Watford Grammar School for Girls explained

Watford Grammar School for Girls
Coordinates:51.6515°N -0.3962°W
Pushpin Map:Hertfordshire#England#United Kingdom
Motto:Sperate parati
("Go forward with preparation")
Established:
1884 (refounded)
Type:Partially selective academy
Head Label:Headmistress
Head:Sylvia Tai
Chair Label:Chairman of governors
Chair:Nick Moorhouse
Founder:Elizabeth Fuller
Address:Lady's Close
City:Watford
County:Hertfordshire
Country:England
Postcode:WD18 0AE
Ofsted:yes
Urn:136289
Enrolment:1,550
Gender:Girls
Lower Age:11
Upper Age:18
Colours: Navy blue and yellow
Website:http://www.watfordgrammarschoolforgirls.org.uk/

Watford Grammar School for Girls (commonly abbreviated WGGS) is an academy for girls in Watford in Hertfordshire, UK.Despite its name, it is only a partially selective school, with 25% of entrants admitted on academic ability and 10% on musical aptitude.[1]

Its GCSE results were the highest achieved by non-grammar state schools in England in 2007.[2]

History

The school and its brother school, Watford Grammar School for Boys, descend from a free school founded as a charity school for boys and girls by Elizabeth Fuller in 1704 and refounded as a secondary school in 1884.[3] [4] [5] [6]

The school has occupied its present site in central Watford since 1907.The name Watford Grammar School for Girls dates from 1903. Although the school ceased to be a tripartite system grammar school in 1975, it retains some features of the grammar school tradition.[7]

The school site is divided in two by a public footpath, with a footbridge spanning the path to connect the two parts.The northern part includes a former private house, Lady's Close now used as the English block. Also in the northern part is the PE block and Fuller Life Gym (with a swimming pool), open to members of the public in non-school hours. A new building, Hyde House, is also situated in the northern part.Except during the First World War, when it was taken over by the Red Cross as an auxiliary hospital, the building served as the school's preparatory department until that department was closed in 1944.Since then it has served as the home of the entry form to the school.[8]

The school today

Watford Girls has been partially selective since 1995, though the proportion of selection has been reduced over this period.The school also gives priority to sisters of current pupils at the school.Prior to 2008 it also gave extra consideration during the selection process to sisters of pupils of Watford Grammar School for Boys.[9] [10] Its admission area reaches out about 5miles, including some northern parts of the London boroughs of Harrow and Hillingdon.In comparison with the national average, its intake has significantly higher academic attainment, greater ethnic diversity and fewer children receiving free school meals.[11]

An inspection in 2007 by the Office for Standards in Education rated the school as outstanding in all categories.[11] It has long been near the top of performance tables for comprehensive schools, but when the key measure at GCSE was changed in 2007 to include English and mathematics the school moved to the top position.[2] The then-headmistress, Dame Helen Hyde, attributed part of their success to De Bono Thinking Tools, for which the school was one of the first in the United Kingdom to receive accreditation as a national training school.[12] [13]

Notable former pupils

Headmistresses

(since the founding of the secondary school in 1884)[7]

Forms

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Watford academy tops GCSE rankings of non-selective state schools . Richard . Adams . 23 January 2014 . . 11 November 2017.
  2. News: All-girl schools top results league table. Graeme . Paton. Graeme Paton. 24 August 2007. Telegraph. 22 March 2008.
  3. Book: A Topographical Dictionary of England. Samuel Lewis . 1848. 7th. Watford (St. Mary). http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51382#s1. 486. 22 March 2008.
  4. Book: A History of the County of Hertford: volume 2. William Page . 1908. Watford: Introduction. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=43307. 446–451. 22 March 2008.
  5. Mrs. Fuller's Free School . W.R. Carter. Watford Endowed Schools Journal . 3 . 1894.
  6. Book: Watford Grammar Schools for Boys and Girls: A History of their Foundation and Development. W.G. Hughes . M. Sweeney . Mayflower Press . Watford . 1954.
  7. Book: Mrs Fuller's Free School: Three Hundred Years of the Watford Grammar Schools. Neil Hart . Atlantic Publishing . Rickmansworth . 2005.
  8. Hart (2005), pp. 79–80, 140.
  9. News: Education: In a league of their own - or selective on the sly? . Judith Judd . . 20 November 1997 . 30 April 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080220153230/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19971120/ai_n14140591 . 20 February 2008 . dead.
  10. Web site: Determination: Watford Grammar School for Girls . Elizabeth Passmore . Office of the Schools Adjudicator . 26 September 2008 . 8 October 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090324120155/http://www.schoolsadjudicator.gov.uk/upload/ADA%201295-1397%20WGS.doc . 24 March 2009 . dead . dmy-all.
  11. , Ofsted.
  12. News: Lateral thinking paves the way to GCSE success. Nicola Woolcock. The Times. 10 January 2008. 22 March 2008 . London.
  13. Web site: Why Thinking Skills? Why De Bono Thinking Tools? . Helen Hyde . July 2004 . Foundation & Aided Schools National Association Newsletter . 30 April 2008 . dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20070922235638/http://www.fasna.org.uk/default.php?page=new0407 . 22 September 2007 .
  14. Web site: 'It makes all the hard work worthwhile'. 2020-10-28. Watford Observer. en.
  15. News: Girl power comes of age . Joanna Moorhead. . 24 October 2007. 30 March 2008.
  16. News: Liz Kendall challenges Priti Patel to EU debate at their old school . Guardian . 1 May 2016 . James . Meikle .

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