Colchester Royal Grammar School (CRGS) is a proud leader amongst the nation’s highly regarded maintained grammar schools. An 11-18 boys’ school with girls in the Sixth Form and a small boarding section, the school is committed to excellence in all it does. CRGS has a history of scholarship dating back to the award of its first Royal Charter by Henry VIII in 1539, and was granted a second Royal Charter by Elizabeth I in 1584. The school is situated in a pleasant, residential area of Colchester, Essex and has buildings of character and delightful, mature gardens. The school’s environment and ethos reinforce its commitment to blending traditional values with a forward-looking approach.

The School’s first ever 24 Hour Music Playathon turned out to be an inspiring event, with students from Year Seven to 6^th form participating with energy and enthusiasm from  the 9.30 am Countdown on Saturday to the Sunday morning Jazz Barbeque Breakfast.

The Playathon begun with pipes playing a Welcome to the Chieftain as the Headmaster set the official stopwatch running.  Choir members were ready with their parents and friends to join in with the Come and Sing event under Mr Olive’s direction – and the music didn’t stop until the final Cmin7 chord came crashing down on the piano 24 hours later in the Jazz Group’s rousing finale.

Solo perfomers signed up to play in slots between the organised group events and the evening was taken up with the open-mic mini festival, run by 6^th form student Dan South, featuring  the school’s wealth of acoustic and rock performers.

Other highlights included a fun Orchestra Session, in which school instrumentalists and their families joined in a rehearsal and performance of English tunes; and an African Drumming session which set the rafters ringing.

In this busy term, where Shakespeare is competing with Rugby 7s and football for the students’ attention and where the Spring Concert and Charter Hall Schools’ Prom have to play second fiddle to external modules and internal mocks, I write to provide website visitors with some information on recent developments at the school.

This is the time of year we review and revise some school policies. You will be aware of the Code of Conduct, our school behaviour policy, which underlines our commitment to high standards of behaviour and appearance. It is worth emphasising that incidents outside the jurisdiction of the school, which have an impact on life at the school, can be subject to school sanctions. I am thinking in particular of ‘cyber bullying’ or abusive text messages, which might have slipped through the net in the original Code. The school has a zero tolerance policy on bullying and we will act strongly to preserve an ethos of respect and consideration for others at CRGS. The anti-bullying policy is effective, and we deal severely with anyone guilty of intimidatory or bullying behaviour.

In considering the impact of other policies at the moment, I can thankfully report no racist incidents or examples of discrimination. It is important to the ethos at CRGS that we remain a school where all have equality of opportunity and all individuals, irrespective of ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or disability are treated with respect and consideration. As a traditional school with a mix of cultures, an international boarding section and a co-educational sixth form, CRGS is a vibrant learning community, where the positive supportive atmosphere is crucial to the happiness and success of our students. Our emphasis is on the individual, and it is pleasing to note that the examination results show that all groups do well. We have recently produced a ‘community cohesion’ policy, which not only sums up our unswerving commitment to our school community but also stresses our desire to be a positive influence in the wider community. I know through the charity work, service and outreach work that our students share this commitment to others.

After many months of hard graft in the ICT office, the all new crgs website is alive and kicking. New features include a much better menu system, some great new gallery and multimedia features, brand new department pages, and content control via a content management system to name but a few. We are still in the process of tweaking and perfecting so you may notice some new additions and minor changes yet, but overall I've heard some really positive feedback.