PGS Christmas Concert 2024 at St Thomas’ Cathedral
The school’s co-curriculum offers a diverse range of clubs and activities, including Sports, Music, Drama, Outdoor Pursuits, Chess, Debating, Dance, and Climbing. Furthermore, pupils are encouraged to take the initiative to create their own clubs if they find their interests are not yet represented. For instance, this year, pupils have founded a Classics and Antiquity Society and a Sixth Form Discourse Club, while in previous years, a Warhammer Club was successfully established by students.
The Portsmouth Grammar School also fosters a vibrant and supportive House system that thrives on healthy competition. Pupils enthusiastically represent their Houses in a variety of events, from traditional highlights such as Sports Day and House Shout to creative and intellectual challenges like House Photography, House Chess, and House Drama.
Whatever your passion, you ’ re bound to find a club or society to match your interests in the PGS co-curriculum. It’s a fantastic way to make friends, have fun, and hone your skills.
The Portsmouth Point is an exciting platform for pupils to explore and share their ideas. We have an online blog, added to weekly, and a magazine, published twice a year. Editors can contribute anything they like- essays, reviews, poetry, photography and art. Each week we also select a piece to be shared with the entire school community by email and on the school website. Be on the look out for our latest magazine 'Beauty' next time you are in school!
We would like to invite you to experience some of what makes PGS such a special place to learn and be part of our community. This booklet includes some events that we would be delighted to see you at over the coming months.
Music
Music holds a central place in the life of PGS. We are proud to have an inclusive, vibrant and busy department and believe that musical opportunities must be available for all pupils at whatever stage in their musical journey, whether they are diploma-level music scholars or just starting to learn their first instrument.
We currently offer around 30 ensembles each week in the senior school and encourage all pupils to engage in playing with others, both to build essential musical skills, but also to foster a genuine sense of community in the department and the school. The whole school gets involved with the annual House Shout and the House Music Competitions.
We are proud of our partnership work and regularly collaborate with the Gabrieli Consort as part of the nationwide ROAR singing projects. Closer to home we often support the work of the Cathedral Sing! project, and our older musicians spend time in local primary schools helping to teach sessions and performing in assemblies. We also have our own Community Choir which is open to anybody, including a number of current and former parents and staff.
Spring Term Events
January Saturday 18 January 14:00 - 16:00
John Pounds Music Scholars’ Recital, Rotunda at PGS
Thursday 23 January 17:30 - 19:00 Teatime Concert, Rotunda at PGS
Tuesday 28 January 17:45 - 18:30
Joint Evensong at St Thomas’ Cathedral, Old Portsmouth
Wednesday 29 January 18:00 - 19:00 Years 7 & 8 Evening Recital, Rotunda at PGS
February Monday 10 February tbc
Changing Voices Evensong, Guildford Cathedral
March Wednesday 5 March 19:00 - 21:30 House Music, David Russell Theatre at PGS
Wednesday 12 March tbc
Thursday 13 March 17:30 - 18:30
Joint Evensong with The Prebendal School, Chichester Cathedral
Exam Candidate Teatime Concert, Rotunda at PGS
Wednesday 19 March 19:00 - 21:00 Spring Concert, David Russell Theatre at PGS
Friday 21 March tbc
Saturday 22 March tbc
April Wednesday 2 April 19:00 - 21:00
Community Choir
Tuesday 14 & 21 January, 19:00 Rotunda at PGS
Choral Workshop with Gesualdo Six
‘Messy Messiah’ at St Thomas’ Cathedral, Old Portsmouth
Gala Concert, St Thomas’ Cathedral, Old Portsmouth
Tuesday 4, 11 & 25 February, 19:00 Rotunda at PGS
Tuesday 4, 18 & 25 March, 19:00 Rotunda at PGS
Drama
Drama at PGSis about creating excellent theatre in lessons and on stage whilst developing and nurturing the pupils' ability to collaborate and socialise in a purposeful, fulfilling and creative environment. Academic Drama develops key skills from Year 7 upwards, using a wide range of resources and scripts to provide a platform for exploration, discussion, interpretation and evaluation. The Department aims to challenge and stimulate, encouraging application and rigour from our pupils as well as creativity and play. KS3 is an effective preparation for GCSE, covering the principles of examined Drama via a variety of imaginative and engaging units, and the set texts and productions explored at GCSE pave the way for the enhanced demands of A Level. Pupils enjoy their lessons hugely, showing engagement and a desire to improve, and this is reflected in the Department's excellent results.
Co-curricular productions are both a stand-alone strength, and an effective compliment to academic teaching, boosting confidence and technique. PGS has produced some outstanding productions over the years, within school, at the New Theatre Royal and Kings Theatre, and further afield at the Edinburgh and Avignon Festivals. The programme is a mixture of large-scale musicals, plays and somewhere in between - our most recent show, A Midsummer Night's Dream Rocks, fused Shakespeare, contemporary rock and pop and live film to thrilling effect. The objective is always to provide pupils with opportunity for involvement and development, and PGS Drama has been fortunate to work with some outstanding pupils in performance and technical theatre. Having already produced the above production at the New Theatre Royal, as well as House Drama in the David Russell Theatre onsite, the rest of the year brings A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-timefor Years 9-11, Sister Act Jnrfor Years 7-8, andOne Man Two Guvnors for the Sixth Form Play, directed and performed by Year 12 pupils.
As you can see, Drama at PGS has been thriving for some time, and continues to be a high point for the many pupils who get involved.
Dates for Your Diary
Please do come along and see our fantastic productions:
26th to 28th March, 19:00
A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime
David Russell Theatre, PGS
21st to 23rd May, 19:00
Sister Act Jnr
David Russell Theatre, PGS
Booking details for both of these will be sent to you nearer the time by the Admissions team.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream Rocks at the New Theatre Royal this year
Sport
Welcome to PGS Sport! We are very proud of our sporting history at the school, yet we are continually driven to improve the capabilities and experiences of all pupils through sport and physical activity in the years to come. We want all pupils to flourish to their highest potential within sport, both during and beyond their time at PGS, in line with the school’s ‘Life at 25’ ethos, and we are very much hope that you have choose to be with us for the journey!
To enable pupils to further develop their skills and experiences beyond our core PE and Games Curriculum, we run a comprehensive programme of after school sports training throughout the year, alongside our weekly sports fixtures, and we would hope that all pupils are keen to represent the school within the sports teams. Matches are played every Saturday, and as such, Saturday sport becomes an extension of the school week for many pupils and parents.
Our Sports Scholars and talented athletes also benefit from an athletic screening process with our superb team from South Coast Rx Physiotherapy and the Strength and Conditioning Department at the University of Portsmouth, along with talks or webinars in a variety of sports performance topics.
Some competitive sport highlights from last year 2023/24:
Athletics - Two athletes qualified for the National Finals, 9 represented Hampshire and 42 represented Portsmouth District. Record attendances at Athletics training.
Rugby - 1st XV made the National Bowl Semi-Final (second year in a row), U15A unbeaten during the regular season and our U18 Girls’ Team played their first fixtures.
Hockey - U13A Boys won the Hampshire Cup.
Netball - U12A&B and U14A won 22 matches and lost only 2 between them.
Cricket - U14A Boys’ made the Hampshire Cup Final, U12A&B Girls’ won 13 matches and lost only 2 between them. Listed in the Top 100 cricket schools in ‘The Cricketer’ magazine.
Tennis - U15 Team won the Hampshire Cup and Regional Final, and qualified for the National Rounds.
Golf - Qualified for the National Schools Team Golf Final, finishing in 3rd place overall.
Squash - U16 Team reached the National Finals (second year in a row) and finished 6th in the UK.
Moving back to the current academic year, on Sunday 9th February 2025, PGS will be hosting the annual South Coast U18 Rugby 7’s Tournament at our Hilsea Playing Fields. This is a top tier competition with many of the very best rugby playing schools in the South (and sometimes further afield) attending. Please do come and watch the day's events with us.
We also have hockey and netball fixtures every Saturday in the Spring Term, to which you are very welcome to watch at any stage.
On Saturday 18th January 2025 in particular we have a series of girls’ netball and boys’ hockey matches vs Embley School at Hilsea Playing Fields - the U12 and U13 Girls will be playing at 10am, with the U18 Girls playing at 11:30am. The U14 Boys will start their match at 9:30am, and they will be followed by the U12 and U13 boys at 10:30am and 11:30am respectively.
South Coast 7s February 2024
Other events
PGS Fireworks
Banish the January blues at our (rescheduled) Firework Spectacular!
There will be food stalls to enjoy while you wait for the fireworks to begin in the wintery Hilsea sky.
Hilsea Playing Fields
Sunday 26 January 2025
Gates open 4:45pm; Fireworks 5:30pm
Click here to book.
Ides of March Lecture with Dr Annelies Cazemier
Thursday 20 March 2025
18:30 - 20:00
David Russell Theatre, PGS
Black Dyke Band
With a heritage stretching back to 1855, the Black Dyke Band’s pedigree is unrivalled. We are delighted to be able to welcome them back to Portsmouth for a concert at St Mary's Church in June 2025. They will be performing alongside PGS Brass during what promises to be a wonderful musical evening.
