History
The Dover County School for Boys (1905-1931)
The Education Act 1902 (the Balfour Act) laid the path to formal secondary education for 'able pupils' throughout the United Kingdom. In 1903 Frederick (Fred) Whitehouse M.A. (Oxon.) was appointed Dover's Director of Further Education and oversaw the transition of the local municipal school and School of Art into the new Dover County School for Boys and Girls which was formally founded in 1905. Initially, the boys' premises were in Ladywell and the girls' on Priory Hill, on the site of the private St. Hilda's School, whose headteacher was persuaded to become Head of the Girls' Department of the County School. [1]
Increasing numbers at both schools led to wrangling between the Board of Education, Kent County Council, and the Dover Corporation. Although Fred Whitehouse and the Dover Borough preferred a co-educational arrangement, the Kent Education Committee and Board of Education insisted on separate schools. A new site for the Boys' school was eventually found in Frith Road and plans agreed in 1913. Despite the outbreak of war, building on the new premises commenced and the school moved there in October 1916. [2]
Numbers at the School were ever-increasing and by the end of WWI there were 230 boys in the Senior school in Frith road and 77 in the Junior school on Priory Hill. [3]
The 'School on the Hill' and WWII (1931-1945)
Despite the severe economic circumstances of the depression, Whitehouse persuaded the authorities to provide the funds for a new building in Astor Avenue.
Whitehouse believed in the maxim often attributed to Winston Churchill that "we shape our buildings and our buildings shape us" and, architecturally, the school mixes both gothic and classical influences.
Opened by the Duke of York in 1931, the future King George VI of the United Kingdom, DGSB is one of few state school in Britain to have a working organ, which is housed in the Great Hall and leaves for Hamburg every 25 years for expert care and maintenance.
During World War II, the school building was requisitioned and used by the Royal Navy as a station for WRNS with pupils and staff evacuated to Ebbw Vale in south Wales.
A notable feature of the school building is a large stained glass window showing St. George and bearing the names of past students of the school who fell in World War Two with a separate memorial to students in World War One.
Post-war developments (1946-present)
Following funding cost pressures, in 1991, the school established a joint sixth form with Dover Grammar School for Girls (DGSG) which continues to this day.
In 1994, the school became Grant Maintained after warding off a series of reorganisation proposals from Kent County Council including a relocation to the ex-Castlemount School Site in 1990 [4] as well as the amalgamation of the 2 grammar schools to a new modern construct in Whitfield in 1993.
In 2000, a second tower was erected that differed from the design of the existing tower (known as the Old Tower to pupils) to provide additional access to IT rooms built over the school workshops.
In 2006, as a result of its specialist status as a Business and Enterprise College, the school received additional funding from the government, part of which was invested into a new Business & Enterprise suite.
In 2008 there were new proposals to move the school to Whitfield to be housed in a new building under the Labour government's Building Schools for the Future programme [5] but this was cancelled after the 2010 General Election by Education Secretary Michael Gove.
In 2019, plans were drawn to demolish the existing buildings and erect a new modern school on the adjacent playing fields with completion originally set for 2022. [6] Kier was appointed in August 2020 by The Department for Education (DfE) to construct the new facilities for the school. [7] Erection of the steel skeleton for the main building was completed by Mifflin Construction in mid-2021. The building was opened to students in spring 2022 with the whole project being completed in summer 2023. [8]
House system
The School has operated a 'house system' since the First World War to the present time. On entry to the school pupils are allocated to a 'house' to which they owe allegiance throughout the entirety of their school career. These 'houses' primarily compete against one another in inter-house competitions. For example, in cross-country, athletics, cricket, football, or swimming.
The original four houses at the school were established in 1915, given colours (red, dark blue, light blue, and green), and named after their respective captains. [9]
From 1915 to 1919, the houses were Street's (red), Costelloe's (dark blue), Chase's (light blue), Bromley's (green). In 1919, the house names were changed to reflect different areas of Dover District in which the boys lived: Maxton (red), Buckland (dark blue), Town (light blue), Country (green). [10]
After the Second World War and the return of the School from Ebbw Vale, the house names were changed again. The old names were no longer relevant for the altered demographic situation of the town so the new houses were renamed to reflect the different locations occupied by the School (Park Street, Priory Hill, Frith Road, and Astor Avenue). [11] Thus, in 1949, the names became Astor (Red), Frith (Dark Blue), Priory (Light Blue), Park (Green).
In the early 1990s, the house names were changed again to reflect areas around the town and to create a stronger association with local heritage. These names were Castle (Red), Channel (Green), Port (Blue), Priory (Yellow)
In 2019 a fifth house was added to the four house system, Pharos, represented by the colour white. Meaning the current house names are Castle (Red), Channel (Green), Pharos (White), Port (Blue), Priory (Yellow). [12] .
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