | Website | http://www.pgs.org.uk/ | The Portsmouth Grammar School is an independent school located in Portsmouth, England. Image File history File links Pgslogo2. ...
Events February 23 - First performance of Handels Orlando, in London June 9 - James Oglethorpe is granted a royal charter for the colony of Georgia. ...
Portsmouth is a city of about 196,000 people located in the county of Hampshire on the southern coast of Great Britain. ...
Hampshire (abbr. ...
Portsmouth is a city of about 196,000 people located in the county of Hampshire on the southern coast of Great Britain. ...
Image File history File links PGS.jpg Summary Pgs picture Licensing Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1. ...
History In 1732 William Smith former Mayor of Portsmouth and Physician to its Garrison, died and left his estate to Christ Church College Oxford. This came with instructions to build a new school in Portsmouth - The Portsmouth Grammar School (PGS) was founded. Events February 23 - First performance of Handels Orlando, in London June 9 - James Oglethorpe is granted a royal charter for the colony of Georgia. ...
Portsmouth is a city of about 196,000 people located in the county of Hampshire on the southern coast of Great Britain. ...
Christ Church (in full: The Cathedral Church of Christ in Oxford of the Foundation of King Henry VIII) is one of the largest and wealthiest of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. ...
Oxford is a city and local government district in Oxfordshire, England, with a population of 134,248 (2001 census). ...
Since then it has undergone a series of changes - including slight alterations to its location, some of which were due to bombing in World War Two, its conversion to co-education, and the abolition of boarding. German soldiers at the Battle of Stalingrad World War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the worlds nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. ...
At the moment the Upper Junior School (Years 5-6) is situated in a Victorian building (which once contained the whole Grammar School) close to part of the University of Portsmouth. The Nursery, Lower Junior School (Reception to Year 4), Middle School and Upper School are located across the road on the High Street. The majority of that area used to be the Cambridge Barracks: a building used by the army which was ravaged by fire after bombing by the Luftwaffe. The University of Portsmouth is the only university in the city of Portsmouth. ...
The Deutsche Luftwaffe or (German: Air Arm, IPA: [luftvafÉ™]) is the commonly used term for the German air force. ...
The school colours are red, black and gold, and the school motto is Praemia Virtutis Honores. The current Headmaster is Dr. T.R. Hands.
Internal Structure
Houses In each section of PGS there are four houses, each represented by a colour. Although these colours remain the same, the names change in each section of the School:
Junior School - Hudson (Blue)
- Jerrard (Yellow)
- Nicol (Red)
- Privett (Green)
Middle School - Barton (Blue)
- Eastwood (Yellow)
- Hawkey (Red)
- Summers (Green)
Upper School - Grant (Blue)
- Latter (Yellow)
- Smith (Red)
- Whitcombe (Green)
Uniform Any aspects of uniform not specified are the same as any generic uniform - black socks and shoes etc. The uniform remains the same throughout the school, except for what is listed.
Boys - Black trousers (Black shorts for those in Junior School Years R to 4 with the optional trousers for pupils in Years 5 and 6)
- White shirt
- Black blazer with red piping and the PGS golden lion embossed on the left-breast pocket
In the sixth form the red piping is lost from the blazer.
Girls - Black skirt with red stripe (Red Tartan Kilt is worn in the Junior School for Girls in Years R to 6, with a white and red striped Summer Dress in the Summer Term)
- White blouse
- Black blazer with red piping and the PGS golden lion embossed on the left-breast pocket
In the sixth form the girls are given more freedom, and their uniform is based around a black skirt and jacket suit.
Ties These are black, with red diagonal stripes across them. A third stripe, alternated with the red, corresponds with the house of the pupil. In the sixth form, the optional ties of black with the PGS emblem dotted across them can be worn.
Prefects Chosen in Year 12 by a combination of discussions between teachers and the Headmaster and a student vote, around twenty pupils are awarded with diagonally-striped red and gold ties and silver buttons for their blazers. A few pupils have golden buttons, and these are the Deputy Senior Prefects. One select Senior Prefect is also chosen to preside over shared responsibilities.
Academics The Portsmouth Grammar School is a selective independent school, only allowing those children of high academic ability, through the use of an entrance exam at the age of 11 (within the top 15% nationally in terms of ability). Hence, the school prides itself on its academic exellence, and it is known for being one of the best schools in the area, a view upheld by consistently good league table rankings, although one has to be more and more skeptical with the reliability and bias of these. For several years an average of a 98% A-C grade pass rate has been maintained at GCSE, with several board prizes awarded at this level each year.
A-Level results are also extremely good, with many candidates achieving straight A grades. As well as public exam results, each year, individual Olympiads especially in Sciences, and Advanced Extension Awards (AEA's) are successfully undertaken.
The school has a good entry rate to top universities, including Oxbridge, especially for very competitive subjects such as Medicine, Law, Engineering and History. Oxbridge is a portmanteau name for the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the two oldest in the United Kingdom and the English-speaking universe. ...
Medicine is the branch of health science and the sector of public life concerned with maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis and treatment of disease and injury. ...
This article or section is missing references or citation of sources. ...
Bold text Engineering is the application of scientific and technical knowledge to solve human problems. ...
For other senses of this word, see history (disambiguation). ...
The Portsmouth Grammar School has been named by The Sunday Times as one of the top ten best value for money co-educational day schools in the country. The league table, published in the newspaper’s Money section, was based on last year’s A-level results and calculated by dividing each school’s termly fee by its pupils’ average A level points score to give the cost per point. Points are awarded on a scale from 120 for an A to 40 for an E.
Headmaster Dr Timothy Hands, said: “It is great to see PGS recognized as a school which delivers outstanding results at an affordable price in relation to other schools in the country.
“No league table can tell you the whole story about a school, and there is so much more on offer at PGS – excellent pastoral care and a superb range of extracurricular activities. But parents make a significant commitment to send their children here and they will be reassured to see us selected as one of the country’s best value schools and a proven deliverer of outstanding results.”
Discipline Discipline within the school is mostly good, indeed the ISI inspection report of 2004 commented that in lessons, discipline is maintained with a soft touch due to the good relations between pupils and teachers.
It is PGS's policy to deal with serious breaches of it code of conduct and school rules severely:
- On the lowest end of the scale, lunchtime and breaktime detentions can be administered,
- For more serious breaches, after school detentions on Thursdays can be administered,
- Above that Headmaster's detentions are carried out on Saturday mornings.
- For the most serious of breaches of conduct (for example theft) the headmaster has the power to suspend and expel students.
At least two pupils were asked to leave during the academic year beginning in September 2005, and several suspensions have been administered.
Discipline outside the classroom is maintained mainly by the Surmaster Mr. N.F.C. Blewett.
Extra-Curricular Activities Aside from the more common extra-curricular disciplines, at the school there is also CCF and several academic clubs, including a Debating Club and a Wildlife Club. For the more adventurous, there are clubs ranging from "Miniatures and Modelling Club" to "Middle School Textiles Club" CCF is an initialism that may stand for: A historic Canadian political party: the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation The Combined Cadet Force The charity organisation called Christian Childrens Fund Crédit Commercial de France, a French bank that is now a subsidiary of HSBC The Congress for Cultural Freedom, CIA...
Sport PGS has had numerous sporting successes in recent years, including the hockey team's victory in the National Finals in 2004 and their qualification for the final in 2005 (although they were unsuccessful on both occasions), and the U11 girls' Netball team's achievement in reaching the final of the IAPS National Championships for the second year running.
CCF The School has a Combined Cadet Force open to pupils in Year 9 and above. This comprises of the Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy sections. CCF gives pupils the chance to learn many skills associated with military careers as well as provides excellent extra-curricular experience. Cadets can learn skills of navigation, leadership, drill, outdoor survival, adventure training, flying, sailing and shooting as part of the CCF. Each section has its own residential camps based around the country throughout the year, with opportunities to shoot on ranges, sail, fly in planes and adventure training. The neutrality of this section is disputed.
Please see discussion on the talk page . Image File history File links Stop_hand. ...
Music The music at PGS is a major reason for pupils' entry to the school. There are several extremely good groups which perform regularly, many of these groups have been conducted by the school's associate conductor, Nicolae Moldoveanu.
Chamber Choir One of the most prestigious groups of the school which has sung with the London Mozart Players and has sung many notable and increasingly difficult works, including Bach's St. John Passion, Handel's Messiah and Fauré, Verdi and Mozart's Requiems. They have also sung at extremely important events, including the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall in front of the Royal Family and various other dignitaries including the Prime Minister. There is also an annual tradition of singing Evensong at Christ Church College Oxford and it is common for the choir to be heard on the radio. In music, the BACH motif is the sequence of notes B flat, A, C, B natural. ...
HANDEL was the code-name for the UKs National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. ...
Portrait with oils of Gabriel Fauré by John Singer Sargent, about 1889 (in the Paris Museum of Music) Gabriel Urbain Fauré (May 12, 1845 – November 4, 1924) was a French composer. ...
VERDI is an acronym for the Italian unification movement, named after the composer Giuseppe Verdi (ardent supporter of the movement) VERDI stands for Vittorio Emmanuelle, Re D Italia (Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy) Categories: Historical stubs ...
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (January 27, 1756 – December 5, 1791) was one of the most significant and influential of all composers of Western classical music. ...
Categories: Stub | British Army | Royal Air Force | Royal Navy ...
Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences is an arts venue dedicated to Queen Victorias husband and consort, Prince Albert. ...
Sir Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. ...
Christ Church (in full: The Cathedral Church of Christ in Oxford of the Foundation of King Henry VIII) is one of the largest and wealthiest of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. ...
Oxford is a city and local government district in Oxfordshire, England, with a population of 134,248 (2001 census). ...
Swing Band This is a highly skilled group featuring many of the best players in the school of their instruments. Several jazz, blues and swing numbers from famous composers are performed expertly.
African Drumming Group This relatively fledgling ensemble is polyrhythmically unrivalled and performs virtuosic pieces in the style of Ghana: complete with Master Drummer.
Gospel Choir One of the most physically active groups in the school combines actions with music and praise. Many of the ensemble's finishing touches are suggested by members of the choir, and joint involvement is emphasised - paving the way for numerous solos and impromtu harmony.
Contemporary Music Group "CMG" is currently comprised mainly of Year 11 pupils. Led by esteemed composer and pianist Dr. Adam Swayne.
Concert Band The Concert Band was, at one stage, the pride and joy of PGS music. A combined tour with the Swing Band to Paris in 2004 was enjoyed by all. Locations of performances included a bandstand next to the Champs-Elysée and Disneyland.
Choral Society This is a choir open to anybody which occurs for the first term and a half of a year and rehearses a piece or pieces for a large concert in the spring term with the Parents choir. Members of the chamber choir must be members of the choral society.
Orchestra This is an extremely extensive ensemble which performs regularly at concerts.
String orchestra This is another skilled ensemble comprising the string playing talent of the school.
Chamber Ensembles - Clarinet Quartet aka "Rob's Fantastic Four" - This is a quartet formed from the some clarinettists in the school.
- String Quartet - This is a group comprised of the most talented string players. It is in much demand for performances
- Woodwind Quintet - This is a talented group of musicians who meet regularly and play a mix of modern favourites and classical pieces.
- Six hands at one piano - This is a skilled group who play demanding pieces of varying styles.
- Madrigal Group - This is an enthusiastic group of singers who sing traditional English madrigals. They are led by the talented choral trainer Mr. P. Drew.
Student-run Music Groups Pupils in the school also enjoy forming their own music groups, and many have played in charity concerts, competitions such as "Battle of the Bands", and other performances.
Other Groups There are many other groups including smaller flute groups and student-run amateur bands.
All the new groups, including the aforementioned, were introduced to broaden the creative musical spectrum at PGS and to give the pupils more opportunities to do something they enjoy. The "Music from other Cultures" section of the GCSE syllabus is represented well within the department, and allows pupils the chance to experience this alternative style of composition and performance.
Concerts Weekly "Lunchtime" concerts take place for soloists and chamber groups on Tuesdays. In addition to this "teatime concerts" take place on a monthly basis providing opportunities for longer programmes and larger groups.
The Gala concert takes place in the Autumn term and a Choral society - Parents choir - Chamber choir concert takes place in the spring term along with two concerts with the Chamber Choir and London Mozart Players under Nicolae Moldoveanu. This collaboration between professional musicians and school pupils broadens musical horizons and raises the level of music making in the school.
Music Teaching Along side their primary role as academic staff, the three full time music teachers take and coach the groups. The school also employs a leading professional piano teacher, pianist and accompanist Karen Kingsley as the director of keyboard studies who raises the standard of music by not only teaching parapatetically but also working as an accompanist and coaching chamber groups.
The school also employs a choral scholar from the cathedral to work in the department
The school has many parapatetic staff, some of whom take chamber groups.
Action This Day In 2004, the School authorities used its available resources (including the pupils, contributing to their learning programme) to produce a book named, Action this Day, which is a collection of poetry and literature on interviews with old Portmuthian war veterans. This book had its foreword written by the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and has been presented to the British Library and the Royal Library at Winchester Castle. Sir Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. ...
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service, and MP for Sedgefield. ...
British Library Ossulston St entrance, with distinctive red logo. ...
Royal Library can mean: Danish Royal Library - the national library of Denmark Swedish Royal Library - the national library of Sweden The former name of the Bibliothèque nationale de France - the national library of France This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share...
A castle in Winchester called Winchester Castle ...
Headmaster The current Headmaster is Dr. T.R. Hands. Dr. Hands was educated at Kings College London and later at St. Catherine's College Oxford. Image File history File links TRH.jpg Summary TRH Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Portsmouth Grammar School ...
Image File history File links TRH.jpg Summary TRH Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Portsmouth Grammar School ...
There are a number of institutions known as Kings College: Kings College, Cambridge, a constituent college of the University of Cambridge Kings College London, a college of the University of London Kings College School, a school originally founded to feed the London university college. ...
London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England and is the most populous city in the European Union. ...
St Catherines College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. ...
Oxford is a city and local government district in Oxfordshire, England, with a population of 134,248 (2001 census). ...
Dr. Hands is the author on many books of nineteenth Century literature, these include three acclaimed studies of Thomas Hardy. He is also the editor of an award-winning edition of Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure. Thomas Hardy, OM (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was a novelist, short story writer, and poet of the naturalist movement, who delineated characters struggling against their passions and circumstances. ...
Jude the Obscure is the last of Thomas Hardys novels, begun as a magazine serial and first published in book form in 1895. ...
Dr. Hands is a talented musician having been the Co-leader of the London Schools Symphony Orchestra and conductor of the Oxford University Chamber Choir, the Schola Cantorum. The University of Oxford, located in the city of Oxford in England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ...
Schola Cantorum founded in 1894 in France by Vincent dIndy, was devoted to early music, and was an alternative to the Paris Conservatoire. ...
He is currently a member of the HMC/GSA Universities Committee.
Dr. Hands has done much since his arrival for the school, he has enlarged the school and improved enormously all aspects to school life.
Other Events Recently the school hosted an evening with the Poet Laureate Andrew Motion and sculptress Jilly Sutton in which she talked on the sculpture that she recently created of the poet and a bronze cast of which now resides in the school library. Mr. Motion then read some extracts from some books which are in production. A Poet Laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events. ...
Professor Andrew Motion (born October 26, 1952) is an English poet, novelist and biographer who is the current Poet Laureate. ...
Previously, Mr. Motion had visited the school as part of a "Poetry Workshop" whereby students attending PGS and St. Luke's School (a school near to PGS, the league table results of which are known to be below average) would come together in the newly-refurbished Memorial Library. It was agreed to be a refreshing sight to see that Pupils from a high flying independent school were able to cooperate so well with pupils from St. Luke's School.
Alumni Alumni are known as Old Portmuthians and may join The Old Portmuthian Club, founded in 1885. An alumn (with a silent n), alum, alumnus, or alumna is a former student of a college, university, or school. ...
The Old Portmuthian Club was founded by in 1885. ...
Notable alumni Roger Anthony Black (born March 31, 1966) is a former Olympic athlete and now works as a television presenter and motivational speaker. ...
Colonel Sir Arthur Edwin Young, KBE, CMG, CVO, KPM (born 1907) was the Commissioner of the City of London Police from 1950 to 1971. ...
Walter Reginald Hammond (June 19, 1903 - July 1, 1965), often known as Wally Hammond, was an English cricketer, who played for Gloucestershire and England, primarily as a batsman, in a career that straddled (and was disrupted by) the Second World War. ...
Paul Jones (born February 24, 1942) is an English singer, actor, harmonica player, television and radio presenter. ...
Cock-A-Hoop Groovin Manfred Mann was a British R&B and pop band of the 1960s, named after its keyboard player, who later led the successful 1970s follow-on group Manfred Manns Earth Band. ...
Christopher Logue (born Portsmouth, 1926) is an English poet associated with the British Poetry Revival. ...
Andrew G. Lyne (born 1942) is a British physicist. ...
The 76m Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory. ...
Ian Osterloh Is a clinical researcher attributed with the creation of viagra and numerous other Cardiovascular Drugs. ...
Sildenafil citrate, sold under the name Viagra, is a drug used to treat male erectile dysfunction (impotence), developed by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. ...
The circulatory system or cardiovascular system is the organ system which circulates blood around the body of most animals. ...
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