Heckmondwike Grammar School
Encyclopedia
Heckmondwike Grammar School (HGS) is a state selective, coeducational grammar school providing free education, located in Heckmondwike
Heckmondwike
Heckmondwike is a small town in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, which is located geographically at the centre of West Yorkshire, England, south west of Leeds. Close to Cleckheaton and Liversedge, it is part of Cleckheckmondsedge, a name invented by J.B. Priestley to represent a West Riding...

, West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

Admissions

It is a 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...

 and, in addition, has recently acquired Language College
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...

 specialism. The school has approximately 1,250 students aged between 11 and 18 and includes a sixth form. The headmaster of the school is Mr M.Cook. The school's aims are "to achieve the best possible academic standards and to develop those qualities in our pupils which will make them responsible citizens of the future." The school was founded in 1898, and its colours are brown and gold.

Prospective pupils have to pass examinations in verbal reasoning
Verbal reasoning
Verbal reasoning is understanding and reasoning using concepts framed in words. It aims at evaluating ability to think constructively, rather than at simple fluency or vocabulary recognition.-Verbal reasoning intelligence tests:...

 and mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...

 before entry to the school is allowed. Even after the tests only the top 150 pupils get accepted into the school. Schools that can select the very top performers are known as super-selective schools.

HGS also has an annexe, formerly a church hall, which is used for physical education
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....

, and social sciences
Social sciences
Social science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...

 as well as being a secure test area.

History

It was built due to Thomas Redfearn and Samuel Wood, who lived on Eldon Street, and opened on 17 January 1898. Further north in Cleckheaton was Whitcliffe Mount Grammar School (now Whitcliffe Mount School).

It used to be a foundation school
Foundation school
In England and Wales, a foundation school is a state-funded school in which the governing body has greater freedom in the running of the school than in community schools....

, but became an academy in September 2010.

On 18 January 2011, the Sixth Form Building was officially opened by Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex KG GCVO is the third son and fourth child of Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh...

, with Ingrid Roscoe
Ingrid Roscoe
Ingrid Mary Roscoe FSA is a writer on English art and Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire.Dr Ingrid Roscoe was born at Rugby School in 1944 to Dr Arthur Allen and Else, who had married after only meeting three times...

 and the Mayor of Kirklees
Kirklees
The Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. It has a population of 401,000 and includes the settlements of Batley, Birstall, Cleckheaton, Denby Dale, Dewsbury, Heckmondwike, Holmfirth, Huddersfield, Kirkburton, Marsden, Meltham, Mirfield and Slaithwaite...

.

Headmasters

  • Kenneth Ford 1956-70, Quaker and conscientious objector
    Conscientious objector
    A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, and/or religion....

     in World War 2, who joined the Friends' Ambulance Unit
    Friends' Ambulance Unit
    The Friends' Ambulance Unit was a volunteer ambulance service, founded by individual members of the British Religious Society of Friends , in line with their Peace Testimony. The FAU operated from 1914–1919, 1939–1946 and 1946-1959 in 25 different countries around the world...

     (11 April 1911- 14 October 99)
  • Lt-Col
    Lieutenant colonel
    Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...

     Harold Edwards DSO MC 1924-48

Traditions

Houses

The school has four houses, and each student is put into a house. These houses are named after famous people from the West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....

 area. The houses are Brontë
Brontë
The Brontës were a nineteenth-century literary family associated with Haworth in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. The sisters, Charlotte , Emily , and Anne , are well-known as poets and novelists...

 (whose colour is blue), Clarke
Clarke
Clarke is a common surname, being the 20th most common surname in England as of 2008. Clarke is an English surname and is a variant of Clark, Clerk or Clerke; the word deriving from the Old English word 'clerc' for a cleric or scribe. It is from a medieval occupational name for a scribe or...

 (yellow), Houldsworth (green) and Priestley
Priestley
Priestley is an English surname. It may refer to:* Arthur Priestley - an English Liberal Party politician and cricketer.* Dennis Priestley - a two-time World Darts Champion and the first player to win both BDO and WDC World Championship Crowns...

 (red).
There are several activities and competitions that take place between houses such as, the swimming gala, spelling bee, house drama and so on. The House that receives the most points wins the Lees Cup. The winner of the Lees cup in the 2010-2011 school year was Priestley.

Forms

There are 5 forms of approximately 30 in every year, one for each house and one additional form with a mixture. They are B for Bronte, C for Clarke, P for Priestley, H for Houldsworth, and S, which is a mixture of all houses. The letter "S" was chosen after former teacher Mr Short, the first form tutor of the 'S' form. In years 10 and above, the 'S' form is usually split into two groups; S1 and S2 and a small selection of new students are placed into these forms. In more recent years the Priestly Form has been the one to be divided.

GCSE Options

Mathematics, Statistics, English, English Literature, separate science and a language are compulsory.

Students taking each science as a separate subject, will study for three GCSEs, one each for Physics, Chemistry and Biology. They will have more lesson time to study Sciences, but as a result have less time for other subjects, and will be entered for an ICT Award (AiDA), which is one GCSE. However, pupils who show large improvement may be entered for CiDA. Recently, however, GCSE students have had taking all three separate sciences as compulsory, possibly for the beneficial factor in that they then have three, detailed knowledge, GCSEs.

All students are entered into one technology element. They may choose from:
  • Food Technology
    Food technology
    Food technology, is a branch of food science which deals with the actual production processes to make foods.-Early history of food technology:...

  • Graphics
    Graphics
    Graphics are visual presentations on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, computer screen, paper, or stone to brand, inform, illustrate, or entertain. Examples are photographs, drawings, Line Art, graphs, diagrams, typography, numbers, symbols, geometric designs, maps, engineering drawings,or...

  • Resistant Materials
  • Textiles
  • ICT
    Information and communication technologies
    Information and communications technology or information and communication technology, usually abbreviated as ICT, is often used as an extended synonym for information technology , but is usually a more general term that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of...



All students take one or two Modern Foreign Languages. In year 9 they have a choice of:
  • French
    French language
    French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

  • German
    German language
    German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

  • Spanish
    Spanish language
    Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...


Students may also choose to study Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 at a fee through distance learning, but this is only made available to those who have demonstrated exceptional linguistics skills.

Similarly, it is possible to study Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

 or Urdu at GCSE following the completion of a GCSE course in French, German or Spanish

As part of the National Curriculum, PE is still taught to pupils through weekly Games lessons. These are compulsory and are part of the PSHCE (Personal Social Health and Citizenship Education) programme. Up to Year 8 pupils take both Games and PE and after students have only a weekly Games lesson. In Year 9 & 10 there are only games lesson and no P.E. lesson. The pupils also benefit from weekly PSHCE lessons, called Skills lessons. Study of Religious Education
Religious Education
Religious Education is the term given to education concerned with religion. It may refer to education provided by a church or religious organization, for instruction in doctrine and faith, or for education in various aspects of religion, but without explicitly religious or moral aims, e.g. in a...

 is also compulsory at a basic level, for those who do not wish to study to the full GCSE level in this subject.

Sixth form

There are approximately 450 students in the sixth form, entering via the lower school or via neighbouring schools after GCSEs. Each prospective student is interviewed by a member of the senior management team before confirmation of a place or rejection is assured.

Academic performance

The school has a strong academic record. It is currently ranked the 5th Best School in England. and is regularly among the top 100 state schools in the country.

It gets some of the best A level results by a state school in England. In the Yorkshire and the Humber
Yorkshire and the Humber
Yorkshire and the Humber is one of the nine regions of England and formally one of the government office regions. It covers most of the historic county of Yorkshire, along with the part of northern Lincolnshire that was, from 1974 to 1996, within the former shire county of Humberside. The...

 it gets results only below two other grammar school
Grammar 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...

s in Halifax and Skipton. Kirklees LEA has one of the highest averaged set of A-level results in England.

Notable former pupils

  • John Bentley, professional rugby player
  • Luke Burgess
    Luke Burgess (rugby league)
    Luke Burgess is an English rugby league footballer currently playing for Australian NRL side South Sydney RabbitohsBorn in Wakefield, he played for the Leeds Rhinos having previously been on loan to Harlequins RL and Doncaster...

    , older brother of Sam, also a rugby league
    Rugby league
    Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

     player for Leeds Rhinos
    Leeds Rhinos
    Leeds Rhinos is an English professional rugby league football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The club won the 2011 Super League and became the most successful club in the Super League era, beating St Helens 32-16 on 8th October 2011. Formed in 1890, Leeds competes in Europe's Super League...

  • Sam Burgess
    Sam Burgess
    Sam Burgess is an English professional rugby league footballer for the South Sydney Rabbitohs of the National Rugby League...

    , professional rugby league
    Rugby league
    Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

     player for the South Sydney Rabbitohs
    South Sydney Rabbitohs
    The South Sydney Rabbitohs are an Australian professional rugby league football team based in Redfern, a suburb of South-central Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League premiership and are one of nine existing teams from the state capital...

     and the England national rugby league team
    England national rugby league team
    The England national rugby league team represent England in international rugby league football tournaments. The team has now seen a revival, having largely formed from the Great Britain team, who also represented Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The team is run under the auspices of the Rugby Football...

  • Barry R. Clarke
    Barry R. Clarke
    Barry R. Clarke is a British puzzle designer.Born in Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales, to English parents, he was educated at Heckmondwike Grammar School, West Yorkshire...

    , international puzzle author
  • Donald Fisher CBE, County Education Officer from 1974-90 of Hertfordshire
    Hertfordshire
    Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

    , and Headmaster from 1964-7 of Helston Grammar School and Midhurst Grammar School
    Midhurst Grammar School
    Midhurst Grammar School was a comprehensive upper school in Midhurst, West Sussex. It served pupils aged 13 to 18 who usually joined the school from one of the local intermediate schools. It was replaced in 2009 by the new Midhurst Rother Academy.-History:...

     from 1967-72
  • Prof John Fozard
    John Fozard
    Prof John William Fozard OBE FRS FREng FRAeS FAIAA was a British aeronautical engineer who helped to design the Hawker Siddeley Harrier.-Early life:He was the son of John Fozard and Eleanor Paulkitt...

    , took over from Ralph Hooper
    Ralph Hooper
    Ralph Spenser Hooper OBE FREng FRAeS is an English aeronautical engineer, recognised mostly for his work on the Harrier, specifically in relation the marriage between the Pegasus engine and the layout of the aircraft, allowing it to safely hover with margins of stability.-Career:He is sometimes...

     as the Chief Designer from 1965-78 of the Hawker Siddeley Harrier
  • Emily Freeman
    Emily Freeman
    Emily Kaye Freeman is a British senior female runner. She is currently associated with the Yorkshire / Wakefield Harriers & AC....

    , 100m and 200m runner, in the British 2008 Olympic 4x100m relay
    4 x 100 metres relay
    The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners begin in the same stagger as for the individual 400 m race...

     team
  • Andrew Gale
    Andrew Gale
    Andrew William Gale is an English first-class cricketer, who plays for and captains Yorkshire County Cricket Club...

    , professional cricket
    Cricket
    Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

     player and current Yorkshire County Cricket Club
    Yorkshire County Cricket Club
    Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....

     captain
  • Prof Michael Hampshire CBE, Professor of Solid State Electronics from 1978-85 at the University of Salford
    University of Salford
    The University of Salford is a campus university based in Salford, Greater Manchester, England with approximately 20,000 registered students. The main campus is about west of Manchester city centre, on the A6, opposite the former home of the physicist, James Prescott Joule and the Working Class...

  • Mike Heaton
    Mike Heaton
    Mike Heaton is the drummer for the English rock band Embrace. Heaton is from Heckmondwike in West Yorkshire.He is nicknamed 'Besty' after the original drummer of The Beatles, Pete Best....

    , Embrace drummer
  • Sir (Harold) Basil Houldsworth, 2nd Baronet (Hubert's son)
  • Sir Hubert Stanley Houldsworth, 1st Baronet, Chairman of the National Coal Board
    National Coal Board
    The National Coal Board was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...

     from 1951 until his death in 1956
  • Thomas Jessop OBE, Ferens Professor of Philosophy from 1928-61 at the University of Hull
    University of Hull
    The University of Hull, known informally as Hull University, is an English university, founded in 1927, located in Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire...

  • Michael McGowan (politician)
    Michael McGowan (politician)
    Michael McGowan is a British journalist and a former Member of the European Parliament, with a special interest in international affairs, European politics, Africa, peace, development, and human rights...

    , Labour MEP from 1984-99 for Leeds
    Leeds (European Parliament constituency)
    Leeds was a European Parliament constituency, centred on Leeds in the West Yorkshire area of England.Prior to its uniform adoption of proportional representation in 1999, the United Kingdom used first-past-the-post for the European elections in England, Scotland and Wales...

  • Prof Ian Poll OBE, Professor of Aerospace Engineering since 1995 at Cranfield University
    Cranfield University
    Cranfield University is a British postgraduate university based on two campuses, with a research-oriented focus. The main campus is at Cranfield, Bedfordshire and the second is the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom based at Shrivenham, Oxfordshire. The main campus is unique in the United...

    , Professor of Aeronautical Engineering from 1987-95 at the University of Manchester
    University of Manchester
    The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...

    , and President from 2001-2 of the Royal Aeronautical Society
    Royal Aeronautical Society
    The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a multidisciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community.-Function:...

     (RAeS)
  • Robert Reid, Editor from 1966-9 of BBC2's Horizon, where he established the programme's format, and later Head of Science and Features from 1969-73 at the BBC
  • Frederick Campion Steward
    Frederick Campion Steward
    Frederick "Camp" Campion Steward was a British botanist and plant physiologist.- Early Life and Education :He was born in Pimlico, London but brought up in Yorkshire...

     FRS, Charles A. Alexander Professor of Biological Sciences from 1965-72 at Cornell University
    Cornell University
    Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

  • Geoffrey Taylor, Group Chief Executive from 1982-6 of Midland Bank
    Midland Bank
    Midland Bank Plc was one of the Big Four banking groups in the United Kingdom for most of the 20th century. It is now part of HSBC. The bank was founded as the Birmingham and Midland Bank in Union Street, Birmingham, England in August 1836...

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