Harrogate Grammar School
Encyclopedia
Harrogate Grammar School is a specialist Language
and Technology College
in Harrogate
, North Yorkshire
, England. It has about 1700 pupils and there are about 400 pupils in the sixth form
. The current headmaster is Richard Sheriff who became the full time headmaster of the school in January 2007.
status in 1931 the school had long since outgrown its premises as the original roll of 44 pupils had grown to 666. Work began on the 'new' Grammar School in Arthurs Avenue, to which the staff and pupils transferred in 1933.
To keep pace with these numbers there have been various periods of building expansion, notably in the 1970s with the addition of a sports hall, gymnasium, music, technology facilities.
In 1973 the school became a Comprehensive School
, but the headmaster at the time,a Mr Ernest G. Hill, was not in favour of the comprehensive school system and began a campaign for the school to retain at least its grammar school name rather than be called Otley Road Comprehensive as an accurate reflection of its new status. After a lengthy battle with the local authority the school won its bid to retain its name and is still known as Harrogate 'Grammar School' today.
Between 1976-77 a new sports hall was built together with a new classroom block.This eventually enabled the removal of the 'temporary' portacabin classrooms situated in the old playground. An 'all weather' shale pitch, primarily for hockey, was created at the Otley Road end of the playing field. Almost contemporaneously, a new Sixth Form block,including a common room,a new library and new science labs was added,these were situated to the rear and eastern aspect of the school. This has recently been further extended. A humanities building was added in the 1990s. A new-build library and IT
suite were opened in July 2006. Temporary Classrooms for the Sixth Form were added in October 2006, and these are expected to stay on the School grounds until the new sixth form arrangements have been built.
The sports space has also been slightly improved. The boys changing facilities were improved in 2007 and in 2008, a new fitness suite was built, which sixth formers can access in free period, lunchtimes and after schools. The 'old' gym has also been converted to a dance/yoga studio. In the very near future, HGS also hopes to join many of the other schools in the Harrogate area by having its own Astroturf pitch. The School were extremely close to having one back in 1995 when Harrogate Hockey Club was looking for a suitable base for its teams. However, complaints from the Arthurs Avenue residents meant this plan was relocated (annoyingly for the pupils) to Harrogate High School
.
The drama department now has the old Library as the Library Theatre. This state of the art space has lighting but also scaffolding and blocks. Most of the course assessments as well as some of the productions, now take place in there.
In 2010, Harrogate Grammar School opened their new Sixth Form block for its ever expanding higher education 16-19 section. The Sixth Form has a lecture theatre with seating up to 300, as well as a number of classrooms. The new building replaces the old temporary classrooms that adjoined with the Arthur's Avenue nursery which were knocked down.
and was invited to take on a second specialism in technology.
Physical Education
is compulsory from Year 7-11. There is the option to take the subject for GCSE and A-level. Students have the option to gain a Junior Sports Leader Award or Step into Sport qualification.
Extra-curricular sport available currently includes:
Qualifications taught in the sixth form include GCE Advanced Subsidiary Level Qualifications, the GCE Advanced Level Qualifications and the increasingly popular International Baccalaureate diploma, although the IB option is unlikely to be offered from September 2009 onwards. There is also the option to retake Maths and English GCSE if students choose to.
The sixth form includes a study centre, 19 classrooms and also a dining facility called "The Gate" which is run and maintained by the canteen staff. It sells various foods such as panini, bagel
s and pizza
. This dining facility is exclusive to the Sixth form.
New plans have been made for extended sixth form accommodation. This will be built within the next two years and will include extra teaching space, seven new classrooms and a 300 seated Lecture Theatre.
There was doubt of the continuation of the magazine, however an outside source is now running the magazine.
Students in all year groups from each House system have the chance to represent their House in a large number of Sport, Writing, Art, Music and drama activities that take place across the School Academic year.
The current holders of the House Shield are Aqua House who were captained to victory in the 2008-2009 year, winning by just 1/2 a point.
paid £
6000 in an out-of-court settlement to John Carnell, a former pupil who claimed that Harrogate Grammar School persistently failed to protect him from bullying. The school denied these claims and now has an Anti-Bullying Policy in place, which can be inspected on request. In 1999 John Carnell and his mother Liz Carnell founded the charity Bullying Online, now Bullying UK.
was established at the school by the Air League of the British Empire
. The squadron has since moved to separate premises and no longer has an association with the school. However, there are still several students from the school who are active cadets at the squadron.
The main fundraising event in the school year is the "charities week", when a variety of fundraising activities take place. Previous activities have included a talent show, teachers' fashion show, a Stars in Their Eyes
-style competition, bake sale and sponsored hair shaving. Traditionally a sponsored stay awake where pupils attempt to remain awake over night in the school is the closing event of the charities week.
In the past the school has supported the following charities:
Language College
Language Colleges were introduced in 1995 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enables secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, modern foreign languages...
and Technology College
Technology College
Technology College is a term used in the United Kingdom for a secondary specialist school that focuses on design and technology, mathematics and science. These were the first type of specialist schools, beginning in 1994. In 2008 there were 598 Technology Colleges in England, of which 12 also...
in Harrogate
Harrogate
Harrogate is a spa town in North Yorkshire, England. The town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa waters, RHS Harlow Carr gardens, and Betty's Tea Rooms. From the town one can explore the nearby Yorkshire Dales national park. Harrogate originated in the 17th...
, North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
, England. It has about 1700 pupils and there are about 400 pupils in the sixth form
Sixth form
In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...
. The current headmaster is Richard Sheriff who became the full time headmaster of the school in January 2007.
Early history
Harrogate Grammar School was founded in 1903 as the Municipal Secondary Day School of Harrogate. Its original premises were simply a collection of rented rooms in Haywra Crescent. By the time the school achieved Grammar SchoolGrammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
status in 1931 the school had long since outgrown its premises as the original roll of 44 pupils had grown to 666. Work began on the 'new' Grammar School in Arthurs Avenue, to which the staff and pupils transferred in 1933.
Expansion
During World War II evacuees poured in to Harrogate from the cities. This swelled the roll at the school to 900, still a small number compared with the current roll of 1337 (as of 2006).To keep pace with these numbers there have been various periods of building expansion, notably in the 1970s with the addition of a sports hall, gymnasium, music, technology facilities.
In 1973 the school became a Comprehensive School
Comprehensive school
A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...
, but the headmaster at the time,a Mr Ernest G. Hill, was not in favour of the comprehensive school system and began a campaign for the school to retain at least its grammar school name rather than be called Otley Road Comprehensive as an accurate reflection of its new status. After a lengthy battle with the local authority the school won its bid to retain its name and is still known as Harrogate 'Grammar School' today.
Between 1976-77 a new sports hall was built together with a new classroom block.This eventually enabled the removal of the 'temporary' portacabin classrooms situated in the old playground. An 'all weather' shale pitch, primarily for hockey, was created at the Otley Road end of the playing field. Almost contemporaneously, a new Sixth Form block,including a common room,a new library and new science labs was added,these were situated to the rear and eastern aspect of the school. This has recently been further extended. A humanities building was added in the 1990s. A new-build library and IT
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
suite were opened in July 2006. Temporary Classrooms for the Sixth Form were added in October 2006, and these are expected to stay on the School grounds until the new sixth form arrangements have been built.
The sports space has also been slightly improved. The boys changing facilities were improved in 2007 and in 2008, a new fitness suite was built, which sixth formers can access in free period, lunchtimes and after schools. The 'old' gym has also been converted to a dance/yoga studio. In the very near future, HGS also hopes to join many of the other schools in the Harrogate area by having its own Astroturf pitch. The School were extremely close to having one back in 1995 when Harrogate Hockey Club was looking for a suitable base for its teams. However, complaints from the Arthurs Avenue residents meant this plan was relocated (annoyingly for the pupils) to Harrogate High School
Harrogate High School
Harrogate High School is a secondary school in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. It has about 1,000 students on roll and approximately 85 full-time teaching staff. The school has been awarded specialist Sports College status...
.
The drama department now has the old Library as the Library Theatre. This state of the art space has lighting but also scaffolding and blocks. Most of the course assessments as well as some of the productions, now take place in there.
In 2010, Harrogate Grammar School opened their new Sixth Form block for its ever expanding higher education 16-19 section. The Sixth Form has a lecture theatre with seating up to 300, as well as a number of classrooms. The new building replaces the old temporary classrooms that adjoined with the Arthur's Avenue nursery which were knocked down.
Specialist status
In 2002 Harrogate Grammar School acquired Specialist Language Status and now enjoys state-of-the-art language-learning facilities as well as the services of six native speaker language assistants each year. In 2006 the school was recognised as an extremely successful specialist schoolSpecialist school
The specialist schools programme was a UK government initiative which encouraged secondary schools in England to specialise in certain areas of the curriculum to boost achievement. The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust was responsible for the delivery of the programme...
and was invited to take on a second specialism in technology.
Motto
The school shares its motto with the town of Harrogate. "Arx Celebris Fontibus" translates from Latin as "A citadel famous for its springs".Sport
Physical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
is compulsory from Year 7-11. There is the option to take the subject for GCSE and A-level. Students have the option to gain a Junior Sports Leader Award or Step into Sport qualification.
Extra-curricular sport available currently includes:
- Rugby (All Years Boys/Year 10 and 11 Girls)
- Football (All Years Boys/Year 7 and 8 Girls)
- Netball (All Years Girls)
- Hockey (All Years Girls/Year 7-11 Boys)
- Badminton (Year 7-11 Boys and Girls)
- Cross Country Running (All Years Boys and Girls)
- Basketball (All Years Boys)
- Tennis (Year 7-10 Boys and Girls)
- Cricket (Year 7-10 Boys)
- Athletics (Year 7-10 Boys and Girls)
- Rounders (Year 7-10 Girls)
- Yoga (all years)
Sixth form
The school has undergone a period of growth in its sixth form and now has a roll of 460 students. The increased provision for sixth form began in the 1980s when a dedicated sixth form block was added. Increasing numbers has meant that the sixth form accommodation has been extended in recent years; with the latest addition being a number of temporary classrooms which were installed in late 2006. In 2008 the school acquired planning permission to remove the temporary classrooms and replace them with a permanent structure.Qualifications taught in the sixth form include GCE Advanced Subsidiary Level Qualifications, the GCE Advanced Level Qualifications and the increasingly popular International Baccalaureate diploma, although the IB option is unlikely to be offered from September 2009 onwards. There is also the option to retake Maths and English GCSE if students choose to.
The sixth form includes a study centre, 19 classrooms and also a dining facility called "The Gate" which is run and maintained by the canteen staff. It sells various foods such as panini, bagel
Bagel
A bagel is a bread product, traditionally shaped by hand into the form of a ring from yeasted wheat dough, roughly hand-sized, which is first boiled for a short time in water and then baked. The result is a dense, chewy, doughy interior with a browned and sometimes crisp exterior...
s and pizza
Pizza
Pizza is an oven-baked, flat, disc-shaped bread typically topped with a tomato sauce, cheese and various toppings.Originating in Italy, from the Neapolitan cuisine, the dish has become popular in many parts of the world. An establishment that makes and sells pizzas is called a "pizzeria"...
. This dining facility is exclusive to the Sixth form.
New plans have been made for extended sixth form accommodation. This will be built within the next two years and will include extra teaching space, seven new classrooms and a 300 seated Lecture Theatre.
The LINK
The School runs a magazine called 'The LINK'. This was the brainchild of the former headmistress, Mary Dance who along with Mrs Cross decided on a publication that would be erstwhile to the school community. The team has changed radically in many years, but has always been committed.There was doubt of the continuation of the magazine, however an outside source is now running the magazine.
House system
The School operates a House system. The School originally introduced the House system in the 1950s but it was then scrapped for a variety of reasons. It was however resurrected in 2001. The Houses consist of: Ignis, Terra, Ventus and Aqua. Pre-2009 the house were simply called Red, Blue, Green, Yellow. Originally the houses were named Tudor, Stuart, Windsor and York.Students in all year groups from each House system have the chance to represent their House in a large number of Sport, Writing, Art, Music and drama activities that take place across the School Academic year.
The current holders of the House Shield are Aqua House who were captained to victory in the 2008-2009 year, winning by just 1/2 a point.
Bullying
In 1999, North Yorkshire County CouncilCounty council
A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries.-United Kingdom:...
paid £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
6000 in an out-of-court settlement to John Carnell, a former pupil who claimed that Harrogate Grammar School persistently failed to protect him from bullying. The school denied these claims and now has an Anti-Bullying Policy in place, which can be inspected on request. In 1999 John Carnell and his mother Liz Carnell founded the charity Bullying Online, now Bullying UK.
Air Training Corps
On 17 February 1939 No 58 (Harrogate) Squadron of the Air Defence Cadet CorpsAir Defence Cadet Corps
In 1938, Air Commodore Chamier's plan to form an Air Defence Cadet Corps came to fruition. His idea was to attract and train young men who had an interest in aviation, from all over the country...
was established at the school by the Air League of the British Empire
Air League
For the Air League , see Australian Air LeagueThe Air League is an aviation society in the United Kingdom, founded in 1909.The aims and mission of the Air League are to promote the cause of British aviation by:...
. The squadron has since moved to separate premises and no longer has an association with the school. However, there are still several students from the school who are active cadets at the squadron.
Charity work
The school is involved with fundraising for charitable causes and raises several thousand pounds each year. The annual charity is selected by a charities committee composed of a selection of staff and students. The same committee organises and oversees the school's fundraising activities.The main fundraising event in the school year is the "charities week", when a variety of fundraising activities take place. Previous activities have included a talent show, teachers' fashion show, a Stars in Their Eyes
Stars In Their Eyes
Stars in Their Eyes is a British television talent show that ran on Saturdays nights from 21 July 1990 until 23 December 2006 in which contestants impersonate showbiz stars...
-style competition, bake sale and sponsored hair shaving. Traditionally a sponsored stay awake where pupils attempt to remain awake over night in the school is the closing event of the charities week.
In the past the school has supported the following charities:
- Send a Cow appeal - 2006
- Teenage Cancer TrustTeenage Cancer TrustTeenage Cancer Trust is a charity that focuses on the needs of teenagers and young adults with cancer, leukaemia, Hodgkin’s and related diseases by providing specialist teenage units in NHS hospitals. The units are dedicated areas for teenage patients, who are involved in their concept and creation...
- 2007 - Lights For LearningLights For LearningLights For Learning is a British based charity founded in 2000. They provide solar powered electric lighting to places of education with no access to artificial light, mainly in rural African schools. The organisation received registered charity status in 2004 and has now fitted schools in several...
- 2008 - Harrogate homeless project - 2009
- Vamos in mexico - 2010
- Harrogate Hospital and Community Friends 2011 - fundraising events are well under way and we are on track to be able to buy "Thomas" - the new food trolly for the childrens ward at Harrogate Hospital.
Notable alumni
- Jenny DuncalfJenny DuncalfJennifer Duncalf is a professional squash player from England.As a junior player, Duncalf won the European Junior Championship title. Duncalf won the European Individual Championship title in 2006 and 2007, and the British National Championship title in 2007 and 2009...
- Professional squash player: Current British National Championship holder - Matthew ParishMatthew ParishMatthew Parish is a lawyer and scholar of international relations. He is best known for his writings about the politics of the western Balkans, in particular his prediction of the secession of Republika Srpska from Bosnia and Herzegovina and his criticisms of the international community's presence...
- Lawyer and scholar of international relations - Martyn WoodMartyn WoodMartyn Benjamin Wood is a former England international rugby union player.-External links:*...
- Ex rugby professional star. - Hugo SpeerHugo SpeerHugo Speer is an English actor.He was born in Harrogate, Yorkshire, and educated at Harrogate Grammar School. He studied acting at The Arts Educational School....
- Professional actor who has appeared in The BillThe BillThe Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
, Heartbeat and most notably The Full MontyThe Full MontyThe Full Monty is a 1997 British comedy film directed by Peter Cattaneo, starring Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, William Snape, Steve Huison, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Barber, and Hugo Speer. The screenplay was written by Simon Beaufoy... - Liam Greaves - Senior Green Party of England and WalesGreen Party of England and WalesThe Green Party of England and Wales is a political party in England and Wales which follows the traditions of Green politics and maintains a strong commitment to social progressivism. It is the largest Green party in the United Kingdom, containing within it various regional divisions including...
MP and LGBTLGBTLGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
rights supporter. - Andrew BronsAndrew BronsAndrew Henry William Brons is a British politician. Long active in far right politics in Britain, he was elected as a Member of the European Parliament for Yorkshire and the Humber for the British National Party at the 2009 European Parliament election...
, British National PartyBritish National PartyThe British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...
MEP, former National FrontNational FrontThe name National Front is used by a number of political parties and coalitions.* Albania — National Front * Belarus — Partyja BPF* Belgium — National Front * Botswana — Botswana National Front...
leader - Phil SwainstonPhil SwainstonPhilip Swainston is an English professional rugby union player for Leeds Carnegie. Swainstown has represented England under 16s and 18s, also made his debut for Leeds against Birmingham Solihull. His former clubs were Otley R.U.F.C., Rotherham Titans and Harrogate RUFC where he attended Harrogate...
- England Youth International, member of Leeds Carnegie Academy and Harrogate Rugby Club 1st XV Squad member - Tony LecomberTony LecomberAnthony "Tony" Mark Lecomber is a former Group Development Director for the British National Party.-Background:Lecomber has been active in far-right politics since the early 1980s...
- senior British National PartyBritish National PartyThe British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...
member and convicted criminal. - Daniel Birch - music journalist