The Manchester Grammar School (MGS) in Manchester, England, is the largest private day school for boys in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1515 as a free grammar school next to Manchester Parish Church,[3][4] it moved in 1931 to its present site at Rusholme. In accordance with its founder's wishes, MGS remains a predominantly academic school and belongs to the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.
In the post-war period, MGS was a direct-grant grammar school. It chose to become an independent school in 1976 after the Labour government abolished the Direct Grant System.[5] Fees for 2023-2024 were £15,180 per annum.[6]
The school's motto is Sapere Aude ("Dare to be Wise"), which was also the motto of the council of the former County Borough of Oldham (now, with the same coat of arms, the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham),[3] granted on 7 November 1894. Sapere aude is a quotation from Horace, famously used by Immanuel Kant and also the motto of the Enlightenment.[7]
The Senior School badge is an outline of an owl, carrying a banner with the word "dom" on it. This is a heraldic "canting" reference to its founder, Hugh Oldham, and the badge should be read as "owl-dom". This suggests that he pronounced his name, as the local accent in Oldham still tends to do, as "Ow[l]dem". Owls are also to be seen in the shield of the Borough of Oldham.[7]
There is possibly a second significance to the "dom" of which Hugh Oldham, as a bishop, would have been very well aware. D.O.M. was and is a standard abbreviation for Deo Optimo Maximo meaning "To God, the Best and the Greatest", a phrase of dedication often required to be written by schoolboys before the Reformation and in Roman Catholic education since, at the head of a new piece of work, a practice continued into adult life by many as they committed a new undertaking into God's hands. This badge replaced the original one when the school colours changed from red, black and yellow to dark and light blue to reflect its connection with the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
The Junior School badge, which depicts the face of an owl, was introduced to blazers and ties in 2008.[7]