The Old Building in the upper High Street in 1997 with a vintage bus returning from a day trip
The Royal Grammar School (originally The Free School)[1] is a selective English independent day school for boys in Guildford, Surrey. Its foundation dates to the death in 1509 of Robert Beckingham who left a provision in his will to "make a free scole at the Towne of Guldford";[2] in 1512 a governing body was set up to form the school. The school moved to the present site in the upper High Street after the granting of a royal charter from King Edward VI on 27 January 1553.[3][4] The school became independent and fee paying on 1 September 1977, when the parents and staff raised sufficient funds to purchase it following concerns about the abolition of grammar schools and the introduction of comprehensive education.[5] Initially the school educated 30 of the "poorest men's sons",[6] however numbers have since grown to approximately 900 students, 300 of whom are in the sixth form.[7]
^"Foundation Bulletin No. 12"(PDF). RGS Foundation Bulletin. Royal Grammar School Foundation. Archived from the original(PDF) on 7 August 2011. Retrieved 2 June 2011.