Royal Grammar School Worcester

Boarding pupils would reside in Whiteladies House, a building that is rumoured to contain hidden treasure from Charles I from when he sought refuge there during the Civil War.

It was located outside the monastic precincts (as with the King's School, Canterbury) and catered for the relatives of monks and children intending to go into the monastery.

The first written reference to the school appears in 1265 when the Bishop of Worcester, Walter de Cantilupe, sent four chaplains into the city to teach.

[9] Conclusive evidence appears in 1291 when an argument was settled by Bishop Godfrey Giffard regarding who owned the wax from the candles used at the feast of St Swithun.

He was appointed personally by the Bishop of Worcester, Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Chancellor Walter Reynolds.

The school continued to exist under the control of the city guilds through the centuries with various records of headmasters being appointed, again listed in the registers of the bishops of Worcester.

One in particular was 'Sir Richard (Chaplain)', who was dismissed by the bishop of Worcester, Philip Morgan, in 1422 for taking money from the scholars for his own use.

Sir Richard Pennington was appointed in 1485 and is known to have given money to the Archbishop of Canterbury's fund,[citation needed] showing the strong connection of the school with the church.

Amongst famous Six masters are John Wall, Earl Beauchamp, Charles William Dyson Perrins and Anthony Lechemere.

In 1909 the house system was changed to reflect the increasing number of boys in the school, and the difficulty of allocating pupils on the basis of where they lived.

The six houses created in 1909 were: School House, for boarders, (which, due to common usage, changed to Whiteladies, as this was the building in which the boarders lived); Temple (after Henry Temple, headmaster 1850s); Tudor (after Elizabeth I); Woolfe (after Richard Woolfe, benefactor 1877 ); Wylde (after Thomas Wylde, benefactor 1558); and Yewle (after Robert Yewle, Six Master 1561).

It is approximately three miles (4.8 km) north of the senior school, and is situated on a 50 acres (20 ha) site.

The school was founded in 1996, when RGS Worcester purchased a traditional English farmhouse in Claines named “The Grange”.

The Grange has wide-ranging sporting facilities, set in 50 acres (200,000 m2) of maintained pitches and playing fields.

The school has four houses: Cash (green), Perowne (yellow), Cornwall (red), and Goodrich (blue).

RGS Springfield is located in a large Georgian house surrounded by six acres of gardens and playing fields.

Year five pupils taking the exam are expected to be playing two or more instruments and have achieved grade three in at least one of grades RGS Dodderhill (Royal Grammar School Dodderhill) is located in the town of Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire, approximately six miles outside of Worcester.

RGS Dodderhill has a large indoor sports hall, outdoor netball and tennis courts, as well as purpose built drama and music studios.

Many of the current buildings were paid for Charles William Dyson Perrins, who was an Old Boy and a member of the school's governing body.

St. Oswald's, the school's second playing field, is located further down the canal and is mainly used for athletics, football and rounders.

[6] To commemorate the millennium a stained glass window was commissioned and installed over the main entrance to the Clock Block.

[citation needed] The science buildings were built in 1922 and opened by the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth).

[17] Its name derives from the white habit that is worn by Cistercian nuns, who were based at a Nunnery, which was adjacent to Whiteladies.

[citation needed] Famous Old Boys of the school or Worcester Old Elizabethans (more complete list here), include (in alphabetical order) Teachers who have served 25 years at the school are celebrated on the name board, installed during the 1980s, in the Philip Sawyer Library.

Front of the Clock Block.
Long walk with the science block in the distance. The small school crest in the foreground features the three Black Pears.
The school's library, with the old roof structure visible