ROBERT GORDON'S COLLEGE

'Robert Gordon's College' (known by the acronym 'RGC') is a private co-educational day school in Aberdeen, Scotland. It originally opened in 1750 as the result of a bequest by Robert Gordon, an Aberdeen merchant who made his fortune from trading with Baltic ports, and was known at foundation as 'Robert Gordon's Hospital'. This was 19 years after Gordon had died and left his estate in a 'Deed of Mortification' to fund the foundation of the Hospital. The fine William Adam-designed building was in fact completed in 1732, but lay empty until 1745 until Gordon's foundation had sufficient funds to complete the interior. During the Jacobite Rising, in 1746 the buildings were commandered by Hanoverian troops and named 'Fort Cumberland'. Gordon's aim was to give the poor boys of Aberdeen a firm education, or as he put it to "found a Hospital for the Maintenance, Aliment, Entertainment and Education of young boys from the city whose parents were poor and destitute". At this point all pupils at the school were boarders, but in 1881, the Hospital became a day school known as Robert Gordon's College. Boarding did not return until 1937 with the establishment of Sillerton House. In 1989 RGC became a co-educational school.^[1]
The modern school is divided into a Nursery, Junior School, and Senior School, and caters for boys and girls from 4 to 18 years. RGC has long had a reputation as one of the stronger academic schools in Scotland, and follows the Scottish curriculum consisting of standard grades in the fourth year, Highers in the Fifth Year, and Advanced Highers in the Sixth Year. In 2006, there was a 90% pass rate at higher, and 35 pupils gained 5+ passes at A grade. 98% of leavers went on to higher education, the majority at Scottish Universities such as Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, but also 10 pupils gaining entry to Oxford and Cambridge.

Contents

House system

Extra-curricular activities

Notable alumni

References

External links

House system

The school operates four houses, to one of which each student is allocated upon entering the school. The houses compete for different sporting and academic trophies throughout the year, and determine each student's form class.
The four houses are:
:Blackfriars - named for the Dominican monks (or black friars due to their garb), that once had a convent adjacent to the school grounds.
:Collyhill - named for Alexander Simpson of Collyhill who bequeathed a large sum of money to the school, which allowed for more boys to join the school.
:Sillerton - The origin of the Sillerton house name is not clear, but it is believed that, in Robert Gordon's lifetime, he was known as Gordon of Silverton (''siller'' being Scots for ''silver''), and on a 1746 map, the school is identified as 'Sillerton Hospital'.
:Straloch - named for Robert Gordon of Straloch, who one of the first graduates of Marischal College, studying humanities, mathematics and philisophy.

Extra-curricular activities

During the 1980s and 1990s Robert Gordon's College developed a powerful reputation for its debating.
In 2002 the College achieved great success in hockey winning the Scottish Reserve Cup, the Scottish School's Cup and the North District League. The success continues at the college as the North District Under 16 and Under 18 squads are heavily made up of RGC players every year.
In golf they have also had considerable success. The schools golf team this year played against Gordonstoun commandingly beating them 4-2. They also run a house golf competition which the house of Straloch won in 2006.
RGC has achieved lots of rugby success in the year 2005-06. In addition to winning the first Royal Navy 7's Cup, they have got to the final of the Bell Lawrie Scottish Schools Cup in the U-18 and U-15 category.
It has the highest intake of the Duke of Edinburgh candidates in the whole of Scotland - more than twice as many as any other taking part in the award scheme. In 2006, 66 candidates are doing the Gold Award. In contrast, in 2005, Aberdeenshire Council produced only 6 Gold Candidates.
The Combined Cadet Force (CCF) is also renowned for being one of the best in Scotland. In 2004, the school won the Military Skills Competition in Barry Buddon. This competition allows the top 7 CCF Army sections in Scotland to compete for the trophy. In 2005, they came 2nd. In 2006, they came 3rd.

Notable alumni

Former pupils include politician Nicol Stephen^[2], journalist and politician Michael Gove^[3], singer Sandi Thom^[4], Scottish rugby players Chris Cusiter and Stuart Grimes, Commonwealth gold medal winner David Carry, writer and broadcaster David Stenhouse, and former Manchester United, Aberdeen and Scotland captain Martin Buchan. Another former pupil, Ian Black, was a Commonwealth Games gold medalist, and BBC Sports Personality of the Year, in 1958 at the age of only seventeen. He later returned to RGC as Headmaster of the Junior School.
More recently, former RGC pupil John West has caused a stir in the Aberdeen media by being indited as depute provost at the age of 18.

References

1. History of RGC
2. Nicol Steven's MSP site
3. '85-'85 Class list
4. '97-'98 Class List

External links

★ Homepage of Robert Gordon's College