Archbishop Holgate's School is a coeducational

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

secondary school 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 ...

with academy status, located in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many hist ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by national parks, including most of the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. It is one of four cou ...

, England.

History

The school was founded as Archbishop Holgate's Grammar School in 1546 by

Robert Holgate Robert Holgate (1481/1482 – 1555) was Bishop of Llandaff from 1537 and then Archbishop of York (from 1545 to 1554). He recognised Henry VIII as head of the Church of England. Although a protege of Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, Ho ...

, the then

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers ...

. The link between the school and successive Archbishops of York has been continuous throughout the school's history, and as recently as 2004, the Archbishop of York held the post of Chair of Governors for the school.

Grammar School

The original

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school, ...

was in Ogleforth near

York Minster The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, North Yorkshire, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Archb ...

. In the 1800s it was referred to as "The Rev. Shackley's School", and Thomas Cooke taught there.

Comprehensive

Until 1985, it was an all-boys' grammar school. With the reorganisation of education in York in 1985, the school changed its name to Archbishop Holgate's School, and became a co-educational omprehensiveschool. During this transition period the outdoor swimming pool was converted to an indoor pool, a new sports hall was built, and upgrades were made to music, design and technology, home economics and other facilities. The school's facilities now include an indoor heated swimming pool, a chapel and a

boathouse A boathouse (or a boat house) is a building especially designed for the storage of boats, normally smaller craft for sports or leisure use. describing the facilities These are typically located on open water, such as on a river. Often the boats ...

on the River Ouse. In 2009 a £4.3 million two-storey learning centre with landscaping, parking and bike storage, called the ''LearningCentre@AHS'' was built, and now serves as the home of the school's

facilities.

Former headteachers

Recent headmasters have included Donald Frith OBE (1959–1978), Dr J M Frost (1979–1984), and Alan Walker, an old boy and former English teacher at the school (1984–92), all of whom have since died. Dr Frost went on to become principal of the then-New York 6th Form college (now

York College (York) York College is a further and higher education college in York, England, established in 1999. History The ''York Mechanics' Institute'' was founded in 1827 and taught art and science classes. By 1877, the institute had a library that contai ...

), established in the building previously occupied by

Ashfield Secondary Modern School Ashfield Secondary Modern School was a coeducational secondary modern school in York, England. Its site on the corner of Tadcaster Road and Sim Balk Lane in York was taken over by York Sixth Form College, which later merged with York College of ...

, and opened as part of the reorganisation in 1985. The last headmaster was John Harris (1992–2010), who joined the school when it had the lowest results in York, and saw it through expansion from 439 students in 1992 to almost 900 and the best exam results in the school's history before his retirement in 2010. The current headmaster is Andrew Daly, who prior to joining the school, held a position in the senior leadership team at St Wilfrid's Catholic School and Sixth Form College in

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population ...

Academic performance

In 2007 the school was inspected by Ofsted and was judged as "outstanding". Similar to most secondary schools in York, it gets well above-average GCSE results, with 70% of Year 11 students achieving five or more A*-C grades including English and Maths in 2009 (87% achieved five or more GCSE passes at grade C and above).

Notable former pupils

Archbishop Holgate's Grammar School

* Stanley Jevons Professor of Political Economy from 1968–70 at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The university owns and operates majo ...

(1930–7) * James Crossley Bodybuilder and contestant in ITV's ''The Circle'', series 3 * Wing Commander Les Harland DFC (1931–36) *

Squadron Leader Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is als ...

Tony Iveson Thomas Clifford "Tony" Iveson DFC AE (11 September 1919 – 5 November 2013) was a Royal Air Force pilot and veteran of the Second World War, and one of the Few. Iveson was born and brought up in Yorkshire. RAF career Iveson joined the Roya ...

DFC Royal Air Force Second World War Fighter and Bomber pilot *

Frank Dobson Frank Gordon Dobson (15 March 1940 – 11 November 2019) was a British Labour Party politician. As Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St. Pancras from 1979 to 2015, he served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Health from 1997 ...

, Labour Party politician * Richard Philip Douglas CB, chief operating officer since 2001 of the Department of Health (1968–75)
Paul Grice
Clerk and chief executive of the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holy ...

(1972–79) *

Ben Godfrey Benjamin Matthew Godfrey (born 15 January 1998) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Everton and the England national team. Early and personal life Godfrey was born in York, North Yorkshire, and attended ...

, English footballer * Jack Clarke Professional footballer for Sunderland AFC * Donald Shepherd, Founder of the Portakabin business, subsidiary of Shepherd Building Group (until 1933)"Obituary: Donald Shepherd"
''The Independent''. 3 April 1997. Retrieved 2 September 2019 * Andrew Turner, Deputy Mayor of Christchurch, New Zealand (1979-1985)

Arms

References

External links

Archbishop Holgate's School
(official school website)
Archbishop Holgate's Grammar School website
(offering information on the early-to-mid 20th century and early history)

(offering more information on the last few years) *
EduBase
{{Authority control Educational institutions established in the 1540s 1546 establishments in England Church of England secondary schools in the Diocese of York People educated at Archbishop Holgate's School Secondary schools in York Academies in York