Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School

Infobox Secondary school
name = Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School

motto = "Sub Umbra Alarum Tuarum"
"Under the shadow of thy wings"
established = 1701
type = "11-18 Voluntary Controlled Grammar School"
affiliations = Medway LEA
incumbent principal = Dr Gary Holden
founder = Sir Joseph Williamson
chaplain =
chairman =
enrolment = c.1100
grades = Y7-13
colours = Yellow, Blue, Navy and Black
campus = Maidstone Road, Rochester
city = Rochester
state = Kent
country = UK
website = [http://www.sirjosephwilliamson.medway.sch.uk/ www.sirjosephwilliamson.medway.sch.uk]

Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical school is a boys' grammar school in Rochester, Kent, often known as Rochester Math or The Math. It was founded by the 17th-century politician Sir Joseph Williamson, who left £5,000 to set up the school and another in Thetford, Norfolk. The school was called a mathematical school because it specialised in the teaching of navigation and mathematics to the sons of freemen of the city of Rochester, the Chatham Naval Dockyard being nearby.

The school was originally in Rochester High Street, spanning the city wall. The building was demolished in the late 1960s and the site is now a car park next to a nightclub. The school's playing fields and swimming pool were originally by the River Medway off Rochester Esplanade; they are now off Maidstone Road, Rochester, next to the area known as Priestfields (not to be confused with Gillingham FC's ground, Priestfield). An annexe (now known as P block) was built at the Maidstone Road site in the 1950s, housing all the first forms, and two classes each from the second and third years. In autumn 1968, the whole school moved to the site. Initially this featured a main block, hall, sports hall, gymnasium, 25-metre indoor swimming pool and science block. A music block has been recently expanded, to include a new teaching room and several new practice rooms.

In the 1990s a sixth-form centre was constructed and at the turn of the century a maths block was created upon the old staff car park. The sixth form centre which houses a series of classrooms (for the use of pupils throughout the school) is also the base for careers education with a careers library within the building. There are still two sets of temporary classrooms. The school has also extensive sports facilities, including an artificial turf pitch for hockey, two cricket pitches, tennis courts, and rugby pitches as well as the swimming pool, gym, and sports hall.

A mathematics centre opened in 2002, in line with the Math's status as a specialist school in maths and computing. The incorporation of a computing discipline contrasted markedly with the school's attitude towards computing as an educational discipline in the late 1980s, where it was stated that "there's no future in software". The school scrapped its A Level computing course in 2005, despite having received specialist school funding to teach the subject. The Thetford School and the nearby the Rochester Grammar have become sister schools to the Math. In the 1990s, girls were admitted to the school for the first time, but only to pursue sixth-form education. The school was granted an "outstanding" status in its Ofsted report in 2006, and was given specialist status for humanities — history and geography.

Several pupils have won the Medway young musician of the year award. Music teachers attend the school on a weekly basis.

Former pupils are known as Old Williamsonians, or more jocularly as "Old Willies".

Founder's Day is held on the Saturday nearest 7 July every year: pupils attend Rochester Cathedral for a morning service and in the afternoon return to the school for sports and other activities. The next Monday is a school holiday.

House system

The school has seven academic years, from ages 11 to 18 and each year group contains six houses: Bridge (green), Castle (red), Gordon (blue), Pitt (yellow), River (purple) and Thetford (light blue). River and Thetford are comparatively new and were formed as the school expanded: River house in 1993 and Thetford in 1996. Another house, Tower — named after Jezreel's tower in Gillingham and intended for boys from that borough — was disbanded between the wars. All compete for the Cock House competition, a scholastic and athletic annual contest.

Bridge — named after Rochester's Medway crossing — won the Cock House cup from 1999 to 2006. Castle, named after the city's medieval castle, tied first place for the Cock House in 1999. Gordon, named in honour of General Charles Gordon has won more times than any other house.

Pitt house, named after William Pitt, was founded in 1916. River, named after the Medway than runs nearby, was founded in 1993. Thetford, named after the Math's sister school in Norfolk, won Cock House in 2007.

Prefects

Prefects are elected from Year 12 and hold office until the December of Year 13, when new prefects are elected by staff and Year 12 pupils.

The prefect hierarchy has three main levels:

*The top three: the school captain and his two deputies. These pupils have overall control of the prefect system and act as liaison between the prefects and staff.

*Senior prefects: eight prefects are elected to ensure that junior prefects are doing the correct thing at the correct time.

*Prefects: these 42 junior prefects are accountable to their relevant senior. Prefects undertake roles such as ensuring chairs are stacked in the lunch hall and patrolling the school's three main playgrounds.

*Specialist prefects: a small number of pupils have been appointed subject prefects, so far, in mathematics, ICT, geography, history, music and as a librarian.

All prefects wear a plain navy blue tie with the school's crest below the knot.

Famous pupils

*David Garrick (1717–1779), actor, playwright and theatre manager. Briefly a pupil, apparently under the headmaster's private tutelage
*Bob Bean (1935–1987), Labour MP for Rochester and Chatham 1974-1979
*Ronald "Ronnie" Thomas Verrell (1926–2002), drummer with the Ted Heath Orchestra, the Syd Lawrence Orchestra — and inspiration for Animal in The Muppet Show
*The British educationist Frank Blackwell (1917/18-2008), project director (1970–76) for the National Council for Educational Technology and chief of division (1976-80) for the Bernard Van Leer Foundation in the Netherlands
*Harry Arnold, war correspondent and royal reporter on a number of national newspapers, including the Daily Mirror and The Sun
*Nitin Sawhney, musician, composer and disc jockey
*James Taylor, musician, founder of the James Taylor Quartet
*Matt Letley, percussionist, current drummer for Status Quo
*Tommy Knight, actor, currently Luke Smith in The Sarah Jane Adventures

External links

* [http://www.sirjosephwilliamson.medway.sch.uk/ Official site]
* [http://www.oldwilliamsonianclub.com/ Official Old Williamsonians website]
* [http://www.oldwilliamsoniansrugby.com/ Official Old Williamsonians Rugby Club website]