Harrogate Grammar

[vintagefiend]

Hello, my son will be in year 5 next September so I'm starting to consider secondary schools.
I don't live in Harrogate...yet!
My son is shy and doesn't much like crowds, but he is well-liked by his peers; he is small for his age and has an August birthday so he'll prob be the littlest guy in the school!
He does like sport especially football and he's probably middling academically (certainly, he's not driven in that area!)
On paper could Harrogate Grammar suit? Is the pastoral care good? Is it scarily academic? Is it sporty? Does bullying occur? Are the kids nice to each other? Lots of questions!
I know all kids are different and it's hard to say what suits which child but I do think he might be overwhelmed by secondary school- so I want one that has at least as much of an emphasis on pastoral care as it does academia.
I should say that his primary has about 500 kids so it's not a tiny school- and he's fine there- but, obviously secondary schools are considerably bigger.
(Also, we're not churchgoers so i cant consider st aidan's)
Thanks for any help.

Dd started at Harrogate Grammar in September, she's enjoying it, and as a parent it seems to be a good school. It's not scarily academic as far as I can tell, there are lots of sports, music and other activities.
Dd can be very shy so I was a little worried about the transition from Primary to Secondary, but I've been very pleased with how she's settled in, and with the 'feel' of the school.

I've struggled with the difference in parental involvement from primary school, and during the first term felt like I didn't know anything about the Grammar School, how their systems worked, what was going on at school, homework set, teaching etc (Dd is not very communicative :) !). Everything is done by email, no homework planners or letters home, and as I've worked things out over the year, it's got better. There are emails and bulletins to parents, I've now found! I've also set Dd's emails to come to my account as well, so I can see what homework she has been set.

A reservation I have are the ipads for learning, I don't like that everything is done on the ipad, there are no exercise books...I feel I'm constantly having to check on dd as it's hard to tell whether she's doing homework or playing games! I would never have got her an ipad if it wasn't mandatory at school. However, many secondary schools in the area seem to be going down the same route so you may find that eg at Rossett, too.

thank you very much, Betty- that all really helps. Good to know it's not hothouse academically- I must be the only mother that worries if a school does "overly" well in the league tables!
Anyway, I'm reassured on that score and in terms of him fitting in ok.
Agree with what you say re knowing what homework they have- i find it very hard to get son motivated to do it as it is- and that's when i know what he's meant to be doing
as to the ipad- he will love that- oh dear!
thanks again.