Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School

Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School (BRGS) is a selective co-educational academy grammar school in Waterfoot, Rossendale, Lancashire, England.  The school is named after the two main towns either side of Waterfoot, Bacup and Rawtenstall. 

History
The school was founded in the 18th century as Newchurch Grammar School, opening in 1703 on land bequeathed by John Kershaw.  The foundation stones for the current site were laid by the Mayors of Bacup and Rawtenstall on 1 July 1911.  The school opened in 1913. 

The current headmaster is Alan Porteous, who replaced the former headmaster, Marc Morris, in 2012.  Morris joined the school in April 2005, to replace the retiring Martyn Morris (no relation), and moved to Hong Kong in July 2011, where he took the position of headteacher at Sha Tin College.  Martyn Morris had retired after seventeen years in charge in December 2004. 

Admissions

The school is attended by approximately 1,300 students, split between the lower school (Years 7 to 11), which has 180 pupils per year (in six form groups of thirty pupils each), and the sixth form (Years 12 and 13) with approximately 200 pupils per year in several tutor groups. 

Its status as a selective entry state school for years seven to eleven (aged 11 to 16) means that the school is vastly oversubscribed, with many children competing for each place by taking an entrance examination while in their final year of primary school.  The admission process not only accounts for results of the examination but proximity to the school.  Entry to the sixth form does not require an examination, but is conditional on the student having gained at least two grade 5 and two grade 6 GCSEs, and at least grade 4 in Maths and English Language. 

Academic performance
The school ranks highly in British School league tables.  In September 2013 it was rated as a 5 star school by Trinity Mirror.  The majority of students continue on to further education, and the school has a long history of sending students to the Russell Group and Oxbridge Universities. 

In 2015, BRGS was academically ranked in the top 10 in the country for English Baccalaureate performance. 

Notable former pupils

 Tommy Bell, Rugby Union player, Sale Sharks, London Wasps and England national under-18 rugby union team
 Kristan Bromley, skeleton racer
 Natalie Casey, actress
 Agyness Deyn, model and actress
 Ben Hanley, racing driver
 Miles Higson, actor
 Betty Jackson, fashion designer, who designed the Autograph collection at Marks & Spencer
 Sophie Lancaster, murder victim
 Phil Lester, BBC Radio 1 presenter and YouTube personality, Co-author of the New York Times Best-seller The Amazing Book is Not on Fire 
 Jessica Leyden, rower
 Sam Minihan, footballer
 Carlo Nash, footballer
 Rt Revd Jack Nicholls, Bishop of Sheffield from 1997 to 2008 and Bishop of Lancaster from 1990-7
 Winston Place (1914–2002), cricketer
 Sir Paul Stephenson, Metropolitan Police Commissioner 2008–11
 Ernest Tomlinson, light music composer

Former teachers
 Trevor Park (1927–95), former MP for South East Derbyshire
 Paul Patrick (1950–2008), LGBT rights activist

References

External links
 Bacup & Rawtenstall Grammar School website
 BRGS Student Wiki
 EduBase

Category:Educational institutions established in the 1700s
Category:1701 establishments in England
Category:Schools in the Borough of Rossendale
Category:Grammar schools in Lancashire
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Category:Academies in Lancashire