Ripon Grammar- any recent experience?

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Does anyone have any recent experience of Ripon Grammar School? We've seen all the info, Ofsted etc, DD is enthralled by it, but we're out of area so it's a bit more difficult to get a true 'feel'.

We're also looking at the boarding option so any experience with this would be very welcome too.

Thank you 😊

Bumping for you OP - I'm miles away from you but hopefully someone will be along soon who knows the school!

I see from previous threads there were some knowledgeable posters who might help like @puffyisgood @confusedandsad2019 @FetchezLaVache @JudgeRinderSays @friendface @Rosieposy4 and @FeministWolf

Hello! Thank you @Xiaoxiong. :)
It honestly depends on the child. For us, DD was perfectly fine with the work, but due to a couple of diagnoses she really struggled with the social aspect. As long as your kid is alright with group work and games, sports, presentations, etc, she should love it!
The forms have ~30 people in them, with new people trickling in throughout the year (a couple per year?). They seemed relatively friendly, and DD was not bullied to her face (though she reports that the kids were talking about her while she was with a TA - I believe her). Workload is pretty high and you need to keep up - unfortunately my daughter got overstimulated and couldn't do a lot of her work so fell behind a bit. I don't want to put you off though! Ours was a case of DD not coping due to aforementioned conditions, without these I'm sure she'd have loved it. Facilities are good, quite a bit of writing on desks but that is expected.

Conclusion, an outstanding school that is an amazing chance for students to excel in their learning as well as persue extra-curriculars. Just not an excellent school for SEND students who struggle socially and developmentally from our experience. Hope this helps! :)

Thank you so much @FeministWolf and I'm sorry your DD has struggled recently.

There does seem to be a whirl of things going on and I can see how it could be too much (DD may struggle that way too, she preferred the more regimented atmosphere and teaching during covid).

That's really helpful info on the 'vibe' of the school, thank you so much for replying.

No worries at all! DD is awaiting an autism diagnosis and has a few other things going on so it’s no wonder she struggled, I hope your DD will do alright! Support can be okay, even good, but it’s very much hit or miss on the SEND and pastoral support depending on who is assigned to them. Glad I could help!
(also if this is on a different username, I changed it from FeministWolf to Lunaek)

I don't have recent first hand experience. My mother went there in the 1960s - apparently Jimmy Savile once turned up for a visit, that went about as well as you'd expect.

It's a bit isolated in a sense because of the small [in terms of population, rather than geographic area] catchment - I think locally there's a presumption that you'd want to go there if you're within catchment and are accepted, and that if you're not within catchment than that's it really.

I only really know RGS's current reputation relative to the Harrogate [larger town 10 miles to the South] schools - I think the common consensus is that Harrogate's the much nicer town and that its comps are more than good enough such that no one would ever consider moving to Ripon from Harrogate just for the school.

Though I suppose if you were moving into North Yorks generally and had no real roots in either town, Ripon is a lot cheaper [in terms of housing costs per square foot] to live than Harrogate

No recent experience, but I attended RGS from first form (Y7) to upper sixth. I left in 2006.
At the time, it was a perfect fit for me, gave me a great, varied secondary school experience and if we lived closer, we'd definitely consider it for DD.

Thank you all so much for your views, they're really helpful and have really helped with my thinking and understanding. I really appreciate your thoughts.

My mate works there, and says behaviour has deteriorated since covid, and RGS are struggling to cope with that as previously they haven’t needed any of the systems common in state comps.

Thanks @JaffavsCookie that's really worrying, as I've always heard that behaviour was good 😢

Yeah, she was worried too. Behaviour has always been good there and she feels the post covid deterioration hasn’t been well dealt with as staff aren’t experienced in managing poor behaviour.

My DD went during covid - behaviour in her classes were horrendous to be honest. Constant disruptions, numerous cases involving members of SLT, etc. The school IS good - on the exterior. Since she only went for the first couple years, I’m not sure how the GCSE and A-level forms behave. But in her case, students weren’t disciplined in any efficient way, I agree. I didn’t consider this in my previous comment.
Of course, some kids might thrive in that environment, but it’s obviously not a situation that encourages any meaningful and engaging learning.

I went, not that long ago. Teaching was generally excellent, and I got excellent exam results, but behaviour was very mixed. Most shocking was the lack of safeguarding, including a teaching assistant who had sexual relationships with several underage girls, and even visited the girls' boarding house dorms. This was widely known in the school but nothing done about it. I do hope this has improved.

Thanks for your thoughts, I'm afraid I'm firmly in Precious First Born territory and I don't have any knowledge to compare your comments on behaviour with. If its worse then other schools then its a big worry.

@Flightshock this is really really concerning - are you able to give an indication of how long ago this was?

Sorry to keep butting in! I’m very interested about the topic of this school to see how others and their children do there. Regarding the TA - I believe there are reports online about this teacher. She isn’t there now, but one of the TAs in particular are not good or respectful of their students (according to DD).

Please don't apologise @Lunaek I really appreciate your views. I haven't found anything on the TA but have on another employment tribunal 😣

It is selective but has a high threshold- so not super selective

Outstanding- very historic - will be re-inspected shortly- most similar schools have struggled to maintain it. The boarding dropped to good this year.

The boarding has been very up and down over the years. It always seems a bolt on and not integral and I would be surprised if it lasts longer term. There are some newer state funded boarding which will mop up the decreasing number of military children. It says 94 board which is up on a few years ago.

Agree with comments above- it isnt a school that you would move house to get in to.

I have had 3 children through the school and 2 still there.
They have all got good grades and gone on to excellent universities and careers, but i think for the younger 3 in particular the school has taken quite a toll on their mental health. I haven't heard anything about a decline in behaviour , but most of the teachers (not all) regard their students as nothing more than machines to generate results in their subject by putting enormous pressure on students.
That's the downside, but students who join the school at 13+ and in sixth form say its a much better environment than their previous schools