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On Saturday 25th February the first event in our anniversary year was held in the parish church, High Wycombe.

After a welcome by the Headmaster, Mr Page, the audience of parents, governors, alumni and teachers, past and present listened to a sermon by former chaplain Peter Toller and a selection of readings.  (The text below was delivered by the deputy head Boy, Kurun Kumar) The RGS choir performed two pieces. 

 On our 450th anniversary, whilst we celebrate the school we are today, and the school we hope to become in future years, we should also cast our minds back in reflection. Cast our minds back to our first recollections of the School that housed us for so many of our early years.

First days, first blazers, first lessons in Latin. These are our memories that, without the RGS, would not exist in quite the same way.

Our own personal memories combine with the memories of those that have gone before us to create the long history of our School. A history that has been created by the continued deposit of generation after generation's actions and recollections. Without doubt, the RGS has an exceptional history.

From our humble beginnings in the old Hospital of St John down on Easton Street, to the grand red brick building that greets our pupils now we are fortunate to have a vibrant community at the RGS, with our successes and struggles well documented throughout our 450 years.

 

The RGS can trace its roots back to the thirteenth century, which is a remarkable achievement that few schools can boast. This was when the Hospital of St John was founded by an unknown benefactor who unwittingly founded the School we know and love today.

As Wycombe grew, so did the demand for a good school for its local inhabitants. So in 1551 the local authorities founded a small school in the grounds of the hospital, whose lands had been given to the Mayor for the princely sum of £30 only two years before, with the stipulation that a school be built there.

For the next ten years, this small school ticked by, with no large endowment to really ensure its academic future.

Then, seemingly from nowhere, came the news that the local authorities had written to Queen Elizabeth I, asking for a stipend to run the school. Her Majesty responded on 18 July, sending a letter to the Mayor and burgesses of Wycombe which they received 3 days later. The contents of this missive were to change the course of the school forever, for this communication contained the Royal Charter.

This document held the potential for four "poor persons" to be maintained on site as well as a grammar school to be established. This allowed the school to effectively take on its first set of 'boarders'.

James the first was more generous in this case, when he rewrote the charter of liberties for Wycombe Town in 1609. His redraft allowed "unlimited" poor persons into the almshouses owned by the School.

From this point forward, the RGS began to grow in size and name. An inspection in 1908 deemed that the School (still on Easton Street, but in a newer Victorian building) was too small. The search for suitable sites began.

The school you are all familiar with now has stood upon its Amersham Road site for nearly 100 years, with one thousand more pupils now than it originally had in 1915. In the last century, the buildings have gently increased in size and varied in functionality, to suit the changing styles of teaching and learning that we have evolved, as the school itself has evolved during its history.

The ethos our school has maintained throughout its history is that we will teach all those bright young boys that come to us, regardless of financial circumstance.

The Royal Grammar School High Wycombe exists solely to develop and nurture a love of learning in its pupils and the High Wycombe community by offering an exceptional education that fully prepares all for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. Our methods may have altered slightly from those used historically, but we're not so different in our aims today than those we subscribed to 450 years ago.