Secondary education in Harrogate

[LH1977]

I'm hoping someone can share experiences of applying for secondary school (Year 7) as an In-Year application. We are soon to be moving to Harrogate, and I gather chances are slim to none that my child will be offered a place at HGS, St. A, or St. JF, regardless of being in close catchment. Obvs, if you let a property a street away from your preferred school, and pay the premium to do so, you'd be very let down not to be offered a place. OTOH, catchment is clearly still important. I've focused on those three state schools because I believe they'd be the best academic fit for my child.

In the alternative, we would consider paying school fees. Previous threads seem to be pretty mixed regarding HLS and Asheville. But some of those threads are a bit old. Both schools seemed to have good recent results and I'm hoping someone can give me a more recent perspective.

In either case, I'm hoping to hear from people who have direct and relatively recent experiences.

If you are an in year applicant then of course you are waiting for spaces, but they do come up reasonably regularly. Find out the names of the heads of year, ring them now and ask, then ring them again in a couple of weeks etc. Emphasise ( if true) what a good kid you have and how supportive a parent you are. TBH I don’t rate either HLC or Ashville academically, and they are both struggling for numbers now so whilst they will definitely take your dc ( that in itself should really be a red flag) I am genuinely unsure if either will still be operating in 5 years time. I have said it before but if you really want to pay ( and honestly all 3 of those state schools on your list are excellent and better than the 2 private schools in Harrogate) then put your kid on the bus down to GSAL on the outskirts of Leeds, or on the train to St Peters in York.

So far, I've not had much luck with asking those sorts of questions at the state schools. I've had the distinct impression that they are so busy and so fully subscribed that they have very little interest in courting my favor. Maybe I'm speaking to the wrong people.

Would you mind me asking where your child/children went to school?

We are Harrogate and have friends at st Aodans and Harrogate Grammar who all love school and are doing well but I have no idea if you would get in mid year. Our children go to Cundall Manor. A fabulous school just off the A1 they run buses from Harrogate Our 2 are academic and love sport. It's a non academically selective school so won't appear in any league tables but has fabulous results. Depends what you want. Schools are so hard as everyone will give you a different opinion but a lot depends on the peer group and your child. My advice would be to visit lots get a feel snd meet the current staff and pupils.

mid-year is kind of its own thing, I've no experience of it.

both st Aidan's and st John fisher are serious about family church attendance of the 'right' denomination.

HGS is popular, even living very close getting in at an unusual entry point might be challenging.

i agree that the two private secondaries in town are bad, not worth the money for most families.

So here's my follow up question - say we let a house next to HGS and they don't give us a spot, and we aren't church goers so assume we aren't given spots at the church schools, then where would we be likely to end up? I'm assuming Harrogate HS or Rossett? In that situation, wouldn't one of the fee-paying schools be better? Our pref is for a good state school but I just don't yet understand why people are specifically down on the in-town private schools. When I look at the recent 5 or higher on GCSE's/AAB results both Ashville and HLC look as if they have reasonably good outcomes. What am I missing?

They don’t though, just did a quick google grade 5 or higher at GCSE maths and English for this summer
Ashville 51%
HGS. 67%
EHCPs ( a measure of more “severe” learning needs) so higher figures may expect lower results.
Ashville 0.1%
HGS. 2.2%
probably worth googling all the others

And you would expect with the smaller class sizes and presumably more committed parents that Ashville’s should comfortably exceed those of the local state school

There are no poor schools in Harrogate. In another context both Harrogate High and Rossett would considered to be sound middle class schools.

It is a faith driven state school system. There is a local catchment aspect. The challenge is that if you divide Harrogate into half then 4 out of 5 of the secondary schools sit in 1 half.

The independent choice for academically able is GSAL- not Ashville.

Exactly where are you looking to move to?

the nicer parts of Harrogate are so expensive to live in, a big part of the reason for that is definitely the state secularise. Assuming you're not planning to work there (there aren't all that many jobs), paying the extra to live in Harrogate, with school age kids but then not not using the state schools would be, I suppose, mildly unusual. I don't have personal experience of either Ashville or HLC but the very widespread local belief is that if your heart is set on private it's best to head for Leeds.

Rossett & Harrogate High are the complete OPPOSITE of middle class! 🤣 Grew up & still live in Harrogate and attended Rossett myself. Bloody awful place with an even worse reputation now than when I was there!

rossett has 22.3% free school meals which is below the national

That’s load compared to the 3 the OP mentioned though. I do think Rossett is improving but not sure I would personally take the risk yet.

We had Harrogate relatives at the private school Grammar School at Leeds who have done very well. There is a school coach from Harrogate to the school - https://gsal.vectare.co.uk/

We are definitely not set on private. Just hoping to understand what the options are likely to be if we aren’t offered a place at one of the three state schools I mentioned above.

Hi have experience of SJF (albeit at sixth form) and Ashville (secondary). Re SJF our DC experience of moving to Harrogate and starting at SJF were not great. We were told by someone with experience of SJF, that they do not cater for the individual and wish we had listened hard to that piece of info because we did find it to be true. My DC found it very hard to settle and make friends became really unhappy there, with incidences of low grade bullying I'm afraid. They were predicted high grades but found lessons uninspiring. There was a problem with the toilets while my DC was there, vaping and doors being kicked in etc. Though they have since tried to remedy these with a new toilet set up. Unfortunately the school and pastoral system was not supportive for us at least and my DC has now left, restarting year 12 at another college (state in Leeds) where they are much happier. Tellingly the only person to acknowledge DC had left was the school was a sixth form administrator! Our experience of Ashville is that essentially this is a good school, the teachers take an interest in your child and if needs be you can communicate with the tutors and teachers directly (unlike SJF and most state schools due to their large size where you have to communicate thro the admin) the smaller class sizes are really beneficial for all involved. The school has a lot more opportunity for children who are sporty in particular. They perform well academically too.

All 3 of my dc have done incredibly well at Rossett, my two eldest achieving 8/9s in all GCSEs. My eldest went on to St Aidan's for 6th form and achieved A* A A A but always says the teaching staff at Rossett were just as good, she just wanted a larger school for 6th form. My youngest is still at Rossett doing great and I really rate the new head (admittedly the previous head was not the best!).

The new head at Rossett is apparently doing great things and has restored calm and good behaviour. ( source a teacher there ) The last head was a shocker.