Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School

Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School (KGGS) is a grammar school with academy status for girls in Grantham, Lincolnshire, established in 1910. It has over 1000 pupils ranging from ages 11 to 18, and has its own sixth form.

Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School
Address
Sandon Road Grantham , Lincolnshire , NG31 9AU England
Coordinates	52°54′48″N 0°38′01″W / 52.9134°N 0.6337°W / 52.9134; -0.6337
Information
Type	Grammar school; academy
Motto	Veras Hinc Ducere Voces (Latin) From this place, draw true inspiration.
Established	1910
Department for Education URN	138638 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Head teacher	James Fuller
Staff	93
Gender	Girls
Age	11 to 18
Enrolment	1200
Houses	Austen, Brontë, Browning, Eliot, Potter, Rossetti.
Website	http://www.kestevengrantham.lincs.sch.uk/

History

KGGS was founded in 1910 by H Gladys Williams. Before its establishment Kesteven Local Education Authority had founded the Grantham Institute, which accepted girls. A decision to found a new county grammar school for girls was made by a joint committee of county, borough and town councils. After the Board of Education recognised Grantham Institute as a secondary grammar school, and the girls' aspect within it, they appointed a principal mistress for the Institute, who would become the headmistress of a 1910 newly built school called Kesteven and Grantham Girls' Grammar School.^[1]

The former prime minister Margaret Thatcher had been a pupil at the school between 1936 and 1943, head girl in her final year.^[2]

Second World War and evacuation

Girls from Camden School for Girls arrived on Thursday 19 October 1939. The girls had spent the previous few weeks resident in Uppingham in Rutland. The headteacher of the Camden school was Olive Wright. 450 girls were expected, but only 352 arrived.^[3][4][5] Girls from Grantham were in the classrooms in the mornings and Camden girls were in the afternoon. Camden girls were resident at Stonebridge House, which became the police station. The music teacher Grace Williams, a Welsh composer, arrived with the Camden school, and composed pieces whilst at Grantham. Zoologist Hilda Mabel Canter, later employed by the Freshwater Biological Association and associated with the British Phycological Society, was evacuated with the school.^{[citation needed]}

Thirty-two Camden girls were confirmed at St Wulfram's Church, Grantham on Saturday 16 March 1940 by the bishop of Lincoln, Nugent Hicks.^[6] On Friday 28 June 1940, two 17-year-old Camden girls, Margaret McMillan and Marjorie Catch, had their play A Man's World broadcast as part of Theatreland on the BBC Home Service and the BBC Forces Programme, introduced by Raymond Glendenning; it featured Celia Johnson and Owen Nares.^[7][8]

During the war, the hockey pitch was changed to grow hay instead. Many staff under their thirties from boys' schools had to join up; this situation did not really affect girls' schools as much. Elsie Suddaby, the famous soprano performed at the school, through Grantham Music Club, on Friday 18 October 1940.^[9] Isolde Menges, the violinist, performed on Friday 22 November 1940 at the school ^[10] Colonel William Vere Reeve King-Fane was Chairman of the Governors from December 1940, until his death in 1943.^[11] The preparatory school closed in 1944.^{[citation needed]}

School expansion after the war

In December 1947, the prize day was in the drill hall. A new association was formed with a French school in Châteauroux in Centre-Val de Loire.^[12] In early 1954 the school needed more buildings to have a three-form entry by September 1955. ^[13] New buildings were added around 1955, costing £50,000 for an extra form entry. In February 1955 a contract for £57,900 built an extension and a new kitchen, with furniture costing £5,500.^[14] By 1956, there were over 500 girls at the school.^{[citation needed]}

The extensions would open on Friday 11 October 1957, for a three-form entry school, with a new gym, hall and dining room, and crafts room with a hand loom with the bishop of Grantham Anthony Otter attending the ceremony and the chair of the governors Alf Roberts, with T.W. Golby, the director of education at Kesteven, and F.W. Jenkinson, chairman of Kesteven council. The head girl was Andrea Thody. By 1957, from 1910 there had been only two headteachers.^[15][16][17] Due to the larger school, the houses Rossetti and Potter were introduced in 1958.^{[citation needed]}

When prime minister Margaret Thatcher visited on Friday 12 February 1982 there were 150 protesters, who mostly chanted 'Tories Out'. The protesters main complaint was against education cuts; no-one was arrested. The head girl was Lorna Shipman. It was a two day tour of the area. The previous day Margaret Thatcher had been to the Stamford Arts Centre and to Lincoln.^[18]

The PM officially visited, lastly, on Friday 4 July 1986. A new £1.5m building had been built by Simons of Lincoln. Police sniffer dog teams had thoroughly searched the area beforehand, with many police and firemen visible. The PM arrived by helicopter, from north Hampshire, on the hockey field, to be confronted by protesters from Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Against Nuclear Dumping (LAND) led by Julian Fane,^[19] the county's High Sheriff in 1981; the PM attempted to cordially speak to the irate group, from Fulbeck and Long Bennington, telling the group 'there is no need to shout, you will not win an argument that way'. Madaleen Grundy (née Shepherd) was in the general crowd, having been in the same class at KGGS; the PM still recognised her and they briefly spoke. The PM said 'I would not have been in No.10 but for this school'. County council education committee Conservative chairman Jim Speechley also spoke, asking her 'we would like a little more support [money] from the government'. The joint head girls were Judith Harwood, of Corby Glen, and Angela Cheung. The PM also went to a fourth year chemistry class, speaking to Serena Bilboe and Linda Hales. After two hours in Grantham, the PM flew by helicopter to the headquarters of Nottinghamshire Police at 12pm.^{[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]} In 1992 the former PM would become Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven, in reference to her old school.

Curriculum

Kesteven Grantham Girls' School provides a curriculum across Key Stage 3 to 5. The sixth form curriculum is enhanced by cooperation with the nearby King's School.^{[citation needed]}

Form and house activity

Each form has a form captain and deputy, two school council members and two charity representatives. Form captains deal with problems and represent the form. A school council discusses matters and acts to improve the school and its community. Charity events are organised by forms to raise money for good causes, with a trophy given each year to the form which raises the most.^[28][29]

Pupils are allotted to one of six houses within the school, named after famous female writers and poets: Austen, Brontë, Browning, Eliot, Potter, and Rossetti. Each house has its own colour: Austen is purple, Potter is green, Rossetti is red, Bronte is white, Browning is black and Elliot is yellow.^[29][30] Houses are headed by two year 13 house captains.^{[citation needed]} The house system is maintained and supervised by three year 13 house secretaries and one member of staff.^{[citation needed]}

Sport

The school won the U-19 Championships of the English Schools' Table Tennis Association (ESTTA) three times in a row from 2009 to 2011, and had also won it, 1986–88; the representative of the English Table Tennis Association for the East Midlands, Suzanne Airey, went to KGGS.^[31]

Extracurricular activity

There are school exchange programmes with Germany, France and Japan;^[32] many girls undertake one of these opportunities each year. The school's connection with Minami High School, Fukushima, Japan, involves a group of Japanese students visiting Grantham each year.^{[33][34][35][36]}

Notable former pupils

See also: Category:People educated at Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School

• Georgina Callaghan, singer-songwriter, known for her 2012 album Life in Full Colour
• Freya Colbert, swimmer^[37]
• Dorothy Cowlin, novelist^[38]
• Valerie Gibson, professor in high energy physics at the University of Cambridge
• Vikki Hubbard, high jumper
• Holly Humberstone, singer-songwriter
• Shona McCallin, member of the Great Britain women's national field hockey team^{[39][40][41][42]}
• Frances Ryan, author of Crippled
• Jane Soons, University of Canterbury's first female professor
• Doris Stokes, medium
• Margaret Thatcher
• Clare Tomlinson, Sky Sports presenter
• Frances Tustin, psychotherapist^[43][44][45]

References

1. Wickstead, Arthur, in chapter 10, "Education for all Children", in Twentieth Century Lincolnshire, editor Dennis R. Mills, History of Lincolnshire Committee for the Society of Lincolnshire History and Archaeology (1989), pp.258, 259. ISBN 0902668153
2. . Archived from the original on 28 January 2013.
3. Nottingham Evening Post Tuesday 10 October 1939, page 6
4. Grantham Journal Saturday 14 October 1939, page 8
5. Grantham Journal Friday 23 February 1940, page 4
6. Grantham Journal Friday 15 March 1940, page 9
7. BBC Forces Programme
8. Grantham Journal Friday 5 July 1940 page 3
9. Grantham Journal Friday 25 October 1940, page 4
10. Grantham Journal Friday 29 November 1940, page 6
11. Lincolnshire Standard Saturday 14 December 1940, page 6
12. Grantham Journal Friday 12 December 1947, page 6
13. Grantham Journal Friday 26 February 1954, page 1
14. Grantham Journal Friday 25 February 1955, page 1
15. Nottingham Evening Post Friday 5 April 1957, page 12
16. Grantham Journal Friday 14 June 1957, page 5
17. Grantham Journal Friday 18 October 1957, page 3 and page 5
18. Grantham Journal Friday 19 February 1982, page 7
19. Julian Fane
20. Grantham Journal Friday 11 July 1986, page 58
21. Nottingham Evening Post Friday 4 July 1986, page 1
22. Nottingham Evening Post Saturday 5 July 1986 page 3
23. Lincolnshire Echo Friday 4 July 1986, page 1
24. Lincolnshire Echo Saturday 5 July 1986, page 7
25. Daily Record Saturday 5 July 1986, page 2
26. Daily Mirror Saturday 5 July 1986, page 5 'Maggie gets nuke caning'
27. Newark Advertiser Friday 11 July 1986, page 21
28. . Archived from the original on 29 September 2013.
29. . Archived from the original on 29 September 2013.
30. . Archived from the original on 29 September 2013.
31. . Archived from the original on 21 January 2011. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
32. . Archived from the original on 29 September 2013.
33. . Archived from the original on 29 September 2013.
34. . Archived from the original on 29 September 2013.
35. . Archived from the original on 29 September 2013.
36. . Archived from the original on 29 September 2013.
37. "Colbert takes Winter Championships gold in thrilling freestyle final". Swimming.org. 4 December 2021. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
38. Grantham Journal Friday 12 May 1967, page 3
39. "Shona McCallin". Teamgb.com. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
40. "People cycling with hockey sticks on their backs? That's Holland for you, says Great Britain's Shona McCallin". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
41. "England Hockey". Englandhockey.co.uk. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
42. [1]^{[dead link]}
43. Times Monday November 21, 1994, page 21
44. Grantham Journal Friday 4 October 1963, page 1
45. Grantham Journal Friday 2 December 1994, page 5

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School.

• School website