Skipton Girls' High School, founded in 1886 by the Petyt Trust, is an all-girls selective

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 Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

situated in

Skipton Skipton (also known as Skipton-in-Craven) is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the East Division of Staincliffe Wapentake in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the River Aire and the Leeds ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

, England. The school is a founding member of Northern Star Academies Trust, and leads Northern Lights Teaching School Alliance and Northern Lights SCITT. The school has over 800 students.

Status

The school was awarded

specialist status Specialist schools in the United Kingdom (sometimes branded as specialist colleges in England and Northern Ireland) are schools with an emphasis or focus in a specific specialised subject area, which is called a specialism, or alternatively in ...

as an

Engineering College Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education ( Dip.Eng.)and (B.Eng.) or ( M.Eng.), and any advanced education and specializations tha ...

in September 2003, becoming the first all-girls school to achieve this status. It also has

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accreditation and Fair Trade FairAchiever status. On 1 April 2011, the school became an academy and on 1 April 2015, the school established the Multi-Academy Trust Northern Star Academies Trust.

Admission

As an academy Trust, the Governors are responsible for admissions. Girls who wish to join the school sit a selection test. There is no selection test for entrance into the Sixth Form, as pupils are admitted on the basis of their

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

grades. Pupils joining the Sixth Form are expected to have achieved 5 9-4 grades, including English and Mathematics, at GCSE and at least grade 6 at GCSE in the subjects they want to study at

A Level The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational ...

Ofsted inspections

The school underwent an

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

inspection in September 2022 and was graded 'Outstanding' for behaviour and attitudes and 'Good' overall.

Old Girls' Guild

The Old Girls' Guild began on 24 November 1917. The idea of the Guild developed whilst Miss Larner was Headmistress, when staff and former pupils would meet. Miss Broadbent continued this, organising social events. The Guild's first magazine was published in 1918 and, with the exception of 1920, one has been published every year. Bound copies of the magazine are held at Skipton Reference Library. The Guild disbanded in 2017 and no longer meets.

Houses

Each pupil is in one of four houses, each of which has a house colour. Each house is named after a woman or women of note from history: Bronte (red) is named after the Brontë sisters; Curie (yellow) after

Marie Curie Maria Salomea Skłodowska-Curie (; ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934), known simply as Marie Curie ( ; ), was a Polish and naturalised-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was List of female ...

; Franklin (blue) after

Rosalind Franklin Rosalind Elsie Franklin (25 July 192016 April 1958) was a British chemist and X-ray crystallographer. Her work was central to the understanding of the molecular structures of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), RNA (ribonucleic acid), viruses, coal ...

; and Johnson (green) after

Amy Johnson Amy Johnson (born 1 July 1903 – disappeared 5 January 1941) was a pioneering English pilot who was the first woman to fly solo from London to Australia. Flying solo or with her husband, Jim Mollison, she set many long-distance records dur ...

. The original four houses of Skipton Girls' High School were Clifford (yellow), de Romille (red), Norton (blue) and Pembroke (green). These names linked the school to the Craven area - Clifford, de Romille and Pembroke all being related to

Skipton Castle Skipton Castle is a Grade I Listed medieval castle in Skipton, North Yorkshire, England. It was built in 1090 by Robert de Romille, a Norman baron, and has been preserved for over 931 years. History Skipton Castle was originally a motte a ...

. Later, three houses taking the names of former headteachers (Broadbent, Larner and Wise) were used.

Sixth Form

The school offers a wide range of subjects at

; most students study three subjects, with exceptionally able students able to choose a fourth subject if they wish. The

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(EPQ), a standalone qualification at A Level standard intended as preparation for university or a future career, is also offered. In 2022, the pass rate (grades A*-E) was 99.7%, with 71.5% at grades A*-B. 35% of students went on to

Russell Group The Russell Group is a self-selected association of twenty-four public research universities in the United Kingdom. The group is headquartered in Cambridge and was established in 1994 to represent its members' interests, principally to governme ...

universities. Three students went to Cambridge, and two to Oxford. Sixth Form results typically put the school in the top 100 state schools in the country for A-Level results.

Notable former pupils

* Claire Brooks (1931–2008) – politician * Elizabeth Harwood (1938–1990) – opera singer * Ruzwana Bashir – first British Asian woman to become President of the

Oxford Union The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford, England, whose membership is drawn primarily from the University of Oxford. Founded in 1823, it is one of Britain's oldest unive ...

Katherine Langrish Katherine Langrish is a British author of fantasy for children and young adults. She was brought up in Yorkshire and Herefordshire, and wanted to be a writer from a young age. She was encouraged by her parents, and by the fact that her grand ...

– fantasy writer

References

External links

Official site

EduBase
{{Authority control Grammar schools in North Yorkshire Skipton Girls' schools in North Yorkshire Educational institutions established in 1886 1886 establishments in England Academies in North Yorkshire * Specialist engineering colleges in England