CRGS cache

[Slogger]

CRGS certainly had a cache when I was at school in the 1970s. The real shame in Essex is that the small country grammar schools (like Earls Colne where I went and Halstead where my mum went) got closed by Mrs Thatcher in the 1970s when she was Education Secretary. We used to get a few working class Colchester lads at Earls Colne who didn't feel comfortable with the very middle class atmosphere at CRGS. Those schools provided places for the rural north of the county and the last three years Earls Colne was open the head boy went to Oxbridge. It was the third oldest grammar school in England when it closed. My mum is as pleased as punch that my son will be going to Westcliff or Southend next September - the third generation of the family to get to GS.

[Guest55]

I thought most of the Essex GS went in 1968 ... certainly in south Essex they did.

[Reading Mum]

I started at an Essex grammer in 1978 - but it was the last grammar year and the years below were comp.

[Slogger]

Earls Colne and Halstead closed in July 1975. The order to close them was made in 1971. (My source is the history of ECGS which was written by A.D.V Merson MBE (my English teacher there)). I can't comment on other parts of the county but clearly Essex had a policy of retaining GS's in the big population centres and removing them from the smaller towns. Looking at this forum that policy explains why there are fewer GS places outside Southend than in the rest of the county. It strikes me people's best bet is to move to somewhere like Hockley or Rayleigh if you want your children to go to a GS as there seems to be adequate provision in that area for children who can pass the test.

[moved]

Clacton grammar changed to a comprehensive in 1973. Anyone know about Rayleigh Sweyne?