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Diss Grammar School, blazer badge graphic, ca 1965

Diss Grammar School, the building soon after construction, ca 1908.

Diss Grammar School, formerly Diss Secondary School.

Introduction:

Diss Grammar School (DGS) was situated immediately to the west of Shelfanger Road, Diss, Norfolk, UK and its junction with Sunnyside. It was bounded by Factory Lane to the north and Louie's Lane to the west.

Caveat:

Any reference on this page to Diss Secondary School is a reference to the school that existed on the same site before Diss Grammar School. It is not to be confused with Diss Secondary Modern School (now Diss High School) which was in Walcot Road about 1km away.

Short history:

Early School (ca 1711-?) > Robinson's Ladies School (ca 1881-1908) > Diss Secondary School (ca 1908-1953) > Diss Grammar School (1953-1990) > Diss High School.

Fuller history:

1711 (1736) - Charity School, Palgrave

The earliest records for a school in Diss, Norfolk, UK are:

• History of Norfolk/Volume 1/Diss by Francis Blomefield, in which he mentions a charity school opened in Palgrave, Suffolk, in 1711 and moved to Diss two years later. See sections [32] and [37] or search for 'charity school'

1850 - Robinson's Ladies School

Diss Secondary School (DSS), the forerunner of Diss Grammar School (DGS), was preceded by an establishment known as Robinson's Ladies School. It was opened in about 1850 and run by Miss Elizabeth Robinson and her sister Rose. At the time of the 1881 census Miss Elizabeth, then aged 70, was still in charge but two years later her younger sister Mary Ann had taken over.

It seems the ladies' school was never overpopulated. Census returns show the pupillage varying from two to seven. This school closed around 1904-08. The Diss Grammar School song, "The Dyssean", comments on this in its first verse:

"The Dyssean", by Clifton Day.

In many towns a school there is,

This year of grace nineteen-nought-eight.

No place of learning is in Diss,

Bewailed the citizens their fate.

1908 - Diss Secondary School

A new school was built in 1908 on land donated by Francis Taylor MP, father of Rear Admiral A.H.Taylor, on the Shelfanger Road, next to Aldrich's brush factory. It was called Diss Secondary School.

Miss Dixon was the Matron of 'Uplands', a large house in the 1920s on Walcot Road for boarders. It was also used in the early days for domestic science classes and as a hospital for mentally disturbed German prisoners of war during WWI. Uplands remains as one of the entrances to Diss High School, the former secondary modern and later comprehensive school.

1930 - Playing Field

When DSS acquired a large field further along Shelfanger Road in the 1930s work was carried out by boys in the Vth and VIth forms: poplar saplings were planted around the perimeter. A cricket square was marked out, a football pitch prepared and a wooden cricket pavilion built with the help of the woodwork master. The original playing field to north of the school buildings was reserved for hockey and the annual sports day.

1936 - Pupilage

There were just over 200 pupils – both boys and girls — at DSS, and some paid fees. Most of them came from the Church School or the Council School.

1939-1941 - Evacuees

Uplands in 1939 was used for schooling of evacuees, 8-11 year-olds from Edmunton and Gravesend. Later on it was used as a nursing home for WWII injured personnel and as an anti-aircraft battery.

Due to the influx of wartime evacuees from larger cities and coastal ports, DSS had two forms in each year for the first time.

1950s - Secondary Modern School

Uplands in the 1950s was converted into flats for teachers at the Secondary Modern School built in 1953. This was when Diss Secondary School was renamed Diss Grammar School.

1960s - Eye Grammar School

In the early 1960s there were only about 200 pupils at DGS but in 1965, with the closure of Eye Grammar School, the number rose to 350. Not all Eye pupils came to Diss; some went to Stowmarket. A major extension to the school was built, covering the grass playing field to the north of the site and adding a two-storey block plus a covered walkway to the original Victorian-style group of buildings. More land to the south of the school was obtained and made into a playing field.

1980s - Diss High School

In the 1980/81 school year, pupils and teachers started to transfer to the now-renamed Diss High School or to the Sixth Form College – both in Walcot Road. Diss High School operated on both sites for existing pupils. New pupils only went to the Diss High School proper. The old Diss Grammar School buildings were called 'Taylor Hall' for this short period.

1990s - Demolition

When the comprehensive school opened, the grammar school became an anachronism and was demolished to make way for housing. The only reference to the former school is a road called Scholars Walk [sic].

Diss Secondary School / Diss Grammar School survived for 70 years. Plans to turn the building into a community centre came to nothing and it was demolished in 1991.

The Eye Grammar School buildings survive as the town's primary school.

Notable Alumni

Pupils:

• Ralph Howell Politician
• Eric Nicoli Businessman
• Christopher Dalliston Church of England clergyman
• Kathleen Bass MBE

Teachers:

• John Herbert Babington OBE GC was headmaster between 1947 and 1951.
• James Henry Govier Painter and etcher taught art between 1965 and 1972 after it merged with the grammar school in Eye.
• Roger Deakin Writer and environmentalist taught English between 1974 and 1978.

External links

• The Old Dyssean Society has more information including class lists, teachers lists, photographs, videos and anecdotes.
• The Eye Grammar Old Students' Association (EGOSA) has more information.
• Some notable people educated at Diss Grammar School. For more listings see the Old Dyssean Society's Listings Pages.
• More references to schools in Diss Kelly's Directory for Cambridgeshire, Norfolk & Suffolk, 1883, pp. 294-298..
• Diss High School.