Sierra Leone Grammar School
Encyclopedia
The Sierra Leone Grammar School was founded on 25 March 1845 in Freetown, Sierra Leone
by the Church Mission Society
(CMS), and at first was called the CMS Grammar School. It was the first secondary educational institution for West Africans with a European curriculum. Many of the administrators and professionals of British West Africa
were educated at the school.
in 1827 to provide training for African missionaries. As the academic standards of the college rose, the regular schools in the region were unable to produce students with sufficient education to be admitted to the college. The grammar school was founded to fill the gap.
The CMS obtained a lease on a massive building with arches on all sides at Regent Square, Freetown that until recently had been the house of the Governor.
Opening in 25 March 1845, the CMS Grammar School was the first secondary education institution in Sierra Leone and the first in Sub-Saharan Africa for Africans.
The CMS Grammar School offered a western-style curriculum that included Greek, Latin, Astronomy and Music.
Other subjects were English, French, Bible Knowledge, Mathematics, Science, Geography, History, Recitation and Physical Education.
The school began with 14 pupils from Fourah Bay College.
At first the main purpose was to train people who would go on to become missionaries, so all pupils were expected to convert to Christianity.
Within a year, three of the pupils were able to read the New Testament
in Greek
and understood Euclid's Elements
. They were sent on to Fourah Bay College.
By 1847 the school had 45 pupils, of whom 18 were fee paying.
The school developed a reputation for excellence of education and for the value of subsequent career prospects. The availability of boarding facilities at Regents Square made it practical for pupils to come from throughout the colony and from elsewhere in Africa. Many prominent West Africans were educated there.
The school soon expanded into training teachers, resulting in a great improvement in local standards of primary school education.
It also began to provide general education for the emerging middle class in The Gambia
, Gold Coast
and Nigeria
in addition to its original role of preparing students for entry to Fourah Bay College.
Some students were subsidized by the CMS, but most paid fees. By 1850 the only contribution required of the CMS was the salary of the European principal.
The CMS Grammar School
in Lagos
, Nigeria
was founded in June 1859. It was modeled on the Freetown school, which by then had earned a high reputation.
As the Freetown school grew and prospered, it was divided into a Preparatory and Upper school.
As early as 1865 some of the more promising students were being sent to England for further training.
The report for the school for the year ending September 1851 said there were 53 pupils of whom four were the sons of native chiefs. The progress report indicates the curriculum: "The first class have read part of Nicholl's Help to the Bible, and have got up the natural, historical and political geography of Greece, and the account of Greek idolatory. They have advanced as far as mensuration of superfices, and are reading fractions in algebra and arithmetic. Some attention has been paid to land surveying. The historical, political and natural geography of Asia has been prepared for examination, and thirteen good maps have been drawn..."
In 1851 the school bought a six-acre farm and pupils were taught to raise cotton. In 1853 the Church Mission Society founded a model industrial school at Kissy
, expecting graduates to go on to CMS Grammar School to be trained as teachers. These attempts at teaching practical skills were not successful and were abandoned. The students began to feel that such skills were for the working classes, and that knowledge of Latin and Greek was much more desirable. However, in the early 1860s some pupils were taught practical navigation on HMS Rattlesnake.
The school acquired a printing press under the Rev. James Quaker and began to produce a twice-monthly journal The Ethiopia in 1871. Printing continued until 1942.
The school started a marching band, which first performed in 1912.
Sporadic attempts were again made to introduce practical training from the 1920s onward, including weaving and spinning, carpentry, bookbinding, cardboard modelling and the elementary arts, but without much success.
Despite limitations in the curriculum, the CMS Grammar School played an important role in training administrators, doctors and teachers throughout English-speaking West Africa in the first half of the 20th century.
The school moved to its present location at Murray Town in 1962.
After being run by the Church Missionary Society for over a century, the Government assumed greater responsibility for paying teachers' salaries and providing grants.
The school regained independent status in September 2007 and is now sole property of the Anglican Diocese of Freetown. This gives the school more discretion over policies like tuition, recruitment and teachers' salaries, but also means the school no longer receives government subsidies.
He compared his students favorably to English students at a time when European racial prejudice against Africans was profound.
The first African principal was James Quaker (1861–1882), a former student of the Church Mission Society college in London
.
The Reverend Obadiah Moore was a graduate of the school who became principal after studying at Fourah Bay College and at Monkton Combe School
near Bath in England, and holding other teaching positions.
T.C. John, a Hausa
, was taught at the Sierra Leone Grammar school and later became a Master, Vice-Principal and then in 1920 Principal of the school. In 1933 he was consecrated Assistant Bishop of the Niger. When he died on 26 January 1936 it was discovered that no provision had been made to pay a pension to his widow, but the church made no immediate move to rectify the problem.
A full list of principals:
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
by the Church Mission Society
Church Mission Society
The Church Mission Society, also known as the Church Missionary Society, is a group of evangelistic societies working with the Anglican Communion and Protestant Christians around the world...
(CMS), and at first was called the CMS Grammar School. It was the first secondary educational institution for West Africans with a European curriculum. Many of the administrators and professionals of British West Africa
British West Africa
British West Africa was the collective name for British colonies in West Africa during the colonial period, either in the general geographical sense or more specifically those comprised in a formal colonial administrative entity...
were educated at the school.
Foundation
The Church Mission Society founded Fourah Bay CollegeFourah Bay College
Fourah Bay College is the oldest university college in West Africa. It is located atop Mount Aureol in Freetown, Sierra Leone...
in 1827 to provide training for African missionaries. As the academic standards of the college rose, the regular schools in the region were unable to produce students with sufficient education to be admitted to the college. The grammar school was founded to fill the gap.
The CMS obtained a lease on a massive building with arches on all sides at Regent Square, Freetown that until recently had been the house of the Governor.
Opening in 25 March 1845, the CMS Grammar School was the first secondary education institution in Sierra Leone and the first in Sub-Saharan Africa for Africans.
The CMS Grammar School offered a western-style curriculum that included Greek, Latin, Astronomy and Music.
Other subjects were English, French, Bible Knowledge, Mathematics, Science, Geography, History, Recitation and Physical Education.
The school began with 14 pupils from Fourah Bay College.
At first the main purpose was to train people who would go on to become missionaries, so all pupils were expected to convert to Christianity.
Colonial era
Six months after foundation the number of pupils had risen to thirty.Within a year, three of the pupils were able to read the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
in Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
and understood Euclid's Elements
Euclid's Elements
Euclid's Elements is a mathematical and geometric treatise consisting of 13 books written by the Greek mathematician Euclid in Alexandria c. 300 BC. It is a collection of definitions, postulates , propositions , and mathematical proofs of the propositions...
. They were sent on to Fourah Bay College.
By 1847 the school had 45 pupils, of whom 18 were fee paying.
The school developed a reputation for excellence of education and for the value of subsequent career prospects. The availability of boarding facilities at Regents Square made it practical for pupils to come from throughout the colony and from elsewhere in Africa. Many prominent West Africans were educated there.
The school soon expanded into training teachers, resulting in a great improvement in local standards of primary school education.
It also began to provide general education for the emerging middle class in The Gambia
The Gambia
The Republic of The Gambia, commonly referred to as The Gambia, or Gambia , is a country in West Africa. Gambia is the smallest country on mainland Africa, surrounded by Senegal except for a short coastline on the Atlantic Ocean in the west....
, Gold Coast
Gold Coast (British colony)
The Gold Coast was a British colony on the Gulf of Guinea in west Africa that became the independent nation of Ghana in 1957.-Overview:The first Europeans to arrive at the coast were the Portuguese in 1471. They encountered a variety of African kingdoms, some of which controlled substantial...
and Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
in addition to its original role of preparing students for entry to Fourah Bay College.
Some students were subsidized by the CMS, but most paid fees. By 1850 the only contribution required of the CMS was the salary of the European principal.
The CMS Grammar School
CMS Grammar School, Lagos
The CMS Grammar School in the Bariga district of Lagos is the oldest secondary school in Nigeria, founded on 6 June 1859 by the Church Missionary Society...
in Lagos
Lagos
Lagos is a port and the most populous conurbation in Nigeria. With a population of 7,937,932, it is currently the third most populous city in Africa after Cairo and Kinshasa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa...
, Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
was founded in June 1859. It was modeled on the Freetown school, which by then had earned a high reputation.
As the Freetown school grew and prospered, it was divided into a Preparatory and Upper school.
As early as 1865 some of the more promising students were being sent to England for further training.
The report for the school for the year ending September 1851 said there were 53 pupils of whom four were the sons of native chiefs. The progress report indicates the curriculum: "The first class have read part of Nicholl's Help to the Bible, and have got up the natural, historical and political geography of Greece, and the account of Greek idolatory. They have advanced as far as mensuration of superfices, and are reading fractions in algebra and arithmetic. Some attention has been paid to land surveying. The historical, political and natural geography of Asia has been prepared for examination, and thirteen good maps have been drawn..."
In 1851 the school bought a six-acre farm and pupils were taught to raise cotton. In 1853 the Church Mission Society founded a model industrial school at Kissy
Kissy, Sierra Leone
Kissy is a poor neighborhood on the eastern end of the Sierra Leonean capital of Freetown. It is also home to numerous health services, including a United Methodist Church Health and Maternity ward as well as a mental hospital. It is also home to over 500 Liberian refugees...
, expecting graduates to go on to CMS Grammar School to be trained as teachers. These attempts at teaching practical skills were not successful and were abandoned. The students began to feel that such skills were for the working classes, and that knowledge of Latin and Greek was much more desirable. However, in the early 1860s some pupils were taught practical navigation on HMS Rattlesnake.
The school acquired a printing press under the Rev. James Quaker and began to produce a twice-monthly journal The Ethiopia in 1871. Printing continued until 1942.
The school started a marching band, which first performed in 1912.
Sporadic attempts were again made to introduce practical training from the 1920s onward, including weaving and spinning, carpentry, bookbinding, cardboard modelling and the elementary arts, but without much success.
Despite limitations in the curriculum, the CMS Grammar School played an important role in training administrators, doctors and teachers throughout English-speaking West Africa in the first half of the 20th century.
Post-independence
On the 27 April 1961 Sierra Leone became politically independent of Great Britain.The school moved to its present location at Murray Town in 1962.
After being run by the Church Missionary Society for over a century, the Government assumed greater responsibility for paying teachers' salaries and providing grants.
The school regained independent status in September 2007 and is now sole property of the Anglican Diocese of Freetown. This gives the school more discretion over policies like tuition, recruitment and teachers' salaries, but also means the school no longer receives government subsidies.
Principals
The first Principal was Rev. Thomas Peyton (1845–1852).He compared his students favorably to English students at a time when European racial prejudice against Africans was profound.
The first African principal was James Quaker (1861–1882), a former student of the Church Mission Society college in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
The Reverend Obadiah Moore was a graduate of the school who became principal after studying at Fourah Bay College and at Monkton Combe School
Monkton Combe School
Monkton Combe School is an independent boarding and day school of the British public school tradition, near Bath, England. The Senior School is located in the village of Monkton Combe, while the Prep School, Pre-Prep and Nursery are in Combe Down on the southern outskirts of Bath...
near Bath in England, and holding other teaching positions.
T.C. John, a Hausa
Hausa people
The Hausa are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. They are a Sahelian people chiefly located in northern Nigeria and southeastern Niger, but having significant numbers living in regions of Cameroon, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Chad and Sudan...
, was taught at the Sierra Leone Grammar school and later became a Master, Vice-Principal and then in 1920 Principal of the school. In 1933 he was consecrated Assistant Bishop of the Niger. When he died on 26 January 1936 it was discovered that no provision had been made to pay a pension to his widow, but the church made no immediate move to rectify the problem.
A full list of principals:
- Rev. Thomas Peyton 1845 - 1852
- Rev. John Milward 1852 - 1859
- Rev. James Quaker 1861 - 1882
- Rev.Canon Obadiah Moore 1882 - 1905
- Rev. George G. Garrett 1906 - 1912
- Rev. Henry Dallimore 1914 - 1920
- Bishop T.C. John 1920 - 1933
- Bishop T.S Johnson 1933 - 1936
- Rev. P. Hycy Wilson 1937 - 1947
- Rev. E.D.C Clarke 1947 - 1952
- Mr. Frank Wood 1952 - 1964
- Very Revd. G.O.L Palmer 1964 - 1970
- Rev. H.G.B Davies (Acting) 1970 - 1971
- Rev. V.J.Hasting-Spaine 1971 - 1985
- Mr. Akiwande J. Lasite 1985 to date