Richmond School
Encyclopedia
Richmond School and Sixth Form College, often referred to simply as Richmond School, is a British Comprehensive School. It was created by the merger of three schools, the oldest of which is of such unknown antiquity that its exact founding date is unknown. The first mentions of it in writings, however, is estimated, to be between 1361 and 1474. It was officially ratified as an educational establishment in 1568 by Elizabeth I.
It is located on the outskirts of Richmond, near the Yorkshire Dales. It accepts both boys and girls and serves a wide Catchment area across most of the north-west corner of North Yorkshire, including Swaledale
.
The name of the school from its foundation was Richmond School as it was the only school in the town for a long period of time. In later years it was referred to locally as "The Grammar School" although this was not its official name. Following the merger of the school with the Secondary Modern and the Girls' High School into a single comprehensive school the decision was made to retain the name "Richmond School" for the new establishment.
to have sites 1 mile apart from each other. In addition to the £30m a successful bid was made to make the school sustainable. This brought the total investment to over £32m. In 2009 it was announced that those entering the school in the academic year 2010–11 would be the last to use the original 1850 site (now called Lower School) in their first year in the school; all years would be taught at the same Darlington Road site and Lower would be sold off.
The seal centered around the figure of Saint John of Compostela. For several years the original Richmond School (the Grammar School) published an annual collection of writings from pupils, poetry and prose, in a small publication called "The Compostelian".
A description of the seal is found in L.P. Wenham's Book (page 27):"The Central figure is that of St. James the Greater in pilgrim's garb. His feet are bare, he has a bushy beard, wears a long, loose dress, has an escallop shell on his broad-brimmed hat, a strip or wallet hangs at his side from his girdle, his left hand holds a rosary and a small barrel or gourd, while in his right hand he carries a palmer's staff. At each side of him, upon Gothic shaped shields are the arms of France (new) and England quartely; in the field are three lilies of France and two leopards of England."
The legend around the edge of the seal reads in Renaissance capitals:
SIGILLVM COMVNE LIBRE SCOLE BVRGENSIVM DE RICHMOND
SIGILLVM COMVNE roughly translates as "the common seal", DE RICHMOND simply means "of Richmond", while LIBRE SCOLE burgensium means "of the independent [free] school of the town".
The whole legend, in Elizabethan Latin, roughly means in English "The seal of the independent school of the town of Richmond".
A point of contention in recent times between students and teachers has been the school tie. It was, until 2008, continually noted by staff that students were wearing their ties in a more and more informal manner. This prompted the head master at the time, Mr. Phillip Beaver to introduce clip-on ties. These ties, although looked the same, required students to have their top shirt buttons fastened to wear them.
In 2010 a phasing out of the traditional ties consisting of the School’s Colours of Navy blue, Gold and Burgundy began. Each school year, beginning with students starting at the school in 2010 is to wear a tie of a block colour dependent on which academic year the student wearing it is in.
and regularly performs plays there. Once a year the school puts on a locally renown show that is generally considered to be of extremely high standards. The performances are shown in school buildings and usually contain a live orchestra, an impressive set made by the Art Department, professional lighting and sound. School children from local primary schools are invited to a Wednesday matinée
and the remaining three evening shows are often sold out.
. Nowadays the school will have several playing fields and pitches at its Darlington Road site. These include cricket pitches, several full size football and rugby pitches, an all weather astroturf pitch and a large grass athletics track which is locally known as "Wembley
" as its dimensions are so close to those of the famous stadium. As part of the redevelopment of the school a large sports hall and gym were also constructed. The School allows the local community sports programs to use its facilities out of term time and multiple training sessions take place at the site.
The school offers primarily a choice of Rugby or Football to boys and Hockey and Netball to girls as part of their compulsory education. However the school offers multiple extra curricular clubs and teams including Athletics, Golf, Trampolining, Cheer Leading among others.
In the Sixth Form the students are timetabled Wednesday afternoons off once a fortnight so they can partake in sporting and extra curricular activities. Sporting teams are popular including a mixed hockey team which won the national title in 2008. Rugby and football are also popular with various wins.
It is located on the outskirts of Richmond, near the Yorkshire Dales. It accepts both boys and girls and serves a wide Catchment area across most of the north-west corner of North Yorkshire, including Swaledale
Swaledale
Swaledale is one of the northernmost dales in the Yorkshire Dales National Park in northern England. It is the dale of the River Swale on the east side of the Pennines in North Yorkshire.-Geographical overview:...
.
Richmond Grammar School
Richmond School was the first school in Richmondshire. It accepted only boys and its only entry requirements were that pupils could read and write. Its original founding date is not know, however it first appears in a registry estimated to have been written in 1361-1474. It was awarded a charter ratifying its status on 14th March 1568 by Queen Elizabeth I and was one of the first free grammar schools in England. The School was built on what is now the Church Yard of St. Mary’s Church which stands opposite to and further up the hill to the current Richmond Lower School Building. In 1677 a new building replaced the Elizabethan one and this was used until 1850 when the school moved into a smaller building which still stands and until 2011 was used for teaching year 7 students.The name of the school from its foundation was Richmond School as it was the only school in the town for a long period of time. In later years it was referred to locally as "The Grammar School" although this was not its official name. Following the merger of the school with the Secondary Modern and the Girls' High School into a single comprehensive school the decision was made to retain the name "Richmond School" for the new establishment.
Notable heads
- Rev. Anthony Temple (1724-1795). Temple succeeded in getting 29 of his pupils sent to Oxford and Cambridge.
- James TateJames Tate (headmaster)James Tate was the headmaster of Richmond School and canon of St Paul's Cathedral, London. He was born in Richmond, North Yorkshire on 11 June 1771, the only surviving son of Thomas Tate, a working maltster originally from Berwick upon Tweed, and his wife, Dinah Cumstone, who came from a family of...
(1771-1843). Headmaster 1796–1833. Tate was even more successful; Richmond School become a nationally known school for classical learning. Tate sent up many scholars to Cambridge. (Known as "Tate’s Invincibles".) 21 became Fellows, 13 of them at Trinity College.
- Thomas Henry StokoeT. H. StokoeThomas Henry Stokoe DD , known as T. H. Stokoe and as Dr Stokoe, was an English clergyman, schoolmaster, author and headmaster....
(1833-1903). Headmaster 1863–1871. Stokoe was a renown clergyman and author.
Richmond Girls’ High School
In 1940 a Girls’ High school was built, designed by Modernist architect Denis Clarke Hall. The School was built approximately 1 mile from the Boys Grammar School near Darlington Road, having its main entrance onto ‘The Avenue’.Richmond Secondary Modern School
In 1950 Richmond Secondary Modern School was built to accommodate those who had not passed their 11 Plus exam and so did not qualify for admission to either Richmond School or the Girls' High School. Large buildings were constructed around 200yds from the Girls’ High School.Establishment of Richmond School (Comprehensive)
In 1971 all three schools merged together to create a Comprehensive School named Richmond School. The then Headmaster of the Grammar School, J.D. Dutton, became the Headmaster of the new combined school. All three original sites were still used but for different purposes. The school was split into three sections: Lower School for Year 7, Middle School for Years 8–11 and Upper School for Years 12–13. These were situated in the former Richmond (Grammar)School, the former Secondary Modern School and the Girls’ High School respectively although significant extensions were added to all sites until the school’s investment as part of a DfES ‘Building Schools for the Future’ programme.Recent Developments
In January 2006 the school was successful in bidding for a DfES grant of £30m to be spent redeveloping the school. A large factor that played a part in the grant was that Richmond is the only school in North YorkshireNorth Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
to have sites 1 mile apart from each other. In addition to the £30m a successful bid was made to make the school sustainable. This brought the total investment to over £32m. In 2009 it was announced that those entering the school in the academic year 2010–11 would be the last to use the original 1850 site (now called Lower School) in their first year in the school; all years would be taught at the same Darlington Road site and Lower would be sold off.
The School Seal
In the Elizabethan Charter it was stated that the school had the right to "have a common seal for their businesses.". In 1566/7 a new seal for the school was made. The seal was still in existence in 1958. At that time it was kept by the governors.The seal centered around the figure of Saint John of Compostela. For several years the original Richmond School (the Grammar School) published an annual collection of writings from pupils, poetry and prose, in a small publication called "The Compostelian".
A description of the seal is found in L.P. Wenham's Book (page 27):"The Central figure is that of St. James the Greater in pilgrim's garb. His feet are bare, he has a bushy beard, wears a long, loose dress, has an escallop shell on his broad-brimmed hat, a strip or wallet hangs at his side from his girdle, his left hand holds a rosary and a small barrel or gourd, while in his right hand he carries a palmer's staff. At each side of him, upon Gothic shaped shields are the arms of France (new) and England quartely; in the field are three lilies of France and two leopards of England."
The legend around the edge of the seal reads in Renaissance capitals:
SIGILLVM COMVNE roughly translates as "the common seal", DE RICHMOND simply means "of Richmond", while LIBRE SCOLE burgensium means "of the independent [free] school of the town".
The whole legend, in Elizabethan Latin, roughly means in English "The seal of the independent school of the town of Richmond".
Uniform
Uniform at Richmond is known for being smart and one of the defining features of the school. The uniform consists of black trousers or a skirt, a white shirt a school tie and a navy blue school jumper or black blazer with the school seal embroidered in full colour. The legend on the uniform's seal is not the original Latin, but instead is simply replace with 'Richmond School Yorkshire'.A point of contention in recent times between students and teachers has been the school tie. It was, until 2008, continually noted by staff that students were wearing their ties in a more and more informal manner. This prompted the head master at the time, Mr. Phillip Beaver to introduce clip-on ties. These ties, although looked the same, required students to have their top shirt buttons fastened to wear them.
In 2010 a phasing out of the traditional ties consisting of the School’s Colours of Navy blue, Gold and Burgundy began. Each school year, beginning with students starting at the school in 2010 is to wear a tie of a block colour dependent on which academic year the student wearing it is in.
Performing Arts
Richmond School is a Performing Arts college and therefore has a history of strength in the Drama, Dance and Music. The school has strong links with the local Georgian Theatre RoyalGeorgian Theatre Royal
The Georgian Theatre Royal is a theatre and historic Georgian playhouse in the market town of Richmond, North Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom. It is among the oldest of Britain's extant theatres....
and regularly performs plays there. Once a year the school puts on a locally renown show that is generally considered to be of extremely high standards. The performances are shown in school buildings and usually contain a live orchestra, an impressive set made by the Art Department, professional lighting and sound. School children from local primary schools are invited to a Wednesday matinée
Matinée
Matinee or Matinée may refer to:* A showing of a movie or theatrical performance in the afternoon. More generally, a musical, social or other public event held at a time other than in the evening and occasionally stretched to include the early A.M. hours, e.g., "midnight matinee"...
and the remaining three evening shows are often sold out.
| Date | Show | Director | Main Cast |
|---|---|---|---|
| February 2011(postponed due to extreme weather) | Cider with Rosie Cider with Rosie Cider with Rosie is a 1959 book by Laurie Lee . It is the first book of a trilogy that continues with As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning and A Moment of War... |
Mr. I Henderson | |
| December 2009 | Oliver! Oliver! Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.... |
Miss A Southworth | Oliver: Sophie Overin, Fagin and Mr Brownlow: Ben Bason, Dodger: Dan Overin and Sam Calvert, Nancy: Sophie Holden and Sarah Boddy, Noah:Ben Cain, Sykes: Joe Tankard |
| December 2008 | Little Shop of Horrors Little Shop of Horrors (musical) Little Shop of Horrors is a rock musical, by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, about a hapless florist shop worker who raises a plant that feeds on human blood. The musical is based on the low-budget 1960 black comedy film The Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Roger Corman... |
Miss A Southworth | |
| December 2007 | A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart.... |
Miss A Southworth | Psedolus: Robert Knibbs, Hero: Joe Tankard, Philia Rosey Purkiss-McEndoo, Hysterium: Ben Bason, Senex: Joe Gray, Domina: Ashleigh Fayers |
| December 2006 | Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical with lyrics by Tim Rice. The story is based on the "coat of many colors" story of Joseph from the Hebrew Bible's Book of Genesis. This was the first Lloyd Webber and Rice musical to be performed publicly... |
Mr. M Kirkham | Joseph: Joe Gray and Ben Lacey, Pharaoh: Stephen Marsh, Narrator: Sarah Harrison, Jacob: Chris Masterman |
| December 2005 | Animal Farm Animal Farm Animal Farm is an allegorical novella by George Orwell published in England on 17 August 1945. According to Orwell, the book reflects events leading up to and during the Stalin era before World War II... |
Mrs. J Demkiw and Mr. M Kirkham | Boy: Ben Bason, Mr Jones, Matthew Thompson, Old Major: Aled Buttrey, Snowball: Emma Kemp, Napoleon: Sam Watkinson, Boxer: Stephen Marsh |
| December 2004 | Bugsy Malone Bugsy Malone Bugsy Malone is a 1976 musical film, very loosely based on events in New York City in the Prohibition era, specifically the exploits of gangsters like Al Capone and Bugs Moran, as dramatized in cinema... |
Mrs. J Demkiw | Bugsy: Sam Watkinson, Blousey: Natasha Wood, Fat Sam: Aled Buttery, Dandy Dan: Matt Houghton |
| December 2003 | Les Misérables Les Misérables (musical) Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo.... |
Ms. B Cunningham | |
| December 2002 | A Midsummer Night's Dream A Midsummer Night's Dream A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta... |
Ms. B Cunningham |
Sport
The school has a strong tradition of sport. Until 2003 male students at the Lower School had to perform a 1 mile long run to and from playing fields at EasbyEasby, Richmondshire
Easby is a hamlet and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. Situated near Richmond its main attraction is the nearby Easby Abbey, which is in ruins as it was one of many dissolved by Henry VIII as part of the reformation...
. Nowadays the school will have several playing fields and pitches at its Darlington Road site. These include cricket pitches, several full size football and rugby pitches, an all weather astroturf pitch and a large grass athletics track which is locally known as "Wembley
Wembley Stadium
The original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...
" as its dimensions are so close to those of the famous stadium. As part of the redevelopment of the school a large sports hall and gym were also constructed. The School allows the local community sports programs to use its facilities out of term time and multiple training sessions take place at the site.
The school offers primarily a choice of Rugby or Football to boys and Hockey and Netball to girls as part of their compulsory education. However the school offers multiple extra curricular clubs and teams including Athletics, Golf, Trampolining, Cheer Leading among others.
In the Sixth Form the students are timetabled Wednesday afternoons off once a fortnight so they can partake in sporting and extra curricular activities. Sporting teams are popular including a mixed hockey team which won the national title in 2008. Rugby and football are also popular with various wins.
Richmond Grammar School
Present Establishment
- ?-1992 J. Derek Dutton
- 1992–2002 Jim Jack
- 2002–2009 Phil Beever
- 2010– Ian Robertson
Notable Alumni
- Charles Grey, 2nd Earl GreyCharles Grey, 2nd Earl GreyCharles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, KG, PC , known as Viscount Howick between 1806 and 1807, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 22 November 1830 to 16 July 1834. A member of the Whig Party, he backed significant reform of the British government and was among the...
, British Prime Minister. - Marcus Gervais BeresfordMarcus Gervais BeresfordMarcus Gervais Beresford DD, DCL, PC was the Church of Ireland Bishop of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh from 1854 to 1862 and Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland from 1862 until his death.-Early life:...
(1801–1885), Archbishop of ArmaghArchbishop of Armagh (Church of Ireland)The Anglican Archbishop of Armagh is the ecclesiastical head of the Church of Ireland, the metropolitan of the Province of Armagh and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Armagh.... - Lewis CarrollLewis CarrollCharles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
(Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) (1844–46), writer - Joanne JacksonJoanne Jackson (swimmer)Joanne Amy Jackson is a British freestyle swimmer. She is the sister of retired Olympic swimmer Nicola Jackson. She went to Richmond School, North Yorkshire....
(1997–2002), British Olympic Swimmer - Nicola JacksonNicola JacksonNicola Jackson is a British swimmer, who won two world championships in relay events.In 1999, Jackson won a silver medal at the World Short Course Championships in the 4×200 metre freestyle relay...
, British Olympic Swimmer - Calum ClarkCalum ClarkCalum Clark is a professional rugby union player for Northampton Saints. His primary position is Openside Flanker. Clark came through the Leeds Carnegie youth academy. Clark captained the England under 20 team to second place in the IRB Junior World Cup 2009. He has played for the England u21s...
(2001–2006), U-20 England Rugby International - Theo Hutchcraft (1997–2002), Half of the duo HurtsHurtsHurts are a British synthpop duo formed in 2009, consisting of singer Theo Hutchcraft and synthesist Adam Anderson . Their debut album Happiness, which was released in September 2010, has reached the Top 10 in 12 European countries, and has sold over 800,000 copies worldwide...
- Dr Gordon Johnson (1954 - 1961)(President, Wolfson College, Cambridge)