1. History

2. Present day

3. List of headmasters

4. Notable Old Penistonians

5. References

6. External links

Penistone Grammar School is a co-educational secondary school and former grammar school in Penistone, in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England. Founded in 1392, it is the 43rd oldest extant school in England with its most notable alumnus being Nicholas Saunderson, the probable inventor of Bayes theorem, in the 18th century.^[1] The school has undergone many expansions, requiring the erection of several buildings, and now houses nearly 1,600 pupils from age 11 to 18. Its current OFSTED overall rating is grade 2 ('good') following an Ofsted inspection in October 2013.

History

The school was founded as the Free Grammar School of Penistone in 1392, when it is recorded that a gift of land was made by John Clarel, Lord of the Manor at Penistone, for the purpose of a school. Later, the school was situated in the town centre on a site opposite St. John the Baptist Church and across the road from the old Cloth Hall. In 1443 the Free Grammar School of Penistone received further bequests and in 1547, after the dissolution of the chantries, the school continued as the free school for the children of Penistone. Following further endowments, the school was rebuilt in 1702 and enjoyed a considerable period of academic renown under a series of very able Masters. In 1892 the school withdrew from its town centre site to a position about half a mile north-west of the town centre. Around this time the school took fee-paying boarders, had a strong reputation for mathematics and science, and a tradition of sending students to the University of Cambridge. The school remains on this site.

The school was originally an all-boys grammar school, with girls being admitted for the first time in 1907. In the late 20th century the school ceased to be a grammar school, becoming one of the first neighbourhood comprehensive schools in the country. It became fully comprehensive in 1969, with partial selection (for more distant pupils) for a few years prior to that. The comprehensive school initially retained its Grammar school name and traditions such as the house system and speech night. These traditions were gradually scaled back, with uniform downgraded from blazers to sweaters during the 1990s. In 2011, the school restored its traditional house system and uniform, and entirely demolished and rebuilt its buildings in a modern style.

The school motto was traditionally "Disce Aut Discede" ("Learn or leave"), its school colours were traditionally red and black, and it used the coat of arms of the founder, John Clarel, which show six martlets. The school was rebranded in the 21st century, changing the logo. The motto was first changed to "Learning and Achieving Together" and again to "Never Stop Flying."

The school's history is now described in a walkway to the new building, with each road named after points in the school's history.

Present day

In September 2003 the school obtained specialist status to become a Business and Enterprise College. The school has also received an Artsmark Silver award^[2] and has recently been re-certified as an investor in people.

The new £35 million state of the art school building opened on 2 May 2011, with a complete demolition of the old ones except for Fulford and Weirfield blocks. Fulford was ultimately demolished in early 2014 after much protest from past students and locals.

The sixth form at Penistone currently has around 250 students in attendance. Penistone Grammar School is the only maintained school in the Local Education Authority of Barnsley to have a sixth form.

After taking over from headteacher of 5 years Glynis Gower in 2007, Joanne Higgins stood down in November 2017 with Paul Crook taking her place as principal.

List of headmasters

Notable Old Penistonians

• Prof Nicholas Saunderson (1682–1739) - Mathematician and Lucasian Professor at Cambridge University from 1711 to 1739^[5]
• Noel Moore (1928–2008) - Civil Servant who oversaw the decimalisation project
• Prof Alan Mercer (1931–2014) - Professor of Operations Research, founding member of Lancaster University's Department of Management Science^[6]
• Heather Armitage (1933–) - British gold medal sprinter^[7]
• Prof David Hey (1938–2016) - Historian^[8]
• Prof Jean Bacon (1942–) - Professor of Computer Science at the University of Cambridge^[9]
• Paul Copley (1944–) - Actor and voice-over artist
• Katherine Brunt (1985–) - England Women's Cricketer^[10]
• Marc Roberts (1990–) - Professional Footballer^[11]
• John Stones (1994–) - Professional Footballer^[12]

References

External links

• PGS Archive
• History of PGS
• PGS performance at BBC News
• pgsonline
• OFSTED report
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