History of The Gryphon

The Gryphon School opened in September 1992 as a Dorset County Council voluntary controlled Church of England School. It replaced three former schools – Foster’s, Lord Digby’s and St Aldhelms which had served Sherborne for many years. Lord Digby’s began in 1743 and Fosters in 1640.

The new Headteacher was Mr Chris Shepperd (MA Oxon) and the School opened with 853 students.  The foundation stone for the new school buildings and campus were laid by The Right Reverend John Baker, Lord Bishop of Salisbury on July 23 1993 on the site of St Aldhelms School.  The new school was formally opened by HRH The Duchess of Gloucester GCVO on 15 November 1994.

In 2004 the School became a Specialist School for Business and Enterprise – the first in Dorset. As part of this development The Gryphon Conference Centre was added and opened by HRH The Earl of Wessex KCVO on 28 April 2006. Whilst the specialist school system has ended the School has maintained considerable links with the local community and businesses.

In January 2007 Mr Steve Hillier (MA Cantab) became Headteacher following Chris Shepperd’s appointment as Director of Education for the Diocese of Salisbury.

In November 2010, The Gryphon was judged by OFSTED to be an outstanding school for the first time in its history. There were 35 separate grades in the report and 22 were judged to be outstanding. In the previous Inspection in 2007 only 3 of the grades were outstanding. The Statutory Inspection as an Anglican School also judged the school to be outstanding in the same year.

In 2017 The Gryphon School became a founding member of the Sherborne Area Schools’ Trust (SAST). Jim Gower became Headteacher in April 2024.

The Gryphon School now serves Sherborne and a wide area of North West Dorset and South Somerset. Since 2007 the School has grown significantly from 1400 to 1645 students. There are 9 principal partner primary schools – children come from over 30 schools in total.

The Gryphon name and emblem has particular significance. The Gryphon is the most decorative and symbolic of creatures. Half lion and half eagle it combines the attributes of the king of the beasts and the king of the birds. In ancient times the Gryphon was an animal of the sun and of justice. It was said to guard great treasure – in our case the treasure of education.

The Gryphon is used in the Sherborne town coat of arms and the arms of Roger de Caen, Bishop of Sarum, who built the first Sherborne castle. The lion represents the town’s royal associations and is depicted in the arms of Dorset County Council.

The crozier represents our Church of England status. The colours recreate the colours of the three previous schools – red in the crozier from St Aldhelms, silver in the feathers from Lord Digbys and the gold in the body of the lion from Fosters.