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Posted 16th July 2026
As we approach the new academic year, we want to take this opportunity to not only wish you a pleasant summer break but also update you about some developments next year.
This year, 72 trips took place involving 3,708 students. There were 39 regular clubs, and we played 395 sporting fixtures. A special mention to our Senior Netball Team who qualified for the National Finals, placing them in the top 15 in the country. In performing arts, over 635 students took part in a school musical, concert, gig, theatre visit or workshop.165 students took part in the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme and nearly 500,000 positives have been awarded this year. There were over 20 house events and we ended the year with our whole school end of year trips and sports days.
In May, we wished our Year 11 and Year 13 all the very best in their final examinations. This year we delivered over 200 pre-examination technique sessions to support them before they sat examinations for the first time. We were extremely impressed with the participation rates at Easter Revision and Saturday school – we would like to thank colleagues who led these sessions. We would also like to acknowledge the excellent conduct of all our students who have taken external exams this year and hope their hard work is rewarded on the results days in the summer.
Results Days 2026
AS/A Levels/BTEC Nationals/Cambridge Technicals – Thursday 13 August at 9am in The Forum
GCSE/Cambridge Nationals/functional skills – Thursday 20 August at 9am in The Forum
Summer building projects
We have some exciting projects taking place over the summer to enhance the overall school environment:
We do welcome any ideas that you have around fundraising, knowledge about grants, benefactors, or alumni donations to help support further projects. Please get in touch.
As we look ahead to the new academic year, we want to let families know about important changes that will come into effect from September.
Mobile Phone Ban: following the government's recent statutory guidance that prohibits mobile phones in schools, we are updating our policy on how mobile phones and smart devices are used throughout the school. We are strengthening our current out of sight approach to mobile phones to ensure that students can focus fully on their learning without the potential of distraction. Under this guidance, mobile phones must not be accessible during the school day.
In September we will use Blackout Technology in Years 7-11. Blackout is an app that blocks access to distracting apps such as social media as well as disabling cameras during the school day. This technology still allows emergency calls, SMS messages and can be tailored to support essential medical apps. Blackout only uses a student’s name, school email, year group and device type for verification, and cannot access personal content, files, location data or school records. No phone data is visible to the school or app provider. To learn more, please watch this pre-recorded webinar. There is a live webinar booked for Wednesday September 9 at 6:00pm for parents to attend. There will be an opportunity to send in questions ahead of this taking place.
Uniform: from September, we will also be introducing a change to our school uniform in line with the government's guidance to reduce the cost of school uniforms for families. As part of this, we have reduced the number of compulsory branded uniform items, helping to make our uniform more affordable while maintaining the high standards of appearance that are an important part of Harrogate Grammar School. Full details of our updated Uniform Policy, including the three required branded items and tie, are available on our website.
Stylus pens: we have updated our iPad scheme for new Year 7 students to include a stylus pen and paper-like screen protector. We encourage students in other year groups to use a stylus to support handwriting, mathematical work and annotation across subjects. These are available to purchase through the school via Arbor shop.
Attendance: despite a widespread outbreak of flu in the region in November that had a significant impact, we have seen our overall attendance increase this year. If our attendance increased by 1.3% next year, we would be in the top 10% of providers. This would not only allow us to meet the ‘strong’ Ofsted standard, but more importantly would lead to more learning in school. We appreciate that holidays are very expensive and the need for family time, but we really hope that families can avoid term time holidays. We ask you to support the highest levels of attendance and to understand that when colleagues contact you about attendance, that this is always in the best interests of children and their learning.
Student entrances Year 7 to Year 11: from September, we ask students to enter the school via identified student entrances. The entrances will be staffed with a Year Manager and Senior Colleagues to allow us to better welcome students, ensuring a consistent approach to uniform and supporting punctuality.
The following entrances will be available to students in a morning:
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08:00-08:30 |
Students can access the Hub through the doors adjacent to the car park. Doors from the Hub into school will remain closed. |
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08:30-08:50 |
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08:50 onwards |
All late students access through the student attendance entrance adjacent to the main school carpark. |
Please note that registration starts at 8.50am. Students therefore need to arrive on time so that they are seated in form by 8.50am.
Our school hot meal deal has increased in recent years, but we have made the decision to not make any changes this year.
We would like to thank the PTA for their impressive contribution to the school over the last academic year. Over the last two years the PTA has funded a new minibus which is an impressive achievement. The regular second-hand uniform sales continue to be a great success, raising £1500 per event, and we really appreciate the difference this work makes.
If you would like to support any aspect of the PTA in the future, please contact the Chair, Rob Grand. HGSPTA@hgs.rklt.co.uk
We would like to thank you for your incredible fund-raising efforts on behalf of Just ‘B’. This year, collectively we have raised £6915 with £1000 going to our established charity, ‘Give a child a hope’ in Uganda, and £5915 to Just ‘B’. Thank you for your donations and support. If you have not yet had chance to donate for non-uniform day today, donations can still be made via Arbor. We hope that creating the option to make one payment for all non-uniform days makes this simpler to donate.
This year we say goodbye to Dr David Parslow and Mrs Charlotte Lythe who leave after over 10 years of service. We thank them for their commitment and wish them all the best for their future.
We would also like to thank Carl Howard and Richard Sykes for their service as Governors. They have both made a real difference to the school in this voluntary role. We will be running an election for a new governor in September.
I would like to congratulate two colleagues who achieved promotions. Mr Twitchin will continue in his role as Director as Sixth Form but will take on additional responsibilities as Deputy Headteacher. His wider responsibility will include overall responsibility for personal development and the ‘Big Picture Programme’. Mr Sykes will continue his role as Faculty Leader for Science but, like our Faculty Leaders of Maths and English, he will take on a wider Assistant Headteacher role. Mr Sykes will support our work on inclusion and closing gaps for disadvantaged students.
Whilst we have very few teachers leaving this year, we have appointed three colleagues into leadership roles.
This has been a very busy period in the Sixth Form with our students involved in a range of different activities to support their learning and the transition to employment, training, or university. Eighty per cent of our Year 13 students are currently holding university offers, and a large number have secured exciting apprenticeship opportunities.
Year 12 students have already undertaken a significant amount of work in researching and planning their next steps beyond school. Details of this, and the support available for students can be found in this letter.
We have put together a useful Summer Reading list, to encourage reading across the school.
In the course of the academic year, we see the commitment and efforts of young people to achieve their own excellence. We would like to thank all our students for their efforts and you for your continued support. We really look forward to welcoming students back in September and wish you a very safe and restful holiday.
Please access the student handbook which contains information about equipment, uniform and our routines.
Mr Renton
