Colchester County High School

Colchester County High School for Girls is a selective girls' grammar school with academy status in Colchester, Essex. The school consistently scores highly in the league tables for the UK. It was joint first in the country in the 2018 secondary GCSE league tables, and ninth in the country in the 2015 A-Level league tables. Entrance to Year 7 is by an academic selection test, the Eleven Plus. Entrance into Year 12 is by GCSE grades, although priority is given to pre-existing pupils.

History 
The school was originally located in the Albert Hall in the High Street (now the Co-operative Bank), until its intended premises at the top of North Hill (now the Sixth Form College) were completed. Later, the lower school moved to Greyfriars on East Hill and, in 1957, moved to new buildings in Norman Way, off Lexden Road. Most of the buildings are unchanged, but an extension, including new Science laboratories and Sixth Form facilities was added in 2002. The 'mSchool' was added between 2006 and 2009, with new facilities for Music, Mathematics and the Mind; its 'iLab' (innovation laboratory) is one of the few in the UK outside a University.

Currently, the school is undergoing a 'Big Build'. The project includes a dining hall extension, which was completed in 2016; new classrooms, including a new healthy living studio; a new sixth form centre with a lecture theatre and an IT suite, both completed in 2018; and a new sports hall and 25-metre indoor swimming pool with changing rooms, which are both currently being built. In 2017, the top floor of the science block, or 'S-block’, was refurbished to facilitate the Colchester Teacher Training Consortium (CTTC).

It was founded in 1909 as a girls' school for Colchester, and subsequently became a grammar school admitting girls from North East Essex and beyond on the basis of an 11+ selection test. The school is situated a mile to the west of central Colchester, and celebrated its centenary in 2009–2010.

Specialisms 
The school was one of the first Science Specialist Schools in the country. It later became a specialist Modern Language school too, teaching French and German as well as Latin.

School motto 
Wisdom Giveth Life has been the school's motto since the school opened in 1909. This reading is still included in the traditional school assembly at the start of each academic year:

Notable alumni 

 Charlotte Atkins – MP for Staffordshire Moorlands
 Helen Boaden, director, BBC News
 Pamela Brown – writer
 Georgina Cates – actor (born Clare Woodgate)
 Beth Chatto – gardener
 Saskia Clark – GB Olympic Gold Medal Winning Sailor
 Stella Creasy – MP for Walthamstow
 Christine Davies  Professor of Physics at the University of Glasgow
 Helen Mary Jones – member for Llanelli of National Assembly for Wales

References 

Category:Girls' schools in Essex
Category:Grammar schools in Essex
Category:Educational institutions established in 1909
Category:1909 establishments in England
Category:Academies in Essex
Category:Schools in Colchester (town)