Harrogate Grammar School

Infobox School
name = Harrogate Grammar School
name2 = Harrogate Grammar School


imagesize = 175px
motto=Arx Celebris Fontibus
established = 1903
type=Comprehensive
address=
faculty = 120
students = 1,740
principal = Mr. Richard Sheriff
free_label = Sixth form
free_text = 460
location = Arthurs Avenue, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, HG2 0DZ
country = GBR
information = 01423 531127
free_label2 = Email
free_text2 = [e-mail]
free_label3 = Fax
free_text3 = 01423 521325
website = http://www.hgs.n-yorks.sch.uk/
write up=

Harrogate Grammar School is a specialist Language and Technology College in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, UK. It has about 1700 pupils and there are about 400 pupils in the sixth form. The current headmaster is Mr. Richard Sheriff who became the full time headmaster of the school in January 2007. Mr Sheriff was appointed to replace the previous headmaster, Dr. Phillip Limbert, who left to take up the post as executive headteacher at two schools in Kent.

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 Cresent. [cite web|url=http://web.hgs.n-yorks.sch.uk/hgsweb/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=57|title=Harrogate Grammar School History|accessdate=2007-02-05] By the time the school achieved Grammar School 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, 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 if not the status. After a lengthy battle with the local authority the school won its bid to retain its name and is still know 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. The most recent addition to the school's facilities is a series of temporary classrooms, added in January 2007.

Sporting facilities are presently undergoing a refurbishment programme. The boys changing facilities were improved in 2007 and work is currently being carried out on both gyms with plans for a new fitness suite.

pecialist 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 school 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 "Citadel famous for its springs".

port

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:

* Rugby
* Football
* Netball
* Hockey
* Badminton
* Tennis
* Cricket
* Athletics
* Cross Country Running
* Basketball
* Aussie Rules Football
* Indoor Hockey

2007-2008 Season Review

In Rugby, the Under 13 boys led by Gordon Tweedle became Rugby champions of England winning the North Yorkshire Cup sponsored by the Yorkshire Post before going to Twickenham where they won the cup outright. The Under 12 boys led by Chris McDonald also won the North Yorkshire cup competition. All age groups from Under 12-15 also all won at least one 7's tournament throughout their campaigns. The 1st XV narrowly failed to retain the Yorkshire Cup which they won the previous season.

The Under 19 Girls Netball team made it through to the National finals in Bournemouth in March. The near same Girls team had done it together the previous time back in 2006 at Under 16 level and once again won the Area and County Tournaments en route to the final. In the end they came 4th place.

The Under 12 and 13 Boys Football teams both won the Area Cup competition. In the finals the Under 12's won 3-2 against St Aidans with the 13's thrashing Boroughbridge 6-1. The Under 14 and 1st XI also reached the Semi finals of this competition.

The Under 14 Boys Badminton team led by Pete Sutton came 2nd in England coming through the Area and County sections in the first time that a team had been led successfully to that far in that respective sport at Boys level. The students are Dan Benwell, Ravi Patel and Scott Thomson who made the trip to the National finals at Derby and came a creditable second place.

This summer Grammar's fine form has continued. Three pupils in Year 9 have been selected to represent England Athletics. The Under 13 and 15 Boys Tennis teams both won the Area Tournaments and progress to the North Yorkshire finals in September. The Under 13 Cricket team won the Yorkshire Cup following in the footsteps of the Under 14's who last year made it to the last four in the whole of England. They now face the winners of the Clevendale section in September.

ixth 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 early 2007. 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 [cite web |url=http://www.ibo.org/school/002217/ |title=Harrogate Grammar School |accessdate=2007-02-03 |format= |work= ] . 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 "Luxury" dining facility called "The Gate" which is run and maintained by the canteen staff, it sells various foods such as panini, bagels and pizza. this dining facility is exclusive to the sixth form.

The Sixth form is however slightly too small for the huge number, therefore it is known that students will access the Library for extra space or ICT rooms.

Student Representative team

The team consists of:

Head Boy: James Auckland

Head Girl: Emily Parton

Deputy Boys: Daniel Dodson, Harry Taylor

Deputy Girls: Emily Simmons, Jess Gilbert

Senior Prefects: Jo Frith, Sandra Boye, Sam Cox, Zoe Winston, Joel Smith, Dan Birch, Tom Munro, Jade Cawthorne, Matthew Day, Rosie Locke, Afreen Rahman,

House System

The School operates a House system. The School originally introduced the House system in the 1950's but it was then scrapped for a variety of reasons. It was however resurrected in 2001. The Houses consist of: Red, Green, Yellow and Blue. 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 Yellow House who were captained to victory in the 2007-2008 season by Dr Smart.

Bullying

In 1999, North Yorkshire County Council 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. [cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/492319.stm |title=Education Bullying victim paid £6,000 by council |accessdate=2007-02-03 |format= |work= ] 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 February 17 1939 No 58 (Harrogate) Squadron of the Air Defence Cadet Corps was established at the school by the Air League of the British Empire. [cite web|url=http://www.58squadron.org.uk/index.php?p=5|title=58 (Harrogate) Squadron History|accessdate=2007-02-05] 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.

Fire

At approximately 1830 on March 5 2008 emergency services were called to attend to a fire on the roof of the "New Gym", a gymnasium, measuring approximately 40m by 20m. After further investigation the Police have announced that it was a blow torch that set off the fire. Approximatley a week later another fire took place, this was started by a fuse box in the Art Department. [cite web|url=http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/topstories/display.var.2096655.0.major_blaze_at_grammar_school.php|title=Major Blaze at Grammar School|accessdate=2007-02-05]

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-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 Trust - 2007
* Lights For Learning - 2008

Ofsted

In the most recent Ofsted inspection, the school gained an "outstanding" grade. [Citation
last = Briggs
first = Anthony
date = 2007-10-10
year = 2007
title = Inspection Report: Harrogate Grammar School
place = London
publisher = Ofsted
url = http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/portal/site/Internet/menuitem.7c7b38b14d870c7bb1890a01637046a0/?event=getReport&urn=121685&inspectionNumber=314083&providerCategoryID=8192&fileName=\\school\\121\\s5rti_121685_20071029.xml
accessdate = 2008-06-11]

Alumni

* Jenny Duncalf - Professional squash player: Current British National Championship holder
* Steven Collins - Ex-York City football youth player
* Martyn Wood - Ex rugby professional star.
* Hugo Speer- Professional actor who has appeared in The Bill and Heartbeat
* Jamie Brambleby - Entered for the Physics Olympiad, will support England in the Finals, located in Vietnam. (Source: The Link)
* Phil Swainston - England Youth International, member of Leeds Carnegie Academy and Harrogate Rugby Club 1st XV Squad member

Achievement links

* [http://www.thefa.com/England/U16s/Players/ England Football U16's Call Up For Year 10 Student Luke Garbutt]

References