| Established | 1546 |
|---|---|
| Type | Voluntary aided school |
| Religion | C of E |
| Headteacher | Andrew Daly |
| Founder | Robert Holgate |
| Specialisms | Science, Applied Learning |
| Location | Hull Road Heslington, York North Yorkshire YO10 5ZA England |
| Local authority | City of York |
| DfE number | ???/4500 |
| DfE URN | 121709 |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Students | 816 |
| Gender | Mixed |
| Ages | 11–18 |
| Website | Archbishop Holgate's |
Archbishop Holgate's School is a voluntary aided Church of England, coeducational secondary school in York, England.
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The school has two main specialist statuses - Science College and Leading Edge. The current headmaster is Andrew Daly. It is situated in the east of York, on the A1079, just east of the University of York in the parish of St Paul, Heslington.
The school was founded as Archbishop Holgate's Grammar School in 1546 by Robert Holgate, the then Archbishop of York. The link between the school and successive Archbishops of York has been continuous throughout the school's history,[1] and as recently as 2004, the Archbishop of York held the post of Chair of Governors for the school.[2]
The original grammar school was in Ogleforth near York Minster. In the 1800s it was referred to as "The Rev. Shackley's School", and Thomas Cooke taught there.[3]
In 1858 the school moved to Lord Mayor's Walk (now occupied by York St John University) in 1858, and moved again in 1963 to its present purpose-built £180,000 home in Badger Hill, off Hull Road. It was administered by the City of York Education Committee.
Albert Holderness was senior chemistry master after the Second World War and he, along with John Lambert, wrote the highly successful and celebrated O-level chemistry text book School Certificate Chemistry and later New Certificate Chemistry.
Until 1985, it was an all-boys' grammar school. With the reorganisation of education in York in 1985, the school changed its name to Archbishop Holgate's School, and became a co-educational [comprehensive] school. During this transition period the outdoor swimming pool was converted to an indoor pool, a new sports hall was built, and upgrades were made to music, design and technology, home economics and other facilities. The school's facilities now include an indoor heated swimming pool, a chapel and a boathouse on the River Ouse. In 2009 a £4.3 million[4] two-storey learning centre with landscaping, parking and bike storage, called the LearningCentre@AHS was built,[5][6] and now serves as the home of the school's sixth form facilities.
Recent headmasters have included Donald Frith OBE (1959–1978), Dr J M Frost (1979–1984), and Alan Walker, an old boy and former English teacher at the school (1984-6), all of whom have since died. Dr Frost went on to become principal of the then-New York 6th Form college (now York College (York)), established in the building previously occupied by Ashfield Secondary Modern School, and opened as part of the reorganisation in 1985. The last headmaster was John Harris (1992–2010), who joined the school when it had the lowest results in York, and saw it through expansion from 439 students in 1992 to almost 900 and the best exam results in the school's history before his retirement in 2010.[7] The current headmaster is Andrew Daly, who prior to joining the school, held a position in the senior leadership team at St Wilfrid’s Catholic School and Sixth Form College in Wakefield.[8]
In 2007 the school was inspected by Ofsted and was judged as "outstanding".[9] Similar to most secondary schools in York, it gets well above-average GCSE results,[10] with 70% of Year 11 students achieving five or more A*-C grades including English and Maths in 2009 (87% achieved five or more GCSE passes at grade C and above).[11]