Crossley Heath Grammar School
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The Crossley Heath School is a grammar school located in Savile Park, Halifax, United Kingdom.
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[edit] History
In 1857, it was founded as an orphanage by Frank and John Crossley, of Dean Clough Mills through capital of 56,000 UKP and a further endowment of 50,000 UKP. In 1887, after a gift of 50,000 UKP from Thomas Porter, a Manchester yarn merchant, the orphanage was extended to include schooling. Over time, the need for an orphanage decreased and the school became a grammar school. The building was designed by John Hogg, a local architect.
At the time of the 1881 census[1], head master William Cambridge Barber, assisted by a matron, head mistress, and 8 assistant head masters and mistresses, presided over a population of 216 "scholar orphans." They included 84 girls and 132 boys, ranging in age from 7 to 16. They were mostly English born, but included a few Irish as well as children from as far away as Australia.
A Royal Charter of January 31, 1887, named the institution The Crossley and Porter Orphan Home and School. In 1919 the school was given royal permission to admit day pupils.
It is now also a specialist language college in Halifax. Formed by the merger of Heath Grammar School and Crossley and Porter School in 1985, it also has permission to use Savile Park moor for teaching and lunchtime use.
[edit] Present Day
In the last year the school has had a new technology block built, along with a new language wing to go with the status of Language College. The school now teaches after school classes for members of the public of any age and pupils to learn languages from French, Spanish and German to Mandarin Chinese. Italian is also offered as a lunchtime club and numerous other languages ranging from Arabic to Japanese are run as after school clubs for adults and students alike.
The school has also been spending money on trips abroad such as a recent music tour to Barcelona, an excursion to the Rhineland region of Germany for year 8 pupils and two exchange trips to Beijing, creating what hopes to be a lasting link in the Autumn of 2005 and july of 2006. There is also an annual residential trip to Castleton in Year 8.
The school has a flourishing house system with all students belonging to one of the four houses; Porter, Savile (derived from the Crossley and Porter School - the houses of Crossley and Standeven were dropped in the merger), Kings and Queens (derived from Heath Grammar School). There are competitions between the houses each year, including the school Sports Day, Swimming Gala, House Music Competition and House Drama Competitions. There is also fierce competition between forms in each year, both in academic targets and in charity work. The school is extremely supportive of many charities and forms will often compete to raise the most money for charity events; Comic Relief, Jeans for Genes and Children in Need are just some of the charities supported on a regular basis.
The school also has many successful sports teams, many of whom win competitions on a local and national scale. These include the athletics team, the cross country team, hockey teams, football teams and rugby teams.
The school also tends to have a very close knit community that is friendly towards each other as well as the staff, who are very approachable and treat students as young adults rather than children, there is a very positive feel about the school.
The Crossley Heath School is a mixed, foundation grammar school with 984 pupils and students on roll aged from 11 to 18. There are 214 students in the sixth form. The school does not yet have a complete set of figures indicating the number of pupils from minority ethnic groups and for those who speak English as an additional language for the current year, as a small number of forms containing this information have not been returned by parents.
There are usually around six percent in each group, with no pupils at early stages of language acquisition. The proportion of pupils with special educational needs, and the proportion with statements, is well below the national average. Those with the most severe need have physical disabilities. The proportion of pupils known to be entitled to free school meals is well below the national average. The area surrounding the school is relatively prosperous, but the school draws from a very wide geographical area and some pupils travel long distances to school. Pupils are selected for admission based on their performance in tests administered by the school, and the attainment of pupils on entry to the school in Year 7 is very high. The attainment of students on entry to the sixth form is well above average.
[edit] Alumni
Although various famous people were pupils at either Crossley and Porter or Heath, there have been few notable Crossley Heathens since the schools' amalgamation in 1985. However, famous former pupils include:
James Naylor (1985-1992) - Newcastle Falcons and England B Rugby Union player
Jason Taylor (1985-1992) - Anthropological explorer and author
Lewis Sharpe (1998-2005) - Chicago Bulls and England Olympic Basketball Team
Robert Marcus Foster (1998-2005) - Manager of Jonny 'Symmetry' Marshall, up-and-coming UK MC
Luke Tryl (1998-2005) - Up and coming MP and elect-president of the oxford union
[edit] The Crossley Heath School Book
A book[2] was published by Rose Taylor, Andrew Kafel and Russell Smith that covers a history of the school. Images cover the school's large basement, the orphanage and many of the photos kept in the Crossley Heath Archives.
[edit] Information about the School
- Type of school: Grammar
- School category: Foundation
- Age range of pupils: 11-18
- Gender of pupils: Mixed
- Appropriate authority: The governing body
- Name of chair of governors: Mrs J Tidswell
[edit] References
- ^ Census returns for Skircoat, 1841-1891. UK Public Records Office RG11/408/102 pg 1. (Online transcription[1])
- ^ Crossley Heath School, Rose Taylor; Andrew Kafel; Russell Smith. Tempus Publishing Limited, 2006. ISBN 0-7524-3866-2.
