Hi, well I'm going to go against the trend here! I've lived in Hgte all my life, and Harrogate High has always had the reputation of being the rubbish school and it's sometimes hard to get past that.
However - I think that's a completely undeserved reputation. I know children who have left there in the last few years - one is at uni studying medicine, one is doing a business degree in London so academically, I see no issue at all. Even more importantly I think from what you want from a school, it is a fantastic school for children with SEN. I know several people with children at the school now who have various issues and they are hugely impressed with what the school offers and how happy their children are there. It has small class sizes and excellent sporting opportunities, if those things are important for you. I also know two teachers there who think it is an amazing place to work and achieve fantastic things with their classes.
My son is at primary still, but there is a year 6 boy with SEN in his school who will be attending Harrogate High in September. Already he has has several part day visits to the school where his 1-2-1 teaching assistant has collected him from primary, taken him to Harrogate High, spent the day with him and then dropped him back at primary. I can't speak highly enough of their reputation with children with SEN.
The school is going to be completely rebuilt over the next year, so what is a bit 1960s and falling down (no different really from two of the other schools in Harrogate!) will be all new and shiny, which I think will make a difference in attitudes.
What I would say is, there is a real Harrogate perception of it being a hopeless school. It is not in a well-to-do area. The traffic to get there isn't great, but the school does start and finish earlier than other schools so that may not be such an issue. You will have some - but by no means all - Harrogate people look at you in a judgemental way when you say where your child goes to secondary.
I've gone on a bit I'm afraid, but I just wanted to give you a different view. I hope you are very happy when you move to the area - it's a brilliant place to live.