Motto | Virtue and good literature |
---|---|
Established | 1682 |
Headmaster | Ryan Davies |
Location |
De La Beche Road Swansea SA2 9AP United Kingdom Coordinates: 51°36′55″N 3°59′18″W / 51.61525°N 3.98838°W |
Local authority | Swansea |
Gender | Mixed |
Ages | 11–18 |
Houses | Rotherslade, Langland, Caswell, Limeslade, Bracelet |
Colours | Years 7–11 Maroon and Gold Years 12–13 Navy |
Last Inspection | May 2015 |
Pupils on Roll: | 1780 Pupils |
6th Form: | 213 Pupils |
Alumni | Old Goreans |
Website | bishopgore |
The Bishop Gore School (Welsh: Ysgol Esgob Gore) is a secondary school in Swansea in Wales, founded on 14 September 1682 by Hugh Gore (1613–1691), Bishop of Waterford and Lismore. It is situated in Sketty, close to Singleton Park and Swansea University. In December 2013 the school was ranked in the second highest of five bands by the Welsh Government, based on performance in exams, value added performance, disadvantaged pupils' performance, and attendance.
Established as a Free Grammar School, initially in Goat Street (a site now part of Princess Way in the city centre), for "the gratuitous instruction of twenty boys, sons of the most indigent burgesses, and in the event of a dissolution of the corporation, to sons of the poorest inhabitants of the town", it has since known several names and locations. In September 1853 the school moved, as the boys-only Swansea Grammar School, to Mount Pleasant into a new building designed by the architect Thomas Taylor. The building was extended in 1869 to a design by Benjamin Bucknall. The building was largely gutted by incendiary bombs during World War II although some of the 1869 building remains as part of the Swansea campus of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.
After the war the school was moved to the Sketty area of Swansea where it subsequently became Bishop Gore Grammar school and briefly Bishop Gore Comprehensive School. It has been on its current Sketty site since 1952 with a large extension built in the 1970s and further Design and Technology extensions in the 1990s.
Until 1970, Bishop Gore was an all-boys grammar school, then it merged with the girls' grammar school Glanmôr and Townhill Secondary School to become Bishop Gore Co-educational Comprehensive school in 1971.
Currently Bishop Gore has around 1800 male and female students aged 11–18. The school has a sixth form with separate lounge, facilities and uniform. The headteacher is Ryan Davies (appointed September 2007). Set at the head of Singleton Park, close to the village of Sketty and the seafront, Bishop Gore is built around two quadrangles the red brick building has in the centre the second largest hall in Swansea, second only to the Brangwyn Hall. Each pupil is assigned to a house: Caswell, Langland, Bracelet, Rotherslade or Limeslade (named after beaches on the nearby Gower peninsular), which they retain throughout their time at the school. Highlights of the school year include the Eisteddfod, the inter-house sports tournaments, the productions by Bishop Gore Theatre Company, and the end-of-year balls for the senior students.