The Bulletin 270 by Royal Grammar School Guildford

FROM THE HEADMASTER

Just over 100 years ago, when Arthur John Bradford Green became Headmaster in 1919, the average length of time a student remained at school was just four years. Most RGS students left at 16 and it proved hard to persuade families of the value of staying on and continuing in education. Students left school to take up jobs as surveyors and accountants, engineers and technicians, bank clerks and insurance clerks, civil servants and servicemen. According to Nigel Watson in the School History, in 1932-33, only five leavers went on to university and two to polytechnics; 16 entered engineering, 18 went into public service or commerce, five took up agriculture, and one – inspired by an RGS education – went into teaching!

For many able students, university remained a distant dream unless they came from affluent families. Green himself, while regretting the limited number of university places being achieved in the early 1920s, recognised that there were families who simply could not afford the annual cost of £200 a year to study at Oxford and Cambridge, or the £100 a year to study at London. One shudders to think what he would have made of modern-day university tuition fees!

Fast forward 30 years and, in the 1950s, university remained an aspiration only for a minority. Between 1953 and 1956, in fact, only 38 students out of 185 Sixth Form leavers went to university, a ratio of one in five, with expense still a significant barrier. It was not until the 1970s with the number of universities expanding rapidly that the number of RGS students going to university finally increased significantly. Of these, on average, between seven and ten students would win places at Oxbridge.

Fast forward again to the modern day and the picture could hardly be more different. From Aerospace Engineering to Theology, from Chemistry to Politics, from Animation to Mathematics, RGS Upper Sixth Form students have now secured over 450 university offers, of which over 90% are to a Russell Group, Global Top 50 or Times Top 20 institution. What has been particularly pleasing to see is students specialising in Arts and Humanities as well as the Sciences, Economics and Mathematics. Whatever their chosen pathway, irrespective of their passions and strengths, students can find equal success and opportunities.

Although Oxford and Cambridge are just two of a number of prestigious destinations, we are nonetheless delighted that 20 students have this year been awarded places at Oxbridge, with 10 offers from each. Of these students, there was a diverse range of subjects: from the sciences – with Chemistry taking particular pride of place with four offers – as well as from the Arts and Humanities including Philosophy, Theology, Music, Classics, Modern Languages and Human, Social and Political Science. In terms of percentage of offers to applications, these figures consistently place the RGS as one of the leading institutions in the country for success rate in terms of Oxbridge applications.

Whatever their chosen pathway, irrespective of their passions and strengths, students can find equal success and opportunities. “ ”

Although, we rightly celebrate those who were successful, we also are equally proud of those who, often by the narrowest of margins, did not receive an offer on this occasion. The courage and commitment made by all of those who chose to apply, and the incredible collaborative support they offered to their peers, means they should be incredibly proud of themselves, and I have no doubt that despite this disappointment they have exciting futures ahead of them.

In addition, we have seen some very strong outcomes from Bath, Bristol, Durham, Exeter, Nottingham and Warwick with over 35 offers from each institution. We still await a further 220 decisions with many of the most prestigious universities including UCL, Imperial, Edinburgh, LSE and St Andrews still to make most of their offers. Everything points towards this being another exceptional year for RGS students.

I could not be more proud of the support we offer our students at this key stage of their educational journey, with individual, objective and impartial guidance provided for each student. At the heart of our support, our focus is always to encourage students to make applications to courses and universities that match their interests and personalities. As part of this, we want students to follow programmes that will enable them to thrive academically, socially and personally, while enhancing the same qualities that are reflected in our own School Values and Learning Habits. These core skills are the very ones that employers repeatedly tell us they are looking for in the graduates they are looking to recruit. And, importantly, these can be accessed from across the curriculum in both STEM and Arts and Humanities.

And so, as the thoughts of our Upper Sixth Form turn to their A Level mock examinations after half term, I wish them all the very best of luck. Education, as they say, is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.

Our Vision

A high-performing and inclusive independent day school, which provides a great education so that students can lead happy, successful lives and have a positive impact on society.

Our Strategic Priorities

Integrate our pastoral and wellbeing offer, and tailor this to meet the needs of a modern-day student community.

Enhance our academic strength, in terms of exam results, developing minds and preparing students for higher education.

Develop a more focused co-curricular offer, organised around a character development framework based on our school values.

Maintain a healthy pipeline and transition effectively to co-education, ensuring a positive experience for all students (current and future).

NOTICES

Registration

We continue to be grateful to you, as parents, for your support with registration. Keeping your sons safe and accounted for is always one of our highest priorities. We would ask for your support in the following aspects.

Please always copy in rgs-office@rgsg.co.uk, as well as your son’s Tutor, to any illness, medical/dental appointment or absence requests which are sent to relevant staff members.

In the event of illness, the School must be notified on every day of absence.

We will not authorise absence requests sent in via the student themselves. Communication must come from a parent/guardian.

Permission must be sought by the Headmaster for an absence lasting a whole day or more, with as much notice as possible.

Forthcoming events

Thursday 12 February

RGS Musician of the Year 2026, The Steynor Prize, in the Recital Room.

Monday 16 February

Half term starts

Wednesday 23 February

Second half of term begins.

A Level mocks start.

LATEST NEWS

CRYPTOGRAPHY

In the National Cipher Challenge, the 24th instalment of this hugely popular cryptography competition, teams attempted to solve weekly ciphers to help unravel an overarching mystery based upon Charles Dickens’ voyage to the United States in 1868. Competitors had to rely on a mixture of online tools, computer programming, and pen and paper to crack the 20 challenges set. It was reassuring to see that, in the age of AI, it is still possible to encounter fiendishly difficult puzzles that only humans can solve. One of our teams, comprising James Kelynack, Ethan Logue, Theo Odhams (all Fifth Form) and Eric LeeMather (Lower Sixth), were one of only a few teams nationally that managed to crack all 20 challenges! They will be awarded Silver medals at Bletchley Park.

PHYSICS

In the Senior Physics Challenge, aimed at Lower Sixth Form students, RGS students secured an impressive 5 Gold, 4 Silver and 11 Bronze awards, with Stirling Gauld, Stefan Lawson-Foia, Ali Noble, Aryan Sharma, and Jack Thomson all achieving the top award. In addition, Rajvir Mangat impressed gaining Bronze although only in the Fourth Form, while Ethan Logue in the Fifth Form received Silver.

SPORTS NEWS SHOOTING

The RGS shooting team travelled to St John’s College to put their Grouping, Rapid and Snap skills to the test having been practising for the Country Life and secured a comfortable victory in the main VIII match, 726 – 614. Ayaan Bhagat with 93 delivered the strongest score of the entire match, while Josh Jacobs also shot at an excellent standard with 92.

CHESS

CROSS-COUNTRY

Albert Adams finished in second place in Surrey and 22nd overall in the South-East Schools Inter Counties Cross-Country Championships, widely regarded as the toughest of the Inter County Competitions in England: an incredible achievement.

After a narrow defeat and great performance against the national champions, Hampton School, the 1st VI faced another tough test against KCS Wimbledon: a team who finished third at the national finals. Some great performances once again from the team gave rise to a hard-fought 3 – 3 draw, sharing the points in Division 1. Ronit Sachdeva and Samuel Webb both drew their games and a special mention to Aditya Sengupta and Ben Thain for winning their games. This was then followed up by a resounding 5½½ victory for the RGS against Tiffin Grammar School in Regional Round 1 of the National Schools Chess Championship.

SPORTS NEWS

SWIMMING

At the Surrey Swimming Championships, Ethan Tallis in our First Form won Gold medals in the 1500m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 400m freestyle, 100m backstroke and 200m freestyle. He also secured the number 1 ranking in the UK for the 1500m freestyle with an amazing time of 19:15:75.

A team of 20 swimmers competed against Churcher’s College and a strong Salesians team, with the RGS deservedly coming out on top across all the year groups. Ethan Tang won both the 50m Freestyle and 50m Breaststroke and was arguably our swimmer of the day.

HOCKEY

In the block against Hurstpierpoint College, the 1st XI set the tone with a comfortable 4 – 1 victory away in the Friday night under the lights fixture. Other highlights included a 2 – 1 win for the Under 16As as the RGS remained unbeaten at this age group, and an exciting 5 – 3 victory for the Under 13As. The 1st XI then followed this up with a good 3 – 2 win against Reigate Grammar School and in fixtures against both Reigate and KCS Wimbledon the Under 16 and Under 14 teams were undefeated, while in the Under 12 and 13 age groups, RGS teams secured 7 victories out of 8.