Ermysted's Grammar School

Ermysted's Grammar School is a LEA-funded selective boys' Grammar School in Skipton, North Yorkshire, England, with an enrolment of over 800 pupils. It was founded by Peter Toller in the 15th century and is the seventh oldest state school in Britain. The first official record of the school was seen in Peter Toller's will in 1492; the school records its establishment as the same year.The motto of the school is "Suivez La Raison", French for "follow the truth". The school operates a house system with inter-house competition in sports, and an annual house quiz held around Christmas. The four houses—Toller, Ermysted, Petyt, and Hartley—are named after key figures in the school's history. Whilst the school operated a boarding house, its boarders were members of School House which, in later years, was affiliated with Ermysted House for the purposes of inter-house competition.The A-level results of 2006 officially placed it as the best school in Yorkshire, ranking higher than fee-paying schools, and amongst the top 25 nationally. In 2008, it was reported that the school achieved the best Yorkshire state-school A-level exam results.In 2007 the school came 76th in the top 100 UK schools in terms of Oxbridge admissions.The current headmaster is Michael Evans; his predecessor, Graham Hamilton, retired at the end of the 2015-2016 school year.History timelineFounding, eighteenth-century bequests, siting, and land usageIn 1492, Peter Toller's will confirmed that he had already founded a school in his chantry of St Nicholas in the parish church, the school takes this as its founding date. In 1548, Edward VI's government took over all chantry lands. William Ermysted re-founded the school with new lands and moved it to the bottom of Shortbank Road. In 1707 and 1719, the wills of Old Boys William and Sylvester Petyt made bequests to the school, and enabled the foundation of the Petyt Library and Petyt Trust.