Headmaster's Blog

08.05.13 Study leave As you make your way along the summit ridge of Mount Everest (so they tell me), each simple footstep is a vast exertion.  8800m above sea level, breath rasping in the thin air, exhausted from efforts that have brought you so close to the roof of the... read more
04.05.13 “The Free Scole” Medieval maps of Lancaster show LRGS as the city’s “Free Scole.” I am delighted that our education remains free today.  We also have some funds available to help with the costs for parents of sending their children... read more
21.04.13 Friends The Friends of LRGS are a group of parents who support the school through fundraising and social events. The Friends committee meets regularly to plan – new members are always welcome, and I promise that you will not be volunteered into taking on... read more
20.04.13 The best which has been thought and said Not many school inspectors end up as Professors of Poetry at Oxford.  One who did was Matthew Arnold (son of Thomas Arnold of Rugby, the most famous headmaster of them all). Matthew Arnold believed passionately that schools have a role in passing on... read more
24.03.13 Revision time The Easter holidays spell revision for students facing GCSE, AS and A2 exams.Each year group faces slightly different challenges: At GCSE, consistency is key. Don’t just work on the subjects you enjoy the most; turn over every stone in preparing every... read more
27.02.13 Return to the Forbidden Planet Prospero, Ariel, Miranda:  Sounds familiar? So now try:  Captain Tempest, Dr Prospero, Ariel the robot, Gloria.  In space.  Rock ‘n’ roll.  Washed down with Shakespearean puns. Tickets are selling fast for our... read more
24.02.13 Tutor proof? The curious phrase “tutor proof” has entered the language with recent media interest in possible changes to the 11+ in Kent and Buckinghamshire. The type of test that would favour a tutoring culture would involve obscure skills and esoteric... read more
24.01.13 A-levels - back to the future? There has been much discussion recently of government plans for curriculum change.  Here is a very short guide!  A-level:   The first change is the removal of January modules in 2014.  This year's January modules will be the last;... read more
13.01.13 Two hundred years from now ...? Pride and Prejudice was with the printers, and the tide of Europe had started to turn against Napoleon. The canals were new, and rail had not yet arrived.And on January 13th 1813, the first recorded meeting of the school’s old boys took place, with... read more
28.12.12 Working hard, aiming high! This is the story that I told our Sixth Formers in their last assembly of term. They were looking forward to a rest after the longest and most important term of the academic year - but also to A-level exams in the New Year (the final sitting of these January... read more
15.12.12 Close to Christmas Jennings’ fictional friend showed off his end of term calendar count-down: “It’s better than the ordinary sort,” Darbishire replied proudly.  “All the other chaps just have so many more days to the end of term, but mine... read more
08.12.12 Off to interview December is the start of interview season.  Many of our Upper Sixth have returned from Oxford, Cambridge, medical schools and elsewhere - while others are about to embark. They will already have heard key pieces of practical advice.  Arrive... read more
01.12.12 Brave new world! Will technology transform education, just as it has transformed music and publishing?A colleague showed me New York's “School of One” (www.schoolofone.org) which re-imagines education.  The aim is personalisation through technology.... read more
28.11.12 Sun shines on LRGS rugby Sometimes, they say - all you want is a rainbow, but all you get is the rain. But not today!  After plenty of recent rain, the sun is shining on LRGS rugby. Congratulations to the First XV on a superb victory over Woodhouse Grove in the... read more
24.11.12 Shoes shining, shirts tucked in The smartly scrubbed pupils of the school poured down the hill to the Ashton Hall for Speech Day this morning. Prizes were presented by Chief Constable Mike Barton, returning to his former school, who brought along his own LRGS Geography prize... read more
19.11.12 Top 100! You may have seen in the Sunday Times that LRGS has again appeared in the list of Britain’s Top 100 secondary schools, on the basis of our summer examination results at A-level (72.9% A* to B) and GCSE (67.8% A*and A). I am delighted that our... read more
18.11.12 Full Lune It was fantastic to see a packed ballroom at the Globe Arena for the Black Tie and Diamond Charity Ball celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Lune Scholarship.  Bidding was fast and furious for the charity auction! Many thanks to the LRGS Big Band... read more
14.11.12 Sixth Form welcome evening It was lovely to meet students and parents who were able to attend our welcome event for new Lower Sixth Formers in Old School House. I hope that many found it useful to meet our excellent team, including Stephen Hirst (Head of Sixth Form), Jamie... read more