Maidstone Grammar School
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Maidstone Grammar School (MGS) is a
grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...
in
Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...
, England. The school was founded in 1549 after
Protector Somerset Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (150022 January 1552) (also 1st Earl of Hertford, 1st Viscount Beauchamp), also known as Edward Semel, was the eldest surviving brother of Queen Jane Seymour (d. 1537), the third wife of King Henry V ...
sold Corpus Christi Hall on behalf of
King Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour ...
to the people of
Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...
for £200. The
Royal Charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, bu ...
for establishment of a
grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...
was also granted at this time.


Admissions

Maidstone Grammar School is a
selective school A selective school is a school that admits students on the basis of some sort of selection criteria, usually academic. The term may have different connotations in different systems and is the opposite of a comprehensive school, which accepts all s ...
, taking boys at the age of 11 and over based on their 11+ results, and also admits male and female pupils at 16+ based on their
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 ...
results. The school currently has 1292 pupils and 112 members of staff, with 69 teachers as of the academic year 2018–2019.


Buildings

The main school building surrounds a Tudor-style quadrangle with a cloister on one side. Two new blocks were added in the 1960s and 80s to complete a second quadrangle, nicknamed the 'Court'. In 2005, a new refectory and teaching block (renamed the 'Walker Building') opened, followed by Sixth Form buildings in 2011. Additional funding from
Kent County Council Kent County Council is a county council that governs most of the county of Kent in England. It is the upper tier of elected local government, below which are 12 district councils, and around 300 town and parish councils. The county council h ...
allowed the school to open a designated Performing Arts building, new sports pavilion, and computing and science block between 2017 and 2019. The pavilion was constructed to replace the traditional pavilion which had fallen into disrepair, with a second floor having recently been added to house the Modern Foreign Languages department. As well as that, the school opened a refurbishment of the War Memorial Library and a new all-weather sports pitch.


Houses

A house system was inaugurated in 1899 with three houses of 'School', 'East Borough' and 'West Borough'; allocation was based on local geography. In September 2007, the school reformed the tradition with the introduction of six new school houses, named after military vehicles: Challenger (purple),
Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...
(yellow), Endeavour (red),
Hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...
(green),
Invincible Invincible may refer to: Film and television * ''Invincible'' (2001 drama film), a drama by Werner Herzog about Jewish cabaret during the rise of Nazism * ''Invincible'' (2001 TV film), a fantasy / martial arts TV movie starring Billy Zane ...
(blue), and
Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griff ...
(white). It was again reformed in September 2017, splitting the school into four houses, named after locations of the school: Barton (blue), College (green), Corpus Christi (red), and Tonbridge (yellow). This was due to the transition into vertical forms, where each form consists of a few members from every year.


Sixth form

Each year the school takes up to 200 students into Year 12, including about thirty external pupils of mixed gender from any school according to their GCSE results. The sixth form teaches AS and A-Level courses.


Sport

The main sports at the school are
rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...
,
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
and
cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
, but participation also includes rowing, cross country,
athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...
,
handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...
, and
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
. The school has won various district and county competitions. In the 1999/2000 season, the 1st XI football team reached the final of the ESFA U18 Cup, narrowly losing to
The Kingsway School The Kingsway School is a coeducational secondary school located in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The school has sites on each side of Kingsway; on Foxland Road in Gatley to the west and Broadway in Cheadle to the east. History ...
In the 2004/05 season, the U15 rugby team won the Schools Vase, having won the Kent Schools Cup earlier in the season, beating
Oakham School (Like runners, they pass on the torch of life) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = Church of England , president ...
33-7.


Combined Cadet Force (CCF)

The school has a
Combined Cadet Force The Combined Cadet Force (CCF) is a youth organisation in the United Kingdom, sponsored by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), which operates in schools, and normally includes Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force sections. Its aim is to "provide a ...
, with Navy, Army and RAF sections accepting students on a voluntary basis when they reach year nine. The
Combined Cadet Force The Combined Cadet Force (CCF) is a youth organisation in the United Kingdom, sponsored by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), which operates in schools, and normally includes Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force sections. Its aim is to "provide a ...
, in particular the Army section, has roots in the
Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...
. The Navy section is affiliated with
HMS Collingwood Three ships and one shore establishment of the British Royal Navy have been named HMS ''Collingwood'', after Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood: * , an 80-gun second-rate ship of the line, converted to screw propulsion in 1861, a ...
and, a land establishment in
Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...
, and also has an affiliated ship ( HMS Kent (F78)). The RAF section regularly enters teams into both regional and national competitions and have won a total of nine Air Squadron Trophies In 2001 two senior students plead guilty to a series of violent and racially aggravated charges relating to abuse of junior CCF cadets. Staff were accused of turning a blind eye or, according to the prosecutor, involved in some of the incidents.


School song

In 1908, Rev C. G. Duffield (the headmaster from 1898 to 1913), wrote Latin lyrics to the music of music-master Dr H. F. Henniker for ''Gaudeamus'', the school song. The words, based on verses in
Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...
’s ''
Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan_War#Sack_of_Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to ...
'', are still sung on special occasions such as upper and lower school speech days.


Notable events

In May 2016, former Maidstone Grammar School teacher Steve Restarick was found guilty of fraud charges, involving embezzling £6,258 of the school's resources over several years. In December 2020, Maidstone Grammar School was widely reported in the news for choosing to delay the reopening of the school over concerns of the impact of
Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...
on its students and staff being able to access the school.


Notable alumni (Old Maidstonians)

Former pupils of the school are called "Old Maidstonians" and include: ''Art, Music & Literature'' *
Dan Abnett Dan Abnett (born 12 October 1965) is an English comic book writer and novelist. He has been a frequent collaborator with fellow writer Andy Lanning, and is known for his work on books for both Marvel Comics, and their UK imprint, Marvel UK, sinc ...
, comic book writer *
William Alexander (painter) William Alexander (10 April 1767 – 23 July 1816) was an English painter, illustrator and engraver. The hallmarks of his work, usually executed in watercolours, were clearness and harmony of colour, simplicity and taste in composition, grace ...
† *
Richard Beeching Richard Beeching, Baron Beeching (21 April 1913 – 23 March 1985), commonly known as Dr Beeching, was a physicist and engineer who for a short but very notable time was chairman of British Railways. He became a household name in Britain in the e ...
, Chairman of
British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
*
Edmund Blunden Edmund Charles Blunden (1 November 1896 – 20 January 1974) was an English poet, author, and critic. Like his friend Siegfried Sassoon, he wrote of his experiences in World War I in both verse and prose. For most of his career, Blunden was als ...
†, writer & poet *
Daniel Blythe Daniel Blythe (born 1969 in Maidstone) is a British author, who studied Modern Languages at St John's College, Oxford. After several years writing stories for the small press, Blythe began his professional career writing for the Virgin New Adven ...
, writer *
James Butler (artist) James Walter Butler MBE RA (25 July 1931 – 26 March 2022) was a British sculptor most famous for his 1980 statue of Richard III in Leicester. Butler was educated at Maidstone Grammar School and studied art at Saint Martin's School of Art an ...
MBE, sculptor *
Philip Langridge Philip Gordon Langridge (16 December 1939 – 5 March 2010)Millington (7 March 2010) was an English tenor, considered to be among the foremost exponents of English opera and oratorio. Early life Langridge was born in Hawkhurst, Kent, educ ...
† CBE, tenor * Philip Moore, Organist of
York Minster The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, North Yorkshire, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Archbis ...
from 1983 to 2008, Organist of
Guildford Cathedral The Cathedral Church of the Holy Spirit, Guildford, commonly known as Guildford Cathedral, is the Anglican cathedral at Guildford, Surrey, England. Richard Onslow donated the first of land on which the cathedral stands, with Viscount Bennett, ...
from 1974 to 1983 *
Christopher Smart Christopher Smart (11 April 1722 – 20 May 1771) was an English poet. He was a major contributor to two popular magazines, ''The Midwife'' and ''The Student'', and a friend to influential cultural icons like Samuel Johnson and Henry Fie ...
†, poet * Yeborobo, musical group (members thereof) ''Business & Commerce'' * Richard (Dick) Beeching, Baron Beeching†, physicist, British Railways Chairman, cause of the
Beeching cuts The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised British Rail, railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Develop ...
* Sir Jack Hughes, property mogul & philanthropist * Mark F. Watts, lobbyist & former Labour MEP ''Media, television & film'' * James Burke, science historian and TV presenter *
David Chater David Chater (born 1953) is a British broadcast journalist. Chater has more than 35 years' experience in international television news, having worked for Independent Television News, Sky News and Al Jazeera English. He joined ITN in 1976, Sk ...
, television foreign correspondent and former Chairman of the ''Old Maidstonian Society'' *
Andrew Dilnot Sir Andrew William Dilnot, (born 19 June 1960) is a Welsh economist and broadcaster. He was formerly the Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies from 1991 to 2002, and was Principal of St Hugh's College, Oxford between 2002 and 2012. As o ...
CBE (briefly), Principal of
St Hugh's College, Oxford St Hugh's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. It is located on a site on St Margaret's Road, to the north of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth as a women's college, and accepte ...
since 2002, and former presenter of
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
's '' More or Less'' *
James Hillier (actor) James Hillier (born 22 September 1973 in Kent, England) is a British actor and director. He played Sergeant Christian Young on the BBC police drama ''HolbyBlue'', and Damian, Roxy Mitchell's fiancé in the BBC1 soap opera ''EastEnders''. More ...
* Paul Lewis, financial journalist and presenter of ''
Money Box ''Money Box'' is a weekly personal finance radio programme on BBC Radio 4, produced by BBC News, currently presented by Paul Lewis. The programme is broadcast live each Saturday in the half-hour slot just after midday. It is repeated on Sunday ev ...
'' & ''Money Box Live'' on
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
*
Kevin Loader Kevin Loader is a British film and television producer. Since 1996, he and co-owner Roger Michell have run a London-based production company, Free Range Films, through which the pair have made several feature films directed by Michell, including ...
, film and television producer *
Shaun McKenna Shaun Patrick McKenna (born 5 April 1957 in Maidstone, Kent) is an English dramatist, lyricist and screenwriter. Biography Shaun McKenna studied at Maidstone Grammar School and the University of Bristol (1975–1978). He was an actor for a fe ...
, screenwriter *
Stuart Miles Stuart Miles (born 20 February 1969) is a British radio and television presenter, who has worked on the children's programme ''Blue Peter''. Career Miles studied at Bournemouth University where he developed an interest in college radio, follow ...
, ''
Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Tel ...
'' presenter from 1994 to 1999 * Tom Riley, film and television actor ''Military'' * Captain Ben Babington-Browne†, of 22 Engineer Regiment of the
Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...
, killed on 6 July 2009 after a
Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
Bell CH-146 Griffon The Bell CH-146 Griffon is a multi-role utility helicopter designed by Bell Helicopter Textron as a variant of the Bell 412EP for the Canadian Armed Forces. The CH-146 is used in a wide variety of roles, including aerial firepower, reconnaiss ...
crashed in
Zabul Province Zabul (Pashto/Dari: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the south of the country. It has a population of 249,000. Zabul became an independent province from neighbouring Kandahar in 1963. Historically, it was part of the Zabu ...
, Afghanistan *
Lt-Gen Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star rank, three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in ...
Sir
Frederick Dobson Middleton General Sir Frederick Dobson Middleton (4 November 1825 – 25 January 1898) was a British general noted for his service throughout the Empire and particularly in the North-West Rebellion in Canada. Imperial Military career Educated at Mai ...
CB, Commandant from 1874 to 1884 of
RMC Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infantry ...
*
Air Vice-Marshal Air vice-marshal (AVM) is a two-star air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes u ...
Philip Hedgeland† CB OBE, expert in airborne radar, Station Commander from 1966 to 1967 of
RAF Stanbridge RAF Stanbridge (originally RAF Leighton Buzzard) was a non-flying RAF station situated on the outskirts of Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, England and located west of the village of Stanbridge, Bedfordshire. For the majority of its life the ...
, and helped develop the
H2S radar H2S was the first airborne, ground scanning radar system. It was developed for the Royal Air Force's Bomber Command during World War II to identify targets on the ground for night and all-weather bombing. This allowed attacks outside the range ...
in the war at the
Telecommunications Research Establishment The Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) was the main United Kingdom research and development organization for radio navigation, radar, infra-red detection for heat seeking missiles, and related work for the Royal Air Force (RAF) d ...
in Malvern * Air Marshal Sir Timothy Jenner CB, Station Commander of
RAF Shawbury Royal Air Force Shawbury, otherwise known as RAF Shawbury, is a Royal Air Force station near the village of Shawbury in Shropshire in the West Midlands of England. History The First World War The station at Shawbury was first used for military ...
from 1987 to 1988 *
Air Vice-Marshal Air vice-marshal (AVM) is a two-star air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes u ...
Giles Legood Air Vice-Marshal Giles Leslie Legood, (born 1967) is a British Anglican priest. Since July 2022 he has served as Chaplain-in-Chief of the Royal Air Force Chaplains Branch and Archdeacon for the Royal Air Force. He previously served as Deputy Chap ...
MBE QHC,
Chaplain-in-Chief The Royal Air Force Chaplains Branch provides military chaplains for the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom. Mission The Mission of the Royal Air Force Chaplains Branch is to serve the RAF Community through: Prayer, Presence and Proclamation. ...
of the
Royal Air Force Chaplains Branch The Royal Air Force Chaplains Branch provides military chaplains for the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom. Mission The Mission of the Royal Air Force Chaplains Branch is to serve the RAF Community through: Prayer, Presence and Proclamation. ...
and
Archdeacon for the Royal Air Force The most senior Anglican chaplain in each branch of the British Armed Forces (Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force) is made an archdeacon in the Church of England. Respectively they are titled the Archdeacon for the Royal Navy, the Archdea ...
''Politics & government'' * Sir
Samuel Egerton Brydges Sir Samuel Egerton Brydges, 1st Baronet (30 November 1762 – 8 September 1837) was an English bibliographer and genealogist. He was also Member of Parliament for Maidstone from 1812 to 1818. Educated at Maidstone Grammar School and The King ...
†, MP from 1812 to 1818 for
Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...
*
Nick Gibb Nicolas John Gibb (born 3 September 1960) is a British politician serving as Minister of State for Schools since October 2022, having previously held the office from 2010 to 2012 and again from 2015 to 2021. He has served at the Department for E ...
(briefly), Conservative Minister of State for School Standards from 2010-2012 and 2015-2021, and MP for
Bognor Regis and Littlehampton Bognor Regis and Littlehampton (contemp. RP ) is a constituency in West Sussex represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1997 by Nick Gibb, a Conservative. Boundaries and constituency profile 1997–2010: The District of ...
since 1997 *
Stuart Gilbert Arthur Stuart Ahluwalia Stronge Gilbert (25 October 1883 – 5 January 1969) was an English literary scholar and translator. Among his translations into English are works by Alexis de Tocqueville, Édouard Dujardin, André Malraux, Antoine d ...
† Director of National Saving in the 1980s *
John Pugh John David Pugh (born 28 June 1948, Liverpool) is a Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom. He was the Member of Parliament for Southport from 2001 to 2017. He stood down at the 2017 snap election. In November 2017, he was elected t ...
,
Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties See also *Liberal democracy *Lib ...
MP 2001-2017 for
Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...
* Adam Sampson,
Legal Services Ombudsman In England and Wales, the Legal Services Ombudsman was a statutory officer that investigated allegations about the improper, ineffective or inefficient way that complaints about lawyers are handled by their respective self-regulating professional bo ...
from 2009 to 2014 and Chief Executive from 2003 to 2009 of
Shelter Shelter is a small building giving temporary protection from bad weather or danger. Shelter may also refer to: Places * Port Shelter, Hong Kong * Shelter Bay (disambiguation), various locations * Shelter Cove (disambiguation), various locatio ...
* Mark F. Watts, Labour MEP from 1994 to 1999 for Kent East, then
South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, first level of International Territorial Level, ITL for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of england, ...
from 1999 to 2004 ''Religion'' * Rt Rev
David John Atkinson David John Atkinson (born 5 September 1943) is the former Bishop of Thetford. Early life and education Atkinson was educated at Maidstone Grammar School and King's College London (he became an Associate of King's College and, at other points ...
, Bishop of Thetford from 2001 to 2009 *
Leo Avery Leo Avery (5 January 1938 - 4 July 1996) was third Abbot of Quarr Abbey, on the Isle of Wight, from 1992 to 1996. Biography Leo was born 5 January 1938, in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England, and raised in Maidstone, Kent, England. After studies in A ...
† * Rt Rev
Bob Evens Robert John Scott Evens (known as Bob; born 29 May 1947) is an English Anglican bishop, the former suffragan Bishop of Crediton in the Diocese of Exeter. Evens was born in post-war Plymouth, where he lived until he was six. His father joined up w ...
,
Bishop of Crediton The Bishop of Crediton is an episcopal title which takes its name from the town of Crediton in Devon, England. The title was originally used by the Anglo-Saxons in the 10th and 11th centuries for a diocese covering Devon and Cornwall. It is now ...
2004-2012 * Henry Gould† vicar of St Paul's Cathedral 1908-1913 * George Harris (Unitarian)† * Very Rev Robert William Pope OBE† *
Martin Warner (bishop) Martin Clive Warner (born 24 December 1958) is an Anglican bishop in England. He is currently the Bishop of Chichester. Early life and education Warner was educated at King's School, Rochester, Maidstone Grammar School, and at St Chad's College ...
SSC,
Bishop of Whitby The Bishop of Whitby is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of York, in the Province of York, England. The title takes its name after the town of Whitby in North Yorkshire; the See was erected under the ...
2010–12,
Bishop of Chichester The Bishop of Chichester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the counties of East and West Sussex. The see is based in the City of Chichester where the bishop's seat ...
2012-present ''Science & academia'' * Peter Day†,
Fullerian Professor of Chemistry The Fullerian Chairs at the Royal Institution in London, England, were established by John 'Mad Jack' Fuller. Fullerian Professors of Chemistry * 1833 Michael Faraday * 1868 William Odling * 1874 John Hall Gladstone * 1877 James Dewar * 1923 Wi ...
from 1994 to 2008, and Director of the Royal Institution from 1991 to 1998 *
Frank Finn Frank Finn FZS, MBOU (1868 – 1 October 1932) was an English ornithologist. Finn was born in Maidstone and educated at Maidstone Grammar School and Brasenose College, Oxford. He went on a collecting expedition to East Africa in 1892, and ...
†, ornithologist *
Peter Heather Peter John Heather (born 8 June 1960) is a British historian of late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Heather is Chair of the Medieval History Department and Professor of Medieval History at King's College London. He specialises in the fall ...
, historian *
Geoffrey Hosking Geoffrey, Geoffroy, Geoff, etc., may refer to: People * Geoffrey (name), including a list of people with the name * Geoffroy (surname), including a list of people with the name * Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1095–c. 1155), clergyman and one of the m ...
, Professor of Russian History from 1984 to 2007 at
University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...
*
William Morfill William Richard Morfill FBA (17 November 1834 – 9 November 1909) was Professor of Russian and the other Slavonic languages at the University of Oxford from 1900 until his death. He was the first professor of Russian in Britain, and his h ...
†, Professor of Russian from 1900 to 1909 at the
University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...
*
John Orrell John Orrell (December 31, 1934 – September 16, 2003) was a British author, theatre historian, and English professor at the University of Alberta. The ''New York Times'' described him as the "historian whose intellectual detective work laid t ...
†, theatre historian *
John Pond John Pond FRS (1767 – 7 September 1836) was a renowned English astronomer who became the sixth Astronomer Royal, serving from 1811 to 1835. Biography Pond was born in London and, although the year of his birth is known, the records indica ...
† Astronomer Royal 1811-1835 *
Ivan Roots Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulgari ...
† Historian, Biographer of Oliver Cromwell *
Bill Saunders William Hardin "Navy Bill" Saunders (June 20, 1898 – March 13, 1950) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Colorado State Teachers College—now the University of Northern Colorado—from 1928 to 1 ...
, Professor of Endodontology, and Dean of Dentistry since 2000 at the
University of Dundee The University of Dundee; . Abbreviated as ''Dund.'' for post-nominals. is a public university, public research university based in Dundee, Scotland. It was founded as a University college#United Kingdom, university college in 1881 with a donation ...
, and President from 1997 to 1998 of the British Endodontic Society ''Sport'' *
David Flatman David Luke Flatman (born 21 January 1980) is an English sports pundit and former rugby union player who played prop. Flatman represented eight times between 2000 and 2002, playing club rugby for Saracens and Bath. Flatman is routinely refer ...
,
Bath Rugby Bath Rugby is a professional rugby union club in Bath, Somerset, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Founded in 1865 as Bath Football Club, since 1894 the club has played at the Recreation Ground in the c ...
Union player * Tom Parsons, Kent and Hampshire county cricketer * Frank Sando, Olympic athlete, two-time winner at the International Cross Country Championships (1955, 1957), represented Great Britain in two consecutive Summer Olympic Games * Steven Haworth, wrestler also known as Nigel McGuinness and Desmond Wolfe ''Other'' *
Julius Brenchley Julius Lucius Brenchley (30 November 1816 – 24 February 1873), of Maidstone, was a 19th-century English explorer, naturalist and author. Life Born at Kingsley House, Maidstone, Kent, Julius Brenchley was educated at Maidstone Grammar School ...
†, explorer *
Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland (1 February 158023 March 1629), (styled Sir Francis Fane between 1603 and 1624) of Mereworth in Kent and of Apethorpe in Northamptonshire was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Comm ...
† * Sir Thomas Fane


Notable staff

*
William Golding Sir William Gerald Golding (19 September 1911 – 19 June 1993) was a British novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for his debut novel ''Lord of the Flies'' (1954), he published another twelve volumes of fiction in his lifetime. In 1980 ...
, author of ''
Lord of the Flies ''Lord of the Flies'' is a 1954 novel by the Nobel Prize-winning British author William Golding. The plot concerns a group of British boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempts to govern themselves. Themes i ...
'', taught English and Music at the school between 1938 and 1940, when he met his wife Ann Brookfield. * Steve Restarick, former professional footballer, taught P.E. at the school before his suspension in 2014 amid fraud allegations.


References


External links


Official website

Ofsted Report

Get information about schools (formerly Edu Base)

Schools Financial Benchmarking Service

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News items


Super selective in October 2007

Selection in October 1998
{{authority control 1549 establishments in England Educational institutions established in the 1540s Grammar schools in Kent Schools in Maidstone Boys' schools in Kent Foundation schools in Kent