The Gryphon School

Story

The Gryphon School is a Church of England secondary school with academy status for 11 to 18-year-olds in Sherborne, Dorset, England. The school has been the largest member of the Academy Trust "Sherborne Area Schools' Trust" (SAST) since June 2017. Established in September 1992, student numbers have grown steadily from 850 to almost 1,700. The sixth form has around 450 students and teaches a variety of A-levels. In September 2005, the school achieved Business and Enterprise Specialist School. - However the school no longer uses this as its title following the re-brand in 2013. The school includes the Main Gryphon Secondary School, The Gryphon Sixth Form and Little Gryphons Nursery.HistoryThe Gryphon School was created from an amalgamation of three schools: Lord Digby's Girls School, Foster's Grammar School for Boys and St Aldhelm's Secondary Modern School. This merger is not forgotten and many students understand how their school was formed through a miniature history lesson provided in physical education lessons. This miniature history lesson ties in with the school's sporting competitiveness and the names of the three merged schools and the new school name "The Gryphon School" still exist as sporting houses. students are assigned a house as to which they are a part of during inter-house events such as rugby, football and hockey in addition to the more known "sports day".The only remaining aspect of St Aldham's School which stood on the school's site prior to 1992 is the now out of use swimming pool which remained open until the end of the 2005-06 educational year where students participated in an inter-house swimming gala as part of sports day. The rumour for closure of the pool created by students is of a rat infestation however this bears no resemblance to the true reason which is that of any outside swimming pool, very expensive to maintain. The Gryphon School now have used the Oxley Sports Centre swimming pool in the past, as a substitute for its closure.