Welcome to the Central Grammar School Birmingham Website
This is the place to come to for anyone who attended Central Grammar School, Birmingham at any time – as a Pupil, Teacher, or if you worked at the School. The site aims to cover all aspects of the School, from its beginnings in Suffolk Street, Birmingham in 1897, up to the present day. The Archive will include Photos and Documents from the School’s rich History, and much more…..
Forward To Today
This website is the result of a desire by a number of ex pupils and staff to preserve, for posterity, the history of one of Birmingham’s oldest Grammar Schools – Central Grammar School. We hope to keep alive our shared experiences and traditions as Alumni of Central Grammar School, including Byng Kenrick Central School. We pay this Forward to the present pupils and staff at Tile Cross Academy.
The following is an extract from the 1947 Jubilee edition of “The Hammer” Central Grammar School’s magazine:
I am merely thinking of posterity and especially of one man, the man who will be privileged to
organise, in 1997, the centenary exhibition of our school. He will be a worried man. Facts will elude him, records will be lost or mislaid, photographs will be sent without dates .
Well 1997 is now a memory. Technology has given us tools to share information globally. However as the author above stated, compiling this archive is an immense task. Documents are scattered in many places. The desire to be factually accurate produces hours of debate, as can be witnessed on our Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/groups/cgs1965.1972/
In 1947, Frank Dixon (a well loved CGS Teacher, often known as Effendi), also wrote in the Jubilee Magazine:
Since the foundation of the School there have been two major wars. In the second one the School was evacuated. It is not surprising therefore that numerous records – written, printed and photographic – have perished. The same thing has happened in other and – perhaps! – more important spheres, but it has not made our task any easier. We are aware that this issue has many deficiencies. We do not claim to have achieved perfection or to have presented a systematic history of the School, but we do hope we have given an account of its activities that will please the maximum number of people -present boys, Old Boys, parents and all friends of the School.
Over half a century later, using technology that would have far exceeded the realms of Science Fiction of the day, we are still striving to achieve what they hoped for in the Silver Jubilee edition of “The Hammer”! We hope you enjoy the various sections of this site, but bear in mind that it is an ongoing “Work In Progress” so some links or Menu Items may not always work or they may take you to pages where content has not yet been uploaded, however please keep coming back – there will generally be something new to see.
Central Grammar School (a.k.a. Central Secondary School) was a sound Birmingham product of the reforming last quarter of the nineteenth century. Over the years, the School has seen many changes, including three locations, not to mention the School’s evacuation to Wales during World War 2. The last quarter of the twentieth century saw Education become a Political Football thus changing the Destiny of Central Grammar School …
Following the 1908 visit to Birmingham by General Baden-Powell (the founder of Scouting), two of the School’s Masters established tented school camps at Holt Fleet in the Severn Valley. However, during the war camping there became impossible, so the school camp was transferred to the small cottage on the top of a mountain on the east side of the Plynlimon range in Wales – BRYNTAIL. From 1915 onwards school camps were organized at the Bryntail Cottage, with many activities including theatricals, rugger and swimming
What defined Central Grammar School over the years was it’s People! From Head Teachers to Lab Assistants, as well as the thousands of pupils who walked the many different corridors and classrooms since 1897. Prior to the 1974 merger with Byng Kenrick Grammar School for Girls, there had been 7 Headmasters, and many of the teachers had been at the school for 25 years and more. During its time, a fair number of pupils and staff have gone on to great success in many fields – Entertainment and The Arts, Business, Sports and in Public Service
Clubs and Societies played a large part in school life. The School’s move to Tile Cross, under the flight path to nearby Birmingham Airport, generated a lot of interest in Aviation the early 70s. There were clubs for Science, Maths, Transport, Boats, Chess…. all enthusiastically supported by pupils and Teachers alike.
Many people would associate Central Grammar School with Rugby Football, however this was not introduced to the school until 1913. Rugby was one of many Sporting Activities enjoyed (most of the time!) by Pupils at CGS. Athletics, Cricket, Swimming, Basketball, Cross Country Running…. and the School produced some international talent over the years
Over the years, thousands of photos have been taken by pupils and staff. Some images date back to the beginning of the Twentieth Century. These Galleries will keep expanding, so keep coming back, we are sure you will find more!
News and Events
Bryntail Reunion Sept 2020 Cancelled
Bryntail Reunion Sept 2020 Cancelled After much consideration and with a heavy heart, it has been decided that the meeting at the cottage planned for the 12th. September cannot go ahead. It is felt that there are still too many uncertainties in relation to travelling and meeting in groups while Covid is still very much around. We are not prepared to take any risks with the health of yourselves or the locals, particularly at the farm. We know many of you were looking forward to meeting up again, we can only hope that it will [...]
Bryntail Cottage Charitable Trust Approved
Bryntail Cottage Charitable Trust After much form filling the Bryntail Cottage Charitable Trust is now officially registered with, and recognised by the Charity Commissioners. The first Trustees Meeting was held (via Zoom) during the first week of July 2020. Neil Mackintosh, Head of Social Mobility at Tile Cross Academy, will Chair the Trust. The other Trustees are: - Paul Marano - Head of Tile Cross Academy Chris Etheridge - Former Head of Tile Cross Academy, now Head of King’s Heath Boys School Andy Hiorns - Former Byng Kenrick Central Pupil, now Town Planning Consultant Adrian Murphy - [...]
THE TILE CROSS ACADEMY FUND
THE TILE CROSS ACADEMY FUND This initiative is being launched in May 2019 as a vehicle to provide greater opportunities for our pupils that the school cannot afford to fund from reducing statutory finances. Our launch campaign is to raise £50 000 to establish a ‘Performance Participation Programme’; this will enable pupils to access and participate in extracurricular music, drama, and sporting activities. We recognise how valuable and life changing these activities are to the personal development of a child and how they impact on the adult they become. Pupils from Tile Cross Academy are some [...]