- GCS, founded in 1905 as an all-girls grammar school, opened its doors to boys in 1978 and converted to an academy in 2013. Its convenient location, 200m from Guildford railway station, from where trains reach London in as little as 30 minutes, is a key attraction.
- Since 2004 it has enjoyed specialist music college status and enthusiastic patronage from the cellist and conductor Julian Lloyd Webber, who has endorsed the successful Reediscovery and Brass schemes designed to tackle a national shortage of double reed instruments (such as the bassoon and oboe) and trombones.
- The Castle framework underpins the school’s approach and feeds into its creed, emphasising qualities such as custodianship, ambition and standards. The castle symbol represents strength and safety.
- Continuing the regal theme, the school organises students into six houses named after royal households: Hanover, Stuart, Lancaster, Tudor, Windsor and York.
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