Колчестерская королевская гимназия: История и современность

Grammar school in Colchester, Essex, England

Colchester Royal Grammar School (CRGS) is a state funded grammar school in Colchester, Essex. It was founded in 1128 and was later granted two royal charters by Henry VIII in 1539 and by Elizabeth I in 1584. The school's main buildings and playing fields are located in the Lexden area of Colchester and there are around 950 pupils aged 11–18. Historically a boys' school, it has admitted girls to the sixth form since 1998 and specialises in science and languages. The school regularly tops national A level league tables.

Despite the paucity of mediaeval documentation, there is evidence to suggest that the school's origins can traced back to 1206, and indeed earlier to 1132. By 1912 numbers had grown to 144 pupils in the main school, split into four houses (School House, Parr's House (formerly North Town), Harsnett's House (formerly South Town) and Dugard's House), and 169 younger boys in the preparatory school. Growth continued through the world wars, with 700 boys by 1947 and five scholarships for pupils to pursue university education. An outdoor swimming pool was constructed in the 1920s but this was rejected by Essex County Council. The educational expansion of the 1960s allowed the construction of new classrooms and a gymnasium. Expansion continued into the 21st century, with a new art building opened in 2003 and the technology block upgraded. In 2006 a new extension to the science building was completed and two new chemistry laboratories were opened. The school became grant maintained in the 1980s and converted into an academy in 2012. Following the launch of the Everyone's Invited website in 2020, allegations of misconduct were made by a former student of the school, which led to an inspection by Ofsted. The inspection found safeguarding to be ineffective and graded the school as "inadequate" overall. In February 2022, however, an Ofsted monitoring visit found that significant improvements had been made to the safeguarding and reporting processes, concluding that "safeguarding is effective" and that "pupils say school is a safe and enjoyable place to be".

The school's main site on Lexden road houses classrooms, science and technology facilities, school hall, library, gymnasium, cafeteria and offices. The site also contains: Gurney Benham House, acquired in 1934 and named after William Gurney Benham, a former pupil; Elyanore House, used for music teaching; the George Young building, named after a former English teacher and used for drama; and the Jenkinson Building (opened in 2016), named after a former headmaster and containing computer rooms and chemistry laboratories. The school is also successful at GCSE level. In 2004 Colchester Royal Grammar School was named as the top state school in the country by the BBC. In the early 2000s the headmaster Kenneth Jenkinson explained the success by saying that "although as a grammar school the academic success of our students is our principal priority, I tend to see the results as the by product of an ethos where we encourage students to aim high in all that they do and approach challenges with confidence".

The teaching of Classical Greek is offered to pupils, in addition to studying Latin, up to A level. Between 1994 and 2004 the Government of Greece funded teaching of the subject in an effort to halt its decline in the United Kingdom state sector. This was the result of a pupil led campaign following a decision by the governors to cease teaching of the subject following financial difficulties caused by becoming a grant maintained school. Colchester Royal Grammar School was also the first in the country to teach Classical Civilisation at A Level. The subject "arose from a conversation between Arthur Brown, Head of Classics, and the Headmaster one afternoon in 1970."