Calday Grange Grammar School (abbreviated to CGGS; also known as Calday Grange, Calday Grammar or simply Calday due to the difference in spelling to the nearby village of

Caldy Caldy is a small, affluent village on the Wirral Peninsula, England, south-east of West Kirby. It is part of the West Kirby & Thurstaston Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and is in the parliamentary constituency of Wirral West. At t ...

) is a non-denominational, academically selective

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 ...

, founded in 1636, situated on

Caldy Hill Caldy Hill is an area of heath and woodland on a sandstone outcrop on the Wirral Peninsula. The land was bought by Hoylake District Council between 1897 and 1974. The village of Caldy is nearby. Including Stapledon Woods, the whole area covers ...

Grange Grange may refer to: Buildings * Grange House, Scotland, built in 1564, and demolished in 1906 * Grange Estate, Pennsylvania, built in 1682 * Monastic grange, a farming estate belonging to a monastery Geography Australia * Grange, South Austr ...

, a suburb of West Kirby on the Wirral peninsula,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. The school admits boys from age 11 to 18 and, since 1985, girls for the

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for ...

only. The school has academy status, hosts the Wirral Able Children Centre, and has been awarded Sportsmark Gold and Investors in People status.

Geography

The school stands in a residential area of Wirral close to the

Dee Estuary The Dee Estuary ( cy, Aber Dyfrdwy) is a large estuary by means of which the River Dee flows into Liverpool Bay. The estuary starts near Shotton after a five-mile (8 km) 'canalised' section and the river soon swells to be several mile ...

. Students come primarily from the Wirral, Deeside and Cheshire areas. The main site at the top of

is occupied by the school buildings, sports cages and field, with a larger field and swimming pool building located over Grammar School Lane. A mile southeast of the main school buildings, along Telegraph Road, is the school’s Glasspool Fields Sports Facility including 3 rugby pitches, a cricket square and a sand-based artificial hockey field. The school is surrounded by suburban housing and the protected heathlands and woods of Grange, Caldy and Thurstaston.

School history and status

Founded in 1636, Calday Grange Grammar School is Wirral's oldest surviving grammar school. It was established as a free grammar school on the present site by local landowner William Glegg. From when it started with 12 pupils, the school has grown into an establishment of over 1300 students – which includes over 400 male and female students in the Sixth Form. Calday Grange Grammar School became a trust school on 1 January 2009, transferring ownership of the school land and buildings to a Charitable Trust called "The Calday Grange Trust". The Calday Grange Trust is a partnership between Calday Grange Grammar School, The University of Liverpool, Unilever Research and Development and Maestro Services Ltd. Calday Grange Grammar School was the first Wirral School to convert to Trust Status. In September 2011, the school informed parents that "The School has received notification from Companies House that the Calday Grange Trust Company has been dissolved. This has been notified to the Governing Body who contacted Wirral Local Authority and indicated their wish to revert to the Foundation Schools Instrument of Government". In July 2011, the process for converting to an Academy school was begun, and the school converted to academy status with effect from 1 January 2013.

Performance

In 2019 the school was inspected and judged 'Good' repeating the judgement of

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted is responsible for inspecting a range of educational institutions, incl ...

from inspections in 2016 and 2010. In 2015 96% of the year group achieved 5 GCSE passes at grades A* to C with 96.2% gaining at 5 A* to C grades including English and Maths. Four students achieved 10 or more A* grades. In 2015 Calday School received its best A level results since 2010 with a pass rate of 99.2% at A*-E grades.

Extracurricular

Sport

The school is the 7th state school for sporting achievement. The top state schools were revealed in the November 2019 edition of School Sport magazine and it places the school in the top 1% of schools in the country for sporting outcomes.

Combined Cadet Force

The school maintains 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 ...

. The combined Cadet force has been at Calday since 1916, when a unit of the Officers' Training Corps was first formed.

Other

Volunteering opportunities include supporting the

Refilwe Refilwe ( st, We are given) is a township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to ...

Community Project in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

which the school has been involved in for over 9 years. Students have also been involved with various independent

entrepreneurial Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

pursuits.

Houses

The school has three Houses named after past benefactors and headmasters. Members of each house are identified by different coloured stripes on the school tie from years 7 to 11. Bennett – named after Thomas Bennett, benefactor of the school in 1676. Glegg – named after William Glegg, founder of the school in 1636. Hollowell – named after Rev. William Hollowell, former headmaster 1891–1920. There was a fourth house, Paton, named after Sir Alfred Paton. It was taken out of the house system in the 1990s for simplicity in form-group allocation.

Notable former students

Andrew Baddeley Andrew James Baddeley (born 20 June 1982) on The Wirral, Merseyside is an English middle-distance runner. Career He finished sixth in the 1500 metres final at the 2006 European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg. He also competed at the 20 ...

- Athlete in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. * Matthew Barnes – Musician, performing as

Forest Swords Matthew Barnes, known by his stage name Forest Swords, is an English record producer, composer, DJ, and artist. Career ''Dagger Paths'' EP Forest Swords's debut six-track EP, '' Dagger Paths'', was originally released in March 2010, before be ...

David Belbin David Lawrence Belbin (born 19 January 1958) is an English novelist. He was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire and has lived in Nottingham since attending the University of Nottingham where he earned a degree in English Literature and American Studi ...

- author *

William Bennett Bond William Bennett Bond (10 September 1815 – 9 October 1906) was a Canadian priest, archbishop, and the 2nd primate of the Anglican Church of Canada. Early life Bond was born on September 10, 1815, at Truro, England, to John Bond and Nanny B ...

– Archbishop of

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

Protheroe (1976) * John Bowe – actor *

Steve Bower Stephen Robert Bower is an English football commentator, one of the main voices for BBC TV's Match of the Day, culminating in being part of the commentary teams for the 2010, 2014, and 2018 FIFA World Cups. Bower commentated on New Zealand's his ...

– Former Setanta presenter; football commentator for the BBC and ITV * Daniel Craig - Actor * Bobby Crutchley - Head Coach of the England and Great Britain Hockey teams * Steve Cummings- English racing cyclist for World Tour cycling team * Sam Dickinson -

England Saxons England A is England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England Saxons. England A play a key role in the development of em ...

and Northampton Saints rugby union player *

Chris Eakin Chris Eakin is a journalist who was a newsreader on the BBC's 24-hour rolling news channel, BBC News, and a relief presenter on BBC News at One at weekends. He was one of the channel's launch presenters in 1997, and is a published author. He left ...

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadc ...

presenter *

Michael Eakin J. Michael Eakin (born 1948) is an American lawyer, who served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was elected to the State's Supreme Court in 2001 as a Republican. In November 2011, Justice Eakin won judic ...

- Chief Executive of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic *

Sir Herbert William Emerson Sir Herbert William Emerson, (1 June 1881 — 13 April 1962), commonly known as H. W. Emerson, was a civil servant in British India and served as Governor of the Punjab in the 1930s. Early life He was born on 1 June 1881 in West Kirby, E ...

(1881–1962), Governor of Punjab * Will Foster – Member of rock band

The Tears The Tears were an English rock group formed in 2004 by ex- Suede bandmates Brett Anderson and Bernard Butler, along with the former Delicatessen and Lodger members Will Foster (keyboardist), bassist Nathan Fisher, and Bernard Butler session d ...

* Cyril Edward Gourley –

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previousl ...

recipient * Raymond Towers Holmes – RAF pilot in

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...

* Paul Humphreys – member of band

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) are an English electronic band formed in Wirral, Merseyside, in 1978. The group consists of co-founders Andy McCluskey (vocals, bass guitar) and Paul Humphreys (keyboards, vocals), along with Martin C ...

* James Hype - DJ, producer and remix artist *

Geoffrey Anketell Studdert Kennedy Geoffrey Anketell Studdert Kennedy (27 June 1883 – 8 March 1929) was an English Anglican priest and poet. He was nicknamed "Woodbine Willie" during World War I for giving Woodbine cigarettes to the soldiers he met, as well as spiritual ai ...

– "Woodbine Willy"; First World War poet; taught at Calday 1905–1907. *

Craig Lindfield Craig Anthony Lindfield (born 7 September 1988) is an English semi-professional footballer who plays as a winger for Airbus UK Broughton who compete in the Cymru North. Early life Lindfield attended Brookdale Primary School from 1993 to 2000 ...

– Formerly

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has ...

player, now at F.C. United of Manchester * Philip May – banker, and husband of

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...

Andy McCluskey George Andrew McCluskey (born 24 June 1959) is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. He is best known as the lead singer and bass guitarist of the electronic band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), which he founded a ...

– member of band

* Jack Patterson - member of band

Clean Bandit Clean Bandit are an English electronic music group, formed in Cambridge in 2008. They have had four number 1 hits and ten top 10 hits on the UK Singles Chart. They direct and produce their own music videos, many of which have been nominated for ...

* Luke Patterson - member of band

* Nick Power - Organist and songwriter with the band The Coral * Sam Quek MBE -

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their British Olympic team. The brand was developed after the nation's poor performance in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and is now a trademark of the BOA. I ...

field hockey gold medallist * David Raven – former Liverpool FC football player now at

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

Bill Steer William Geoffrey Steer (born 3 December 1969) is a British guitarist and co-founder of the extreme metal band Carcass. He is considered a pioneer and an essential contributor to grindcore and death metal due to his involvement in Napalm Death and ...

– guitarist in the band

Napalm Death Napalm Death are an English grindcore band formed in 1981 in Meriden, West Midlands. None of the band's original members has been in the group since 1986. But since '' Utopia Banished'' (1992), the lineup of bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mitc ...

1987–1989, member of grind-pioneers Carcass *

Ray Stubbs Raymond J. Stubbs (born 24 May 1956) is an English broadcaster and former footballer. He worked as a presenter for the BBC, ESPN and BT Sport, and now works for Talksport radio. His most recent role is presenting the coverage of the World Senio ...

– BT Sport and Talksport presenter *

Dick Uren Richard Uren (26 February 1926 – ) was a rugby union player who played for Waterloo R.F.C. and represented the England national rugby union team four times. He represented Cheshire at both rugby union and golf and was also a successful racing ...

– England international

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

player. * Sir David Weatherall – Oxford physician; editor ''Oxford Textbook of Medicine''; former Chancellor Keele University * Dr. David Wynn-Williams (1946–2002) – British astro-biologist, head of the Antarctic astrobiology project,

British Antarctic Survey The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is the United Kingdom's national polar research institute. It has a dual purpose, to conduct polar science, enabling better understanding of global issues, and to provide an active presence in the Antarctic on ...

. * Dougal Wilson, director of advertisements and music videos • John Morgan - professional golfer European tour ,

European Seniors Tour The Legends Tour is the current branding of the European Senior Tour, a professional tour for male golfers aged 50 and over, run by the PGA European Tour. The tour was branded as the Staysure Tour for the 2018 and 2019 seasons after UK-based insur ...

and US Champions Tour

Headteachers

References

Sources

* Protheroe, M. J. (1976). ''A History of Calday Grange Grammar School, West Kirby, 1636–1976''. West Kirby: The Parents' Association.

External links

*
Calday Alumni

Official Facebook page

Calday Grange Swimming Pool Trust
{{authority control Boys' schools in Merseyside 1636 establishments in England Educational institutions established in the 1630s Grammar schools in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral Academies in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral