Dartford Grammar School is a selective secondary (ages 11–19) foundation school for boys in

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, England, which admits girls to its sixth form (ages 16–18). All of the students joining the school are considered to be from the top 25% of the ability range, as determined by the

11-Plus The eleven-plus (11+) is a Test (assessment), standardized examination administered to some students in England and Northern Ireland in their last year of primary education, which governs admission to grammar schools and other secondary schools ...

examinations. The students come from Dartford, neighbouring towns and villages, and nearby

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

boroughs, as well as an increasing number of students from

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. The current roll is 1,203, including 461 in the sixth form. It is the brother school of Dartford Grammar School for Girls.

History

The school was founded in 1576 by Edward Gwyn, a merchant; William Vaughan, a philanthropist and landowner; and William Death. A 1660 document outlined the original terms for the founding of the school: "William Vaughan, Edward Gwyn and William Death donated land and property near the Market House in Dartford High Street, the profits from which were to be used for maintaining a school and for and towards the supporting of one honest sufficient and learned man in grammar, as to them should seem fit and convenient, to be elected, chosen, and approved of, for the teaching, instructing and eruditing of children in the town of Dartford, in the knowledge of grammar, as heretofore has been used according to the charitable and pious interests and meaning of the said William Vaughan, Edward Gwyn and William Death re: 24th March 18 Elizabeth I." Lessons were initially given in the High Street above the Corn Market house, which was demolished in 1769. The school moved to its present location in 1864. Following the school's 'Outstanding' Ofsted inspection in 2008, the school was able to choose a third specialism, following Language College Status and the IB Programme; the school chose Science, resulting in an increased budget available next financial year. In 2011, the school chose to adopt the status of an Academy, which would provide extra funding to the school, although no name change was required.

Academic performance

In 2014, 64% of Year 11 students gained 7 or more grades A/A* in

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

exams. The school came second in the School Rankings for the new English Bacc in 2010. Most of Year 13 students proceed to university, with a majority gaining their first or second choice of university. As of 2007, the school has been awarded the right to teach the

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB Dip ...

Middle Years Programme, becoming the first school in Britain and the first state school in the world to teach the course. In 2019, The school achieved the top IB results in the country for the second time. The school was rated "Outstanding" in its last Ofsted inspection in 2008 and will not be inspected again unless concerns are raised about its performance in an interim assessment.

Locations and buildings

The school currently is located on Shepherds Lane, Dartford at the top of West Hill. The original 1864 school house (facing Dartford Road) is now known as the Hardy Building, named after the novelist

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...

who was an assistant architect to

Arthur Blomfield Sir Arthur William Blomfield (6 March 182930 October 1899) was an English architect. He became president of the Architectural Association in 1861; a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1867 and vice-president of the RIBA in ...

, the architect who designed the building. The original field has since been built on with additional blocks, starting with the science block in 1928, since renamed the Stephenson building after the former head of Science, Brian Stephenson, followed by most of the remaining buildings in 1940. A three-floored classroom building is named after Major Harold Pochin, Headmaster from 1920 to 1946. Other buildings include the Gwyn building, named after Edward Gwyn, one of the school founders, containing technology and business teaching rooms, as well as the Kaika (Sixth Form) centre, where five new teaching rooms were opened in 2008, mainly for sixth form use, named the John Field Suite after the late chair of the governors. The Beckets Sports Centre is shared with the public in agreement with the school, in the same way as The Mick Jagger Centre, a £2.2 million development financed with National Lottery funding by the

Arts Council of England The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...

. The Mick Jagger Centre was opened in March 2000 by

The Duke of Kent Duke of Kent is a title that has been created several times in the peerages of peerage of Great Britain, Great Britain and the peerage of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom, most recently as a Royal dukedoms in the United Kingdom, royal dukedom ...

, and hosts a number of performing arts events. From Summer 2009 to Spring 2010, the Mick Jagger Centre and part of the Pochin and Stephenson blocks underwent a major redevelopment, which provided a new drama studio, new science laboratories, a food technology lab, a new staff room, new art rooms and classrooms. In 2014 to 2015, the Mick Jagger Centre was redeveloped to include several new classrooms and new music practice rooms. From 2017 to 2018, the school expanded their sixth-form centre with two new computer rooms and a quiet study area.

House system

The students are divided into five Houses: *D'Aeth (Yellow) *Gwyn (Purple) *Havelock (Red) *Vaughan (Green) *Wilson (Blue) The House system was introduced in 1916 with four Houses (Gwyn House being added in 1997). D’Aeth, Gwyn and Vaughan are named after the three founders of the School; Havelock is named after the British General

Henry Havelock Major-General Sir Henry Havelock (5 April 1795 – 24 November 1857) was a British general who is particularly associated with India and his recapture of Cawnpore during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 (First War of Independence, Sepoy Mutiny). E ...

, a former student at the school, and Wilson is named after another distinguished former pupil, Sir

Erasmus Wilson Sir William James Erasmus Wilson FRCS FRS (25 November 18097 August 1884), generally known as Sir Erasmus Wilson, was an English surgeon and dermatologist. Biography Wilson was born in London, studied at Dartford Grammar School before St Ba ...

Notable former pupils

Former pupils of the school are known as Old Dartfordians *

(1795–1857), general *

William James Erasmus Wilson Sir William James Erasmus Wilson FRCS FRS (25 November 18097 August 1884), generally known as Sir Erasmus Wilson, was an English surgeon and dermatologist. Biography Wilson was born in London, studied at Dartford Grammar School before St Bar ...

(1809–84), surgeon *

Henry Ambrose Hunt Henry Ambrose Hunt (7 February 1866 – 7 February 1946) was a British meteorologist noted for his contribution to meteorology in his adopted home of Australia. He was Director of the Bureau of Meteorology (Australia), Australian Bureau of Meteor ...

(1866–1946), meteorologist *

Thomas Pullinger Thomas Charles Willis Pullinger CBE OBE OBK JP (1867 – July 1945) was an English automobile engineer. He began his career working with bicycles before the first cars were built. After working for Sunbeam and Humber, he helped expand the Scott ...

(1867–1945), automotive engineerIan Nickols and Kent Karslake (1956), ''Motoring Entente'', Cassell, London. *

Alec Stock Alec William Alfred Stock (30 March 1917 – 16 April 2001) was an English footballer and manager. He briefly managed AS Roma, between long spells at Leyton Orient and Queens Park Rangers. At QPR, he won successive promotions, leading the club t ...

(1917–2001), footballer *

Sidney Keyes Sidney Arthur Kilworth Keyes (27 May 1922 – 29 April 1943) was an English poet of World War II. Life Early years and education Keyes was born on 27 May 1922. His mother died shortly afterwards and he was raised by his paternal grandparent ...

(1922–43), poet *

Derek Ufton Derek Gilbert Ufton (31 May 1928 – 27 March 2021) was an English professional cricketer and footballer, and later a football manager. Playing professionally for Kent County Cricket Club as a wicket-keeper and Charlton Athletic Football Club, ...

(1928–2021), Charlton Athletic, England footballer, Kent CCC * Denis Haydon (1930–88), membrane biophysicist *

Terence Frisby Terence Peter Michael Frisby (28 November 1932 – 22 April 2020) was a British playwright, actor, director and producer, best known as the author of the play ''There's a Girl in My Soup''. Early life Frisby was born in 1932 in New Cross, s ...

(born 1932), playwright and novelist *

Dave Godin David Edward Godin (21 June 1936 – 15 October 2004) was an English fan of American soul music, who made a major contribution internationally in spreading awareness and understanding of the genre, and by extension African-American culture. Biog ...

(1936–2004), music journalist * Michael Pearson (1936–2017), clock historian and author * Graham Smith (born 1938), milliner *

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

(born 1943), rock musician (vocalist of

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

) *

Dick Taylor Richard Clifford Taylor (born 28 January 1943) is an English musician, best known as the guitarist and founding member of the Pretty Things. Taylor was an early bassist for the Rolling Stones, but left the band to resume his studies at Sidcu ...

(born 1943), guitarist and founder member,

The Pretty Things ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

Brian Pendleton Brian Pendleton (13 April 1944 – 16 May 2001) was a British guitarist, and a founder member of the 1960s pop group Pretty Things. Early life Born in Wolverhampton, England, Pendleton moved south as a child, attending Dartford Grammar School. ...

(1944–2001), rhythm guitarist,

John Rushby John Rushby (born 1949) is a British computer scientist now based in the United States and working for SRI International. He previously taught and did research for Manchester University and later Newcastle University. Early life and education J ...

, computer scientist * Bill Mitchell (1951–2017), founder of site-specific theatre company

Wildworks WildWorks (formerly Smart Bomb Interactive) is an United States of America, American game development studio based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The studio was assembled from game industry veterans, co-founded by Kris Johnson, Clark Stacey, and Jeff Ami ...

. *

Charlie Whiting Charles Whiting (12 August 1952 – 14 March 2019) was a British motorsports director. He served as the FIA Formula One Race Director, Safety Delegate, Permanent Starter and head of the F1 Technical Department, in which capacities he generally ma ...

(1952–2019), Formula One race director. *

Frank Baker John Franklin "Home Run" Baker (March 13, 1886 – June 28, 1963) was an American professional baseball player. A third baseman, Baker played in Major League Baseball from 1908 to 1922 for the Philadelphia Athletics and New York Yankees. Althoug ...

(born 1961), British ambassador * Gareth Johnson (born 1969), Conservative MP for Dartford *

Min Patel Minal Mahesh Patel (born 7 July 1970) is a retired Indian-born English cricketer who made two appearances in Test cricket for the England cricket team. He was a right-handed batsman and a slow left arm bowler, who primarily played for Kent Cou ...

(born 1970), international cricketer *

Matt Morgan Matthew Thomas Morgan (born September 10, 1976) is an American politician, actor and retired professional wrestler. He is a current City Commissioner in Longwood, Florida. He is known for his time in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he is ...

(born 1977), comedian *

Topsy Ojo Temitope "Topsy" Ojo (born 28 July 1985) is an English rugby union player for London Irish , and has represented England at International level. He is London Irish's all-time leading try scorer, with 73 tries in all competitions. Career Lon ...

(born 1985), rugby player,

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

fullback * Thomas Frake (born 1988), winner of the MasterChef 2020 UK TV show competition. *

Adam Gemili Adam Ahmed Gemili (born 6 October 1993) is a British sprinter. He is the 2014 European champion at 200 metres, and 4 x 100 metres relay, and part of the Great Britain team that won gold in the 2017 World Championships in the same event. He ...

(born 1993), athlete *

Semi Ajayi Oluwasemilogo Adesewo Ibidapo "Semi" Ajayi (born 9 November 1993) is a professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football), centre-back or defensive midfielder for club West Bromwich Albion F.C., West Br ...

(born 1993), professional footballer

References

External links

Official websiteOfsted Report
{{authority control Boys' schools in Kent Educational institutions established in the 1570s Grammar schools in Kent Dartford 1576 establishments in England Academies in Kent International Baccalaureate schools in England Arthur Blomfield buildings