Fort Pitt Grammar School

:See Fort Pitt, Kent for the history of the Fort.

The present Fort Pitt site has served as a school since 1929, when the Chatham Technical Day School for Girls moved there. In 1984 it became a girls’ grammar school, a status it holds to this day.

Fort Pitt's history stretches back to the Napoleonic Wars, when a fort was built on the site as part of the defences overlooking the River Medway. Not finally used as a fort, it became a military hospital from 1832. Queen Victoria came to Fort Pitt on three separate occasions in 1855 to visit soldiers wounded in the Crimean War,Howard, pp. 3–11. and in 1860 it was selected by Florence Nightingale as the initial site for the new Army Medical School, before this moved to Netley near Southampton in 1863.A E W Miles, The Accidental Birth of Military Medicine, page 14. Civic Books, London, 2009 {{ISBN|978-1-904104-95-7}}. Continuing as a garrison hospital, King George V and Queen Mary visited servicemen wounded in the First World War there in October 1914. The hospital finally closed in 1919.{{cite web|title=Ancient Monuments UK: Fort Pitt A Scheduled Monument in River, Medway.|url=https://ancientmonuments.uk/119621-fort-pitt-river-ward#.XK-giehKhPY|website=ancientmonuments.uk|access-date=20 October 2019}}

The school began as the Chatham Institute in 1916, to train girls for office work, being based at Elm House, New Road, Chatham from 1918. It became the Junior Commercial School in 1919 and the Commercial and Trades School for Girls in 1923 to reflect a widening curriculum. In 1926 it became the Technical Day School for Girls,Howard, page 20–22. the first girls' technical school in the UK.

By 1927 the school, with 270 pupils, had doubled in size since 1919 and accommodation was becoming a problem. In 1929 the Education Board therefore bought Fort Pitt, then empty, from the War Office and the school moved there from Elm House. Here it taught a range of technical and vocational subjects open to girls, including typing and office duties, cooking, needlework and, from 1941, pre-nursing courses.Howard, p. 22. Entrance was by examination, and the courses more advanced than offered by non-selective elementary schools, (and secondary modern schools from 1944).

During the Second World War the school remained at Fort Pitt, although numbers were reduced as many children were evacuated. In 1944 it became the Medway Technical School for Girls. The School Certificate (later the General Certificate of Education) was introduced, until then the preserve of the more academic grammar schools.Howard, page 28–30.

In 1973 a fire destroyed part of the school, mobile classrooms being installed until new accommodation was built. 18 year old Michael Ambler of Chatham was jailed for four and a half years, for the deliberate fire on 21 January 1973, which cost £100,000.Newcastle Journal Thursday 28 June 1973, page 3Western Daily Press Thursday 28 June 1973, page 4

In 1984 the school was renamed Fort Pitt Grammar School.{{cite web|title=Fort Pitt Grammar School: Our history|url=http://fortpitt.medway.sch.uk/new/our-school/local-and-community-history/|website=fortpitt.medway.sch.uk|access-date=20 October 2019|archive-date=21 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191021072804/http://fortpitt.medway.sch.uk/new/our-school/local-and-community-history/|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title=Fort Pitt Old Girls Association: Outline History of Fort Pitt|url=http://www.fpoga.btck.co.uk/Historyoftheschool|website=Fort Pitt Old Girls' Association fpoga.btck.co.uk|access-date=20 October 2019}}

The site and school continue to be of national historical significance. The Music House in the school grounds and the 'Crimea Wing' are listed buildings,{{cite web|title=Historic England. Fort Pitt: overview|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1021432|website=historicengland.org.uk|access-date=20 October 2019}} with some of the old hospital ward numbers still visible on the Crimea Wing's walls. It houses a small display of period artefacts, which is open to students and members of the public. Many of the original outer fort walls remain, although part of the old hospital building was destroyed in the 1973 fire.Howard, pp. 30–31.

Today Fort Pitt is one of six selective schools located in the Medway towns. Accredited by the Prince's Trust Teaching Institute{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}, it is a Leading Edge school{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}, a National Support School, and an Initial Teacher Training institution. In its May 2009 report before Fort Pitt left the control of the Medway Council, Ofsted classed Fort Pitt as ‘outstanding’.[https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/23/118798 Ofsted Report: Fort Pitt Grammar School, 2009. Retrieved 20 October 2019.] It and its trusts have not been inspected since.{{cite web |last1=Ofsted Communications Team |title=Find an inspection report and registered childcare |url=https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/23/136337 |website=reports.ofsted.gov.uk |access-date=3 May 2020 |date=16 October 2019}}

{{cite web |title=Fort Pitt Grammar School - GOV.UK |url=https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/Establishments/Establishment/Details/136337 |website=get-information-schools.service.gov.uk |access-date=3 May 2020 |language=en}}

It took up academy status in November 2010 and subsequently sponsored two schools as the Fort Pitt Grammar School Academy Trust. In September 2015 the Trust merged with The Thomas Aveling School to form FPTA Academies (Fort Pitt Thomas Aveling Academies). In 2016 the School was nominated as a Champion School for the National Citizen Service programme.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

The school community is divided into learning groups within each year. All students are also a member of one of the six 'houses')comprising students from Years 7-13. The school is five form entry in Years 7-11, with a co-educational sixth form with a capacity of 240 students. The school offers an accelerated curriculum in a 3-year Key Stage 3 (Years 7,8 & 9) and an extended curriculum in 2 year Key Stage 4 (Years 10-11).{{Cite web |url=http://fortpitt.medway.sch.uk/new/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/PROSPECTUS.pdf |title=School Year 7 Prospectus, 2019. Published : Fort Pitt Retrieved: 20 October 2019 |access-date=20 October 2019 |archive-date=20 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191020214046/http://fortpitt.medway.sch.uk/new/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/PROSPECTUS.pdf |url-status=dead }}

This complies with the requirements of the National Curriculum. In Key Stage 4, students complete English Baccalaureate subjects.

For pastoral, motivational and competitive purposes, Fort Pitt divides its students into six houses. They are named after famous and inspirational people:

• Aderin (house colour yellow; named after Maggie Aderin-Pocock, a Nigerian-British space scientist)
• Angelou (house colour orange; named after Maya Angelou, American poet, author, and civil rights activist)
• Attenborough (house colour green; named after David Attenborough, British broadcaster and naturalist)
• Kahlo (house colour blue; named after Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter)
• Mandela (house colour red; named after Nelson Mandela, President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999)

• Naushabah Khan, Labour politician and Member of Parliament for Gillingham and Rainham.{{Cite web|url=https://theorg.com/org/st-mungo-community-housing-association/org-chart/naushabah-khan|title=Naushabah Khan Director Of Policy And Communications at St Mungo's|website=The Org|accessdate=8 July 2024}}

• Julie Keeble, competitive ice dancer.

• [https://issuu.com/fpgslibrary/docs/fort_pitt_booklet Howard, Joan ''Fort Pitt: Chatham's unique site: designed to protect; adapted to save; modified to educate.], (2015). Retrieved: 20 October 2019

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.fortpitt.medway.sch.uk Fort Pitt Grammar School for Girls]
• [https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/136337/fort-pitt-grammar-school/secondary Information on Fort Pitt School on GOV.UK]

{{Schools in Kent}}

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Category:Arson in 1973

Category:School buildings in the United Kingdom destroyed by arson

Category:Girls' schools in Kent

Category:Grammar schools in Medway

Category:Academies in Medway