Wolverhampton Grammar School

Infobox UK school
name = Wolverhampton Grammar School


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established = 1512
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type = Independent selective school
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head = Mr Vincent Darby
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founder = Sir Stephen Jenyns
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street = Compton Road
city = Wolverhampton
county = West Midlands
country = England
postcode = WV3 9RB
LEA = Wolverhampton
staff =
enrollment = 670
gender = Co-educational
lower_age = 10
upper_age = 18
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website = http://www.wolverhamptongrammarschool.com/Homepage.asp
website_name = wolverhamptongrammarschool.com

Wolverhampton Grammar School is a selective independent school located in the city of Wolverhampton. It is a fee paying mixed sex day school which was founded in 1512 by Sir Stephen Jenyns, a master of the ancient guild of Merchant Taylors, who was also Lord Mayor of London in the year of Henry VIII's coronation. Jenyns was born in the city of Wolverhampton circa 1448. In the year 1519 he was one of the wealthiest men in the country and is reported to have paid more tax than any other person in that year.Fact|date=February 2007In 1875, the School moved to its present site on the Compton Road from its previous site on John Street in the centre of Wolverhampton. This move was overseen by the Chairman of Governors, Sir Rupert Kettle. In 1984, the school admitted girls to the sixth form and in other embraces of modernity was the largest single user of assisted places funds, with over 40% of pupils in the 1980s and early 1990s reliant upon assisted places funding. In 1992, the school became fully co-educational, a move seen as somewhat controversial at the time. The current headmaster, Vincent Darby joined WGS in August 2008, replacing Dr Bernard Trafford.

Recently the school has undergone development to improve facilities available to pupils. This included construction of a rock climbing wall, which replaced an Eton Fives court behind the sports centre. A new large extension to the music block was also completed in 2005, and officially opened by Robert Plant. In December 2007, a new block for the arts was opened on Merridale Lane, beyond Moreton's Piece, with a production of As You Like It and an exhibition by artist in residence, Derek Jones. It houses a number of art classrooms on two storeys, and a 150-200 seat studio theatre (The Hutton Theatre, named after the late headmaster Patrick Hutton), a versatile performance space with extensive technical facilities.

Notable alumni (Old Wulfrunians)

* John Abernethy, F.R.C.S. English surgeon - founder of the school of medicine at St Bartholomew's Hospital
* Thomas Attwood - founder of the Birmingham Political Union and National Political Union (1829) in 1829, which pushed for democratic reform, feted as a hero after the Great Reform Act of 1832, later an MP for Birmingham.
* Sir Arthur Benson 1907-1987, Chief Secretary to Central African Council, Governor of North Rhodesia 1954 - 1959
* Robert William Felkin, 1853-1926, LRCS (Edinburgh), MD (Marburg), FRSE, FRGS, medical missionary, ceremonial magician and member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, author on Uganda and Central Africa, early anthropologist.
* Mervyn Allister King - Current Governor of the Bank of England and Chairman of the Monetary Policy Committee.
* Sir David Wright, a British diplomat, ambassador to Japan 1996-1999.
* Sir Norman Craven Brook, 1st Lord Normanbrook of Chelsea 1902-1967, Head of the British Civil Service in the late 1950s and 1960s. Described by the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography as "the great technician of cabinet government in the mid twentieth century", also Chairman of the BBC Board of Governors 1963-1967.
* Augustus Edward Hough Love, Mathematician. Developer of the theory of Love Waves.
* Jacqui Oatley, first female football commentator on Match of the Day.
* Richard Logan (cricketer)

References

* Gerald Poynton Mander, "The History of the Wolverhampton Grammar School" (Wolverhampton: Steens, 1913)

External links

* [http://www.wolverhamptongrammarschool.com/Homepage.asp WGS Official Site]
* [http://www.wolverhamptongrammarschool.com/pages/ow/default.aspx Old Wulfrunians Homepage]