Stockport Grammar School has a long and distinguished history. One of the oldest independent schools in the country, it was founded by Sir Edmond Shaa in 1487. From the then rural and remote North-West of England, Shaa enjoyed a dazzling rise to national influence as the Court Jeweller to three kings of England, Prime Warden of The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths and Lord Mayor of London.

Generations of local boys and girls have benefited from his legacy. Through five centuries, the town of Stockport has undergone dramatic change but its Grammar School has remained prominent in the life of the community and the surrounding area.

Shaa’s foundation has developed to become one of the largest independent co-educational schools in the country with an enviable academic record and characterised by an extensive programme of activities in the arts, sport and wider community.

Its alumni are prominent in the leading professions, locally, nationally and internationally. Through the bursary scheme the Governors seek to ensure that the opportunities the School provides remain available to talented girls and boys from all sections of the local community, regardless of their family means. The principal work of schools is in equipping young people for the future. In planning for its further development Stockport Grammar School cherishes its heritage and retains close links with The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths in the City of London. 2016 saw the centenary of the re-foundation of the School on the Hallam Site. 

Born to parents from Dukinfield, then a hamlet in the parish of St Mary, Stockport, Sir Edmond was apprenticed in 1450 to Robert Botiller, a goldsmith in London.

In 1462, under the reign of King Edward IV, he received the life grant of the office of Engraver to the Tower Mint and all other mints in England and Calais. He was a Warden of the Goldsmiths’ Company, later becoming Prime Warden in 1476.

In addition to his Goldsmiths’ responsibilities, Shaa served as an Alderman and in 1474 he held the office of Sheriff of London and Middlesex. He became the 200th Mayor of London in 1482-83. Shaa lived in interesting times, his term as Mayor coincided with the death of King Edward IV on 9th April 1483, and the crowning of King Richard III, a time which proves even today to be a controversial period of English history.

Sir Edmond Shaa’s will endowed the school with funds to maintain a priest who would chant masses for his soul and teach grammar. His appointment of the Goldsmiths’ Company as the administrators of his bequest established the school’s historic and continuing link with one of the Twelve Great Livery Companies of London.

The first recorded Master was John Randall, when he was appointed is not known, but he is listed in the rent roll of 1496 showing a payment of £10 to him as Priest and Schoolmaster at Stockport. The trend of the era was to teach from within a church and it is thought that the school’s first home was in St. Mary’s Parish Church, Stockport.

Chestergate

In 1608, the school gained a new home in Chestergate. Located on the then outskirts of the town near Adlington Square, the area was popular with country nobles and most of the pupils were sons of the gentry. The school remained at this location for over 200 years, while the surrounding area became increasingly industrialised. This, coupled with the building of a bear pit (today’s entertainment equivalent of a football stadium) opposite, prompted the need to seek out a more appropriate location and in 1830 construction of a new building began at Greek Street. An extract from a letter by 13-year-old pupil James Moorhouse to his grandfather in 1817 gives a flavour of the education offered at the time (opposite).

Greek Street

The Goldsmiths’ surveyor, Philip Hardwick, was appointed as the architect for the new school at Greek Street. Constructed in the Tudor Gothic style, the building opened on the 30th April 1832 with 110 pupils. The curriculum continued to evolve as expectations of education changed and 1902 saw the addition of the first science laboratory and the introduction of four hours of science per week. By 1910, the school had started to outgrow the Greek Street site and the surrounding area had become noisy due to traffic from the electric tram. Once again the search began for a new location.

The Move to the Hallam Site

The site chosen was the Bramhall Lodge Estate at Mile End, owned by Mr Alfred Bell, a member of a well-known local brewing family. The foundation stone was laid on the 4th April 1914 by Chairman of Governors Walter Bright Hodgkinson, with the work completed in little over twenty months, on schedule and on budget; an impressive achievement given the difficulties posed by World War I. The move to Buxton Road took place during the Christmas holiday 1915, with a formal opening ceremony on Saturday 29th January 1916 by Colonel George Dixon, Chairman of Cheshire County Council. A guard of honour was formed by the school detachment of the Stockport Battalion of the Cheshire Volunteer Regiment. The new buildings were designed for 250 pupils with ten classrooms grouped in a two-storey block on one side of a quadrangle; on another was the hall, named after one of the main benefactors of the build, the Ephraim Hallam Trust.

SGS in War Time

World War I brought about considerable change to the running and atmosphere of the school. With the absence of many men serving in the Forces, a number of lady teachers were to join the staff for the first time. In keeping with the times, however, the ladies were strictly segregated and used the rooms on each side of the front door. In the brief period of peace following the end of World War I, the school’s first Sixth Form cohort began their studies in three full subjects for the new Higher School Certificate; Pure Mathematics, Applied Mathematics and Physics.

With the outbreak of World War II, other changes to the school and the everyday life of its pupils were unavoidable. Electric lighting was installed in the cellars which soon served as air-raid shelters and it became a necessity for everyone to carry a gas mask at all times. Despite bombing in the surrounding area, the school miraculously escaped harm. Evacuees from inner city schools took the school roll to over 400. Stockport Grammar also played host to a flock of sheep whose services were enlisted on the front field to keep the grass in check in times of rationing instead of a motor mower. The field’s visitors probably did not matter too much to the pupils as games had already been suspended due to the telegraph poles and other obstacles laid and dug into the fields to thwart landings by German gliders and paratroopers.

One hundred and sixty Old Stopfordians had volunteered to fight in the First World War before conscription was introduced and many more joined the Forces after. The 52 who died in the First World War and the further 60 who by the end of the Second World War had lost their lives in combat are recorded on the school’s War Memorial in Hallam Hall, along with Flying Officer Charles Hyde, RAFVR the only member of staff killed during the wars. Sadly, over time, further names have been added to the wall as a result of subsequent conflicts.

Stockport’s influence on SGS education

By the nineteenth century, Stockport was primarily industrial and, according to Friedrich Engels in The Condition of the Working Class in England (1845), was ‘renowned throughout the entire district as one of the duskiest, smokiest holes’ with a large number of cellar dwellings and one of the highest death rates in the country. Stockport relied heavily on the textiles and hatting industries which created pressure on schools to focus on a commercial rather than a classical education. Over time the school adapted according to its surroundings, with the introduction of modern languages alongside the study of classics.

Stockport Grammar Junior School

The 8th June 1944 welcomed the addition of the Junior School in a converted house in Davenport Park. The buoyancy of numbers in the new venture by 1949 prompted the Governors to officially set up a Preparatory Department, so that boys could join the school at the age of 5. The Junior School expanded in 1975 with the construction of a new building which was extended further throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

Convent House and Co-education

1980 brought a dramatic landscape change with the news that the adjacent Convent School was to close. Seeing the opportunity to expand the facilities available to pupils and to move to co-education, the Governors made the decision to purchase the site. In September, 83 boys and 66 girls entered the school at age 11; 25 girls joined the Junior School and 22 into the Sixth Form. The novelty of girls on the premises was duly reported in the local press at the beginning of term but the hype was soon forgotten and the girls settled in quickly.

Development over the years

The school has continued to grow and prosper with a school roll in 2016 of over 1400 pupils from the ages of 3 to 18. The buildings and grounds at the Hallam site have seen almost continuous transformation and addition to provide first class facilities to support the school’s commitment to the provision of an outstanding education.

The school’s 525th anniversary was marked by the opening of the new Woodsmoor Building, providing 22 new classrooms.

Since the centenary of Stockport Grammar School's move to the Hallam site further investment has been made to develop a new Sixth Form Centre and Early Years Centre. The school continues to maintain its commitment to excellence which has served its pupils and the town of Stockport so well since its foundation.