Ermysted's Grammar School

Life at EGS

[School House] Ermysted's is an all-boys grammar school with just over 650 students. Due to additional facilities the capacity of the school has increased and since September 2003 the intake has moved from a three to a four-form entry.

The school is divided into four houses, Ermysted, Toller, Hartley and Petyt, and each boy is allocated to a house on starting school. Entry into Ermysted's is based on local-area selection tests taken at age 11, though there are sometimes vacancies in other years.

The school day at Ermysted's starts at 8:45am and finishes at 3:45pm, during which time there are eight periods of 35/40 minutes each. (Forty periods a week). Most GCSE and sixth from lessons are taught in double lessons.

Each morning there are school assemblies, requiring by law a religious element, and/or there are year group assemblies, sometimes involving class presentations.

The first two periods of the day are followed by a fifteen-minute break. There are then two periods before lunch from 11:55 to 12:55. In the afternoon there are two periods, an afternoon break and two further periods before the end of school.

Sixth Form students have around thirty periods each week, with the remaining time reserved for private study though with the advent of AS in Year 12, this 'free time' has become increasing less. Sixth formers have their own common room which they manage themselves. It has TV and video, vending machines and two pool tables.

Physical Education and team games occupy a high profile and a full range of sporting and cultural activities are available to our boys with many members of staff volunteering their time and expertise to foster the extra-curricular life of the School.

[The Quad]The School has an enviable record in inter-school competition. During the autumn term inter-school rugby matches are played on most Saturdays during the Autumn Term and in the summer cricket matches are arranged in the afternoons. Football has been introduced in the winter term, mainly to support coursework for those who are studying PE at either GCSE or Advanced Level. Cross-Country running is a very popular and successful sport, with the team enjoying success out of all proportion to the relatively small size of the school. The school boasts many county runners and several England Internationals. In the summer there are also various athletics matches at which our teams compete.

There are swimming competitions, a school basketball team and also opportunities to play badminton and tennis. In the summer there is a rigorously contested Tennis championship. In most sports there are inter-house competitions.

Music is also an important feature in the school calendar, with concerts each term involving the choir, big band, junior wind band, and a flute ensemble.

The Dramatic Society in conjunction with girls from Skipton Girls' High School has staged many successful productions, the latest being 'South Pacific'. All musicals feature musicians from the two schools. Numerous students go on to study drama, music and music technology at university and drama schools.

The relationship between the School and its parent body is excellent. The Parents' Association exists to support the School in its many different functions and it organises a full and varied programme of activities throughout the year. The fund raising - over the last twelve months, in the region of £16,000 has been donated to the School - so successfully undertaken by the Parents' Association allows it to purchase additional equipment for the School.