Ramsey Grammar School opened on the present site in 1946, the first fully comprehensive school in The British Isles. Next year we celebrate 70 years of “Excellence for All” on Lezayre Road. The buildings provide a pleasant spacious school, well equipped and appointed. It is located on the outskirts of Ramsey, a picturesque, seaside town with a working harbour and a population of around 6,000. The school is well situated in a tranquil setting, having some of the most breath-taking views from the majority of classrooms and the extensive fields. It is not quite so tranquil in TT week since it is on the actual race course!
We moved into a stunning new £6.5 million building in September 2007. The new buildings house Special Needs, Design and Technology, a vast open-plan Art studio, Drama studios, Economics, Business, Politics, Rural and Agricultural Science and a state-ofthe- art teaching piggery, a Sixth Form Centre including a 122 seat Lecture Theatre, and a suite of new English rooms. This building, the South building, complements the existing excellent facilities: a modern Sports Hall re-roofed and significantly modernised and a magnificent Science Block. An all-weather floodlit ‘Astroturf’ pitch was completely resurfaced in 2011. Every classroom is networked for voice and data communication. The server and fibre optic infrastructure gives every student and teacher his or her own folder accessible from anywhere in the school and controlled internet access and email from every computer. Most classrooms are equipped with an electronic Smartboard with sound.
The Isle of Man does not have specialist schools, league tables, SATs or Ofsted, nor do we embrace any of the Academy or Specialist School initiatives current in England. We have our own Manx National Curriculum. Ours is a fully inclusive school with, presently, 962 students on roll including a Sixth Form of 184 and extensive facilities (The Flexible Learning Area) for SEBD, MLD, SLD and PMLD students and those requiring Nurture provision. We have a high staying on rate reflecting the able nature of our intake. Well-equipped classrooms, talented and experienced staff with a clear direction and students who are hardworking, keen and wanting to please makes Ramsey Grammar School a very rewarding place to teach.
Examination results are not published on the Isle of Man. However, RGS can justifiably claim good and improving GCSE results and A level results that are consistently excellent in many subjects. The vast majority of Sixth Form students progress to Higher Education. Ramsey Grammar School is a happy school with relationships between students and staff characterised by mutual support and respect.
