Heckmondwike Grammar School

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Heckmondwike Grammar School (HGS) is a state selective grammar school providing free education, located in Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom. It is a Technology College and, in addition, has recently acquired Foreign Language Specialism. The school has approximately 1200 students aged between 11 and 18 and includes a sixth form. The headmaster of the school is Mr Mark Tweedle, and the current Head Boy and Head Girl are Rob Crossley and Kim Nettleton respectively. The school's aims are "to achieve the best possible academic standards and to develop those qualities in our pupils which will make them responsible citizens of the future." The school was founded in 1898, and its colours are brown and gold.

Prospective pupils have to pass examinations in verbal reasoning and mathematics before entry to the school is allowed.

HGS also has an annexe, formerly a church hall, which is used for physical education, and social sciences.

The school has four houses, and each student is put into a house. These houses are named after famous people from the West Yorkshire area. The houses are Brontë (whose colour is blue), Clarke (yellow), Houldsworth (green) and Priestley (red). The Houses compete to win a trophy at the end of the school year called The Lees Cup. To win this trophy pupils from each house must try to earn as many points as possible in competitions against other houses. Whilst these are mostly sporting activities there are some non-sport related activities such as debating, drama and music. In addition to the main trophy, the four houses may also win separate trophies for single events throughout the year. Trophies are usually given to the house's Sports Captain(s) as part of a full school assembly. The winner of The Lees Cup in the academic year 2005-2006 was Clarke.

There are 5 forms of approximately 30 in every year, one for each house and one additional form with a mixture. They are B for Bronte, C for Clarke, P for Priestley, H for Houldsworth, and S, which is a mixture of all houses. The letter "S" was chosen as Mr Short (who has since left the school) was the first teacher of this new mixed-house form.

[edit] GCSE Options

Mathematics, English, English Literature, dual or separate science and ICT are compulsory.

Students now get a choice whether they will go for science-based careers or technical-based careers, with the school taking advantage of the new "DiDA" system. With this, students can either take Double Science, with two GCSEs, and an entering into the Certificate of Digital Applications (CiDA), worth two GCSEs, but may be able to complete the DiDA (Diploma), which is equivalent to four GCSEs.

Students taking each science as a separate subject, recommended but not compulsory for students wishing to study Science at A-Level, will study for three GCSEs, one each for Physics, Chemistry and Biology. They will have more lesson time to study Sciences, but as a result have less time for other subjects, and will be entered for an ICT Award (AiDA), which is one GCSE. However, pupils who show large improvement may be entered for CiDA.

All students are entered into one technology element. They may choose from:

All students take one or two Modern Foreign Languages. They choose from:

French
German
Spanish (this language must be taken alongside one of the above)

Students may also choose to study Latin at a fee through distance learning, but this is only made available to those who have demonstrated exceptional linguistics skills.

As part of the National Curriculum, PE is still taught to pupils through weekly Games lessons. These are compulsory and are part of the PSHCE (Personal Social Health and Citizenship Education) programme. The pupils also benefit from weekly PSHCE lessons, called Skills lessons. Study of Religious Education is also compulsory at a basic level, for those who do not wish to study to the full GCSE level in this subject.