The Calder High School is a

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

comprehensive school A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is res ...

. It specialises in technology, with technology rooms. It is located in the village of

Mytholmroyd Mytholmroyd (pronounced ) is a large village in the Upper Calder Valley in West Yorkshire, England, east of Hebden Bridge. It lies east of Burnley and west of Halifax. The village, which has a population of approximately 4,000 is in the L ...

, in the metropolitan district of

Calderdale Calderdale is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England, whose population in 2020 was 211,439. It takes its name from the River Calder, and dale, a word for valley. The name Calderdale usually refers to the borough through which the u ...

, in northern England.

Admissions

As of the academic year 2006-7, it had 1,294 pupils. At the start of the 2010-1 term, Calder High had a total of 27 new teachers including the new Head Teacher Mrs. Spillane. From September 2013 the school has a new Head Teacher, Mr Anthony Guise. It i
situated
in the middle of the village, north of the A646.

History

Grammar school

In the early 1950s, the school had around 350 boys and girls

Comprehensive

Calder High opened in May 1952 as one of the first comprehensives in the country, replacing the older Hebden Bridge Grammar school. On 28 December 1969, ''

Songs of Praise ''Songs of Praise'' is a BBC Television religious programme that presents Christian hymns sung in churches of varying denominations from around the UK. The series was first broadcast in October 1961. On that occasion, the venue was the Ta ...

'' was shown from the school. By the 1970s it had 1200 boys and girls. Until April 1974, it was administered by the Calder Divisional Executive of West Riding County Council. In November 1994, thirteen-year-old Lindsay Rimer was murdered, which has not been solved.

Buildings

In 1963, a new science block and bus bays were added. More recently, a new Sixth Form building was added and officially opened on 12 July 2004 by outgoing headteacher David Scott. At the start of the 2007 academic year, the

Ted Hughes Edward James "Ted" Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest wri ...

theatre was opened and named under the consent of

's widow. There was speculation about plans to rebuild the school on the present school field. Chris McCafferty MP said that this would only happen once Todmorden High School was rebuilt. On 11 December 2008, the school was visited by Nick Gibb MP (then shadow minister for schools) to discuss its rebuilding in the near future. During his visit, he became involved in a heated debate with a small group of students who challenged his negative views regarding comprehensive education and his advocation of a private sector role in schools. In April 2019, the school car park just off Brier Hey Lane became decommissioned to become the ground for the new state of the art English teaching block containing nine brand new classrooms to provide children a more high quality learning space. This project was completed in August 2019 and was opened ready for the 2019-2020 academic year in September 2019.

Activities

In October 2006, the school obtained a license to run a week-long radio station, broadcast directly from the school. The radio was named Royd FM. The success of this project led to Royd FM broadcasting again in December 2007. In January 2007 a student-run business was opened in school; Under the Stairs, selling snacks at break times and lunches. The two students - Matthew Dawson and Jack Walsh both received awards for their Entrepreneur skills. Each year students of Calder High put on the Easter-time performance of the

Pace Egg Play The Pace Egg plays are an Easter custom in rural Northern England in the tradition of the medieval mystery plays. The practice was once common throughout Northern England, but largely died out in the nineteenth century before being revived in som ...

in the surrounding area. This is a very big hit with the locals, with thousands of people coming to see it from around the world. This year (2013) the play is being run by Thomas Jennings and Jack Deighton.

All-through school

Calder High School is federated with Calder Primary School under the title of The Calder Learning Trust. This means that technically it is an

all-through school All-through schools educate young people throughout multiple stages of their education, generally throughout childhood and adolescence. Definition The term "all-through" can be legitimately applied to establishments in many different circumstan ...

educating pupils aged 4 to 16. However, while management and administration is shared, both schools continue to operate with separate identities.

Alumni

Kirk Barker Kirk Barker (born 26 April 1983) is an English actor. Beginning his career in stage productions of pantomime, Shakespeare, and musical theatre, he moved on to television work and finally to leading roles in feature films. Life Barker grew up i ...

, actor *

Dario Coates Dario Coates (born 25 April 1992, in Hebden Bridge) is an English actor. He is known for portraying Alex Neeson in the television ITV soap '' Coronation Street''. He attended Calder High School and Calderdale Theatre School. He acted in Calde ...

, actor *

Geoff Crowther Geoff Crowther (15 March 1944 – 13 April 2021) was a British travel writer who wrote for BIT and Lonely Planet. Life Early life Crowther was born on 15 March 1944 in Halifax, West Yorkshire. His parents worked in a cotton mill. He attended ...

, guidebook writer *

Stuart Fielden Stuart Fielden (born 14 September 1979) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. He was formerly an assistant coach for the Huddersfield Giants in the Super League, and now is a Person ...

, former professional rugby league footballer * Jessica Harris, actress *

Thomas Nelstrop Thomas Nelstrop (born 29 July 1980) is an English actor, comedian, and voiceover artist. He plays Julian in the NBC series ''Brave New World''. In 2007, he played Ben Wainright in the ''Doctor Who'' episode "Blink". Early life Nelstrop was bo ...

, actor, comedian, and voiceover artist * Lindsay Rimer, victim of unsolved murder in 1994 * Robert Scott, professional cyclist and former u23 British Champion

Hebden Bridge Grammar School

Paul Barker Paul Gordon Barker (born February 8, 1959), also referred to as Hermes Pan, is the former bass guitarist, producer and engineer of the industrial metal band Ministry from 1986 to 2003. Prior to Ministry, Barker provided bass for the Seattle ...

, broadcaster, editor from 1968-86 of ''

New Society ''New Society'' was a weekly magazine of social inquiry and social and cultural comment, published in the United Kingdom from 1962 to 1988. It drew on the disciplines of sociology, anthropology, psychology, human geography, social history and so ...

'' * Sir

Bernard Ingham Sir Bernard Ingham (born 21 June 1932) is a British journalist and former civil servant. He was Margaret Thatcher's chief press secretary throughout her time as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. He was knighted in Thatche ...

, journalist and former civil servant

Accreditation

* Technology College * Training School

References

External links

Calder High School website

News items

Teacher suspended in 2009

Radio Five Live July 2009
{{authority control Secondary schools in Calderdale Educational institutions established in 1952 Foundation schools in Calderdale 1952 establishments in England Specialist technology colleges in England Mytholmroyd