Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School

Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School (SJWMS) is an all boys' grammar school with academy status in Rochester, Kent, and a co-ed sixthform, also referred to as Rochester Math or The Math School. The school was founded by the statesman Sir Joseph Williamson (1633–1701), lord of the nearby Manor of Cobham, Kent, who, in his will, bequeathed £5,000 to set up the school. The school was termed a mathematical school because it specialised in teaching navigation and mathematics to the sons of Freemen of the City of Rochester, the Chatham Naval Dockyard being nearby. History The first building was in 1708 when a "school house" was built in part of the filled-up moat outside the city walls. In 1840 additional rooms were constructed and in both 1882 and 1893, additions were made. In the late 1960s, the buildings were demolished, and the site is now a car park next to a nightclub. The school's playing fields and swimming pool were originally by the River Medway off Rochester Esplanade; they are now off Maidstone Road, Rochester, next to the area known as Priestfields (not to be confused with Gillingham FC's stadium, Priestfield). An annexe (now known as P block) was built at the Maidstone Road site in the 1950s, housing only the second and third years. By the early 1960s, the entire first and second years, and 3A and 3B were located there and 3G and 3L moved to the temporary buildings in the upper yard at the High Street site. In autumn 1968, the whole school moved to a new building on the site. Initially, this featured a main block, hall, sports hall, gymnasium, 25-metre indoor swimming pool and science block. The school's music block was expanded in 2005 to include a new teaching room and several new practice rooms. In the 1990s, a sixth-form centre was constructed, and at the turn of the century, a maths block was created upon the old staff car park. The sixth-form centre houses a series of classrooms for the use of pupils throughout the school. There are still two sets of temporary classrooms. The school also has sports facilities, including an artificial turf pitch for hockey, two cricket pitches, tennis courts, football and rugby pitches, as well as the swimming pool, gym, and sports hall. A new mathematics centre was opened in 2002, in line with the Math's new status as a specialist school for maths and computing. In 2006 the school scrapped its A-level computing course, despite having received specialist funding to teach the subject.