Ryburn Valley High School is a

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

and

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

located in the town of

Sowerby Bridge Sowerby Bridge ( ) is a market town in the Upper Calder Valley in Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. The Calderdale Council ward population at the 2011 census was 11,703. History The town was originally a fording point over the once muc ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, England. Originally built in the 1950s, it moved into a new building in 2005.

History

Ryburn Valley High School opened in February 1959 as Ryburn County Secondary Modern School. It was a new mixed secondary school representing the merger of Sowerby Bridge Girls' School and Sowerby Bridge Boys' School. The advent of the comprehensive system gave birth to the name Ryburn Valley High School in 1979. It has grown from 600 pupils in 1959 to almost 1500 in 2013. The new building was confirmed in 2001 and was built from 2004 to 2005. The pupils moved into the building after spring half term in 2005. Ryburn Valley High School was awarded specialist status in Media Arts in 2004. In 2016, the first Ryburrn Academy Awards were held at the Victoria Theatre in Halifax The school received a rating of Grade 2, 'Good', for overall effectiveness in its 2013

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

inspection report. The school converted to academy status in September 2014.

Television appearances

During the spring of 2016, a local camera crew from the BBC used the school as a set piece for the crime/drama television series '' Happy Valley''. In 2019, Ryburn Valley High School appeared in the

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

show, ''Our School''. This showed the journey of new Year 7 and 8's joining Ryburn Valley High School.

Headteachers

* 1959–1969Robert Miles * 1969–1976John Widdows * 1976–1978, 1986Morton Roberts * 1978–1986William Nicholson * 1986–1998Tony Thorne * 1998Bridget Rickwood (Acting) * 1999–2008Ian Adam * 2008–2013Honor Byford * 2013–presentDavid Lord

Notable former pupils

Craig Fleming Craig Fleming (born 6 October 1971) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender. Fleming was first team assistant Coach at Premier League club Southampton, a position he held since 2018 until his departure in 2022. Pl ...

, former football player, and former captain of

Norwich City Football Club Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

References

Secondary schools in Calderdale Academies in Calderdale Sowerby Bridge {{Yorkshire-school-stub