Rugby High School for Girls

Rugby High School

Motto	'She Has Set Heights In Her Heart'
Established	1928
Type	Grammar School Academy
Location	Longrood Road Rugby Warwickshire CV22 7RE England
Local authority	Warwickshire County Council
DfE URN	125769 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Students	800
Gender	Girls
Ages	11–18
Houses	Ryder, Hepworth, Sharman and Glennie
Colours	Navy Blue
Website	www.rugbyhighschool.co.uk

Rugby High School for Girls (commonly known as Rugby High School) is a selective girls' grammar school situated in Bilton, Warwickshire, England. To attend this school, all students must have scored highly in the Eleven plus exam.

Admissions

To be accepted into the school, pupils must currently take the Eleven plus exam. Candidates who live in Rugby must come in the top 120 girls and candidates who live in the wider catchment area (10 miles from the rugby water tower) must come within the top 60.

It caters purely for female students aged 11 to 16, and joins with Lawrence Sheriff School, a selective boys' grammar school, to teach those aged between 16 and 18. 6th Formers studying at Lawrence Sheriff School attend lessons at Rugby High when their subject is not catered for on the Lawrence Sheriff site and vice versa.

In the 11-16 age range, the school has a four-form intake. Each year group numbers roughly 120 girls. At post 16, pupils from many other schools join the current pupils at Rugby High School to create a year group that is around double the size of 11-16 year groups.

History

The school was opened on 10 February 1928 by Katharine Stewart-Murray, Duchess of Atholl. There were eight class rooms, two music rooms, a laboratory and science room, and a kitchen for teaching domestic science. It could accommodate 196 girls. The headmistress was Miss Nonita Glenday.

Traditions

The school introduced a house system during the academic year 2000-2001. The houses are named after Sue Ryder, a charitable woman, Barbara Hepworth, a modern artist and Helen Sharman, the first Briton to enter space - the initials of which stand for RHS (Rugby High School), the shorter name for the school, commonly spoken by students. From September 2013 a fourth house was introduced named after Evelyn Glennie, an inspirational woman who was voted for by students. The initial of 'G' stands for the 'Girls' in 'Rugby High School for Girls'. The houses are assigned to whole form groups, and they can gain house points by taking part in various school events, such as the annual Sports Day, interform sports, or Pink Day (in support of Cancer Research UK). The system is not very different from the interform system previously in place, with girls in the same form all being placed within the same house. However, the house system has created a link between different year groups and has encouraged wider participation in school events other than the interform.

The House colours are yellow for Ryder, red for Hepworth, green for Sharman and purple for Glennie. Each form is given the initial of their house, to come before the initial of their form tutor, e.g. 8R, is a Year 8 form, in Ryder House. The school also has a 6th Form Entertainment, produced by the year 13 students - sometimes with assistance from the staff - at the end of the Autumn term. This tradition was suspended for several years after a script was deemed to be offensive to members of the staff. It was resurrected in The academic year 2004-2005, with greater involvement and participation from the staff. The new format the entertainment took was of a variety show, with music and dancing displays, followed by a panto-like skit. The skit is often based around a famous story or event, but with students playing the roles of teachers. Previous years included Cinderella (1999), Big Brother (2000), The Wizard of Oz (2001) and The Sound of Music (2005). Each Christmas, there is also a Decorated Classrooms competition, where students take a theme and decorate their classrooms, often acting out performances while being judged.

The original houses, in use at least up to 1979, were named after Katharine Stewart-Murray Duchess of Atholl, Charlotte Brontë/Emily Brontë/Anne Brontë, Edith Cavell, Marie Curie, Florence Nightingale and Queen Margaret . These were all named after strong women. Each form had some members of each house. There were inter-house sports competitions and a music competition. House points were awarded for consistently good work in a particular subject - three A's in a row as well as mentions on a termly sheet. These could be negative (unsatisfactory) as well as several grades of positive. The points were totalled and a shield awarded.

The entertainment mentioned above was a tradition that was alive in 1958-1965 and probably many years before and after that time too.

Uniform

The school uniform was changed in September 2011. The previous uniform was, for years 7-9, a pale blue polo shirt with a navy blue sweatshirt and navy blue trousers/skirt, for years 10-11 a white or pale blue shirt with a navy blue V-Neck jumper and navy blue trousers/skirt and for Sixth form, office dress.

The new uniform consists of a navy blue blazer with navy blue trousers/skirt and navy blue V-neck jumper or tank top. Years 7-9 should wear a pale blue shirt and years 10-11 should wear a white shirt with blue stripes.

From September 2013, there will be a new sixth form uniform. Students should wear matching trousers/skirt with a matching jacket in a suit style with any smart shirt of their choice.

School Anthem

Every year at Rugby High School the students must attend what is known as Foundation Day, a day to celebrate the school and students achievements at which GCSE certificates, A Level certificates and other general awards are given out. Every year at foundation day, the schools' anthem as well as Jerusalem is sung.

Notable former pupils

Main category: People educated at Rugby High School for Girls

Laura Bettinson - Popstar

External links

• Rugby High School website
• EduBase