Harrogate Grammar School catchment area

[LondonSue]

Does anyone have a rough idea of the catchment area of Harrogate Grammar School for people living in Harrogate please? Thanks very much.

[meditrina]

All of Harrogate is in catchment, urban zone (79% of places after SEN and exceptional needs) and specified villages (listed on school website) are in the rural zone (21% places).

[meditrina]

I've just had a look on the LA website: the town is defined as "the Harrogate civil parish; the part of Killinghall parish lying south of the Harrogate to Skipton road, and east of the Killinghall to Otley road; and part of Walton Park extending into the parish of Kirkby".

I can't find last distance admitted if they had to activate that as tie breaker. But if you ring the school or LA they should be able to tell you.

[SkippyYourFriendEverTrue]

St Aidan's much better FWIW.

[LondonSue]

Thanks very much for all your help.
Does that mean I could live anywhere in Harrogate town and qualify for the Grammar School? Someone had mentioned the catchment area was 1 mile, is that not correct?
Re St Aidan's - do you have to be a regular churchgoer to attend?

[meditrina]

Living in the town catchment puts you in priority 3 for Harrogate Grammar, but if oversubscribed in that category, the want they rank to tie break is first siblings by distance then everyone else by distance. That is why you might want to find out the actual admissions footprint (greatest distance offered).

St Aidan's is a CofE school, which operates a points based system for admissions, see here.

[Loshad]

HGS much better imo than st aidans, exam results better, sports better, far far fewer kids fall through the net at sixth form, wider range of viewpoints and social mix than aidans.
London sue no, you cannot live anywhere in Harrogate, usually between 0.8 and 1 mile radius for cut off, school is always oversubscribed.

[LondonSue]

Thanks Loshad, really appreciate your comments - very helpful.

[SkippyYourFriendEverTrue]

Exam results are most definitely not better at HGS. St Aidan's overtook them more than a decade ago and has remained consistently better since.

St Aidans gets around 90% of pupils with 5 A*-Cs, and HGS more like 80%.

Both schools very MC.

[Loshad]

whoa skippy check your data, HGS considerably better than St Aidans this year
HGS results about 92 % A-C inc English and Maths, think Aidans are languishing around the 80-82% mark!, rather telling that they have chosen not to put this years data on their web site!

[LondonSue]

Results sound good! Would you say HGS is good for children who need a bit of extra help academically? Do you know if they stream btw?

[slambang]

Both schools are usually very over subscribed so very definitely not anywhere in Harrogate will get you into Grammar and very definitely not just your occasional church goer will get into St Aidens. You need to live within a mile to a mile and a half of grammar depending on the size of the year or certain villages. Aidens needs a 2 year campaign of charity work, youth groups and chuchy volunteering.

Grammar do set for most subjects from year 7. Don't know about Aidens.

[SkippyYourFriendEverTrue]

4 streams when I was at HGS. When I was there the top set got a pretty raw deal IMO, largest class sizes, no extension work, maybe changed now though, but the converse is that I think academically slightly weaker would be better off.

[Loshad]

no streams now, some setting in year 7, more thereafter. some GCSE subjects are taught in mixed ability groups eg art, geog, others totally set, eg science, maths. Most groups are around the same size, although the bottom set is generally smaller. There is a real mix of student ability in the school, from the very high flyers right through.
LS department are pretty good ime.

[LondonSue]

Thanks again. Would also appreciate advice on good areas to live in Harrogate (close to the Grammar School). What is West End Road like?

[slambang]

Lovely road but parking can be a nightmare.

[catwoo]

A close friend has a, not particularly academic, but not thick by any means, child at HGS .She was pushed into BTEC Performing Arts against her will.And now is stuck with a crappy range to draw her A level choices from.

[SkippyYourFriendEverTrue]

ah, 'equivalent' to 4 GCSEs. I wonder why they might do that.

[Loshad]

catwoo, even if she was "pushed" into performing arts if she performs well on the rest of her GCSE's she would not be restricted as to A level choice.
EG if not thick by any means then she will be doing 2 x english, maths, and triple science. with those 6 alone good results will allow her to study any subject at sixth form so i think you are getting a rather biased/inaccurate view of the situation.
If you look at the website this is all quite clear, best results from best 6 GCSE's where A = 3, B= 2, A* = 4.
More than AAABBB would allow you choice to study whatever you want at sixth form, less than that then it is suggested you take at least one subject with a coursework element, eg an A level in art, business etc . That is not unreasonable, it is so that students are not set up to fail from the start.

[SkippyYourFriendEverTrue]

The BTEC Performing Arts is doing nothing whatsoever for the child, and is only furthering the interest of the school.

[Loshad]

skippy
why are you so anti HGS, bearing in mind from your other posts that you appear to live south of London?

[SkippyYourFriendEverTrue]

I used to live in Harrogate

[LondonSue]

Any other thoughts on nice roads to live on within the approximate 1-mile catchment of HGS would be appreciated from anyone who lives there or who has lived there. Thanks so much.

[scaevola]

I've got family there. What's your budget?

[LondonSue]

£450.000?

[scaevola]

Harrogate Grammar and Rossett are close to each other (playing field more or less abut, but main gates are quite a distance apart on different roads). So quite a lot of the general areas that put you within a mile of HGs also put you close to Rossett (something to bear in mind if you don't get first choice).

The area immediately to the west of Harrogate Grammar is lovely, but probably over budget (certainly for houses). So perhaps to the east? Try Pannal Ash Road (the northern stretch of it) and the streets that lead from it?