| Established | 18 June 1966 |
|---|---|
| Type | State |
| Religion | Christian Church of England |
| Head Teacher | Dennis Richards OBE |
| Chair of Governors | Claire Kelley |
| Location | Oatlands Drive Harrogate North Yorkshire HG2 8JR England |
| Local authority | North Yorkshire |
| Students | 1,893 |
| Gender | Mixed |
| Ages | 11–18 |
| Colours | Blue & Yellow |
| Grades |
A-Level - 61% A-B[1] GCSE - 93% A*-C[2] |
| Website | School website |
St. Aidan's Church of England High School is a mixed Church of England School in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. It currently houses over 1800 students of both lower school and sixth form age. The school's Chamber Choir won the 2006 Songs of Praise School Choir of the Year Competition. After their next compete in Songs of Praise 2010, they landed second place.
The school was labelled as "outstanding"[3] by an Ofsted report in October 2006. It is ranked 475th in the country[4] for its GCSE results in 2006 by The Times.
In 2010, St.Aidans GCSE students got the 4th highest results in the UK.
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St. Aidan's had its foundation stone laid by the former Bishop of Ripon, the Right Reverend John Moorman, on 18 June 1966, and opened in September of that year to provide Church of England education for Harrogate's fast-growing population.[5] Since then, it has grown in pupil numbers.
The school has seen vast amounts of building work since its opening. Perhaps most notably was the Constance Green Hall, built adjacent to Bede House, a building converted for the school's use, which was opened in 1997.
More recently, May 2006 saw the opening of a fully re-furbished Learning resources centre, with approximately 15000 resources and 42 computer workstations.[6] The opening was heralded with a "Beatles Night", featuring tribute group the Plastic Beatles.
Further building work included the complete refurbishment of the sixth form cafe area and old chapel. The bottom tennis courts near the music block have been demolished, with classrooms and a new chapel in their place. The barn has also been demolished, being replaced by new tennis courts.[7]
The lecture theatre has been removed to make space for a Dance studio that was made available for students studying Dance in September 2007.
Currently, during the 2010-2011 Academic Year, building work is in progress on an extension to the school's Drama dept. Throughout the Spring / Summer of 2011, there has been an expansion to the History/ Geography block, as well as the repaving and path reconstruction of areas close to Constance Green Hall.
The school was made one of the first Beacon Schools in 1998. It also has Specialist College Science Status[8] and won the International Schools Award from the British Council in 2006. The school recently received specialist Languages College Status, and has followed this up with a series of Languages Days for both students of both primary and secondary level.
There are over 20 ensembles run by staff and students with the senior ensembles winning various national competitions. The Chamber Choir has appeared in the BBC Songs of Praise School Choirs Competition several times, winning in 2006. The Symphonic Band and Swing Band have won their classes at the National Festival of Music for Youth twice each and the Symphonic Band have also gained a Silver Award in the National Concert Band Championships in 2009 held in Cardiff.
The school forms part of an associated sixth form with St. John Fisher Catholic High School.
The Sixth Form Senate is "elected" by Year 12 students towards the end of each academic year, following election campaigns by would-be senators.
The current Headteacher, Dennis Richards, was awarded an OBE in 2007 for services to education.[9] He also won the Ted Wragg Award for Lifetime Achievement at the 2007 Teaching Awards.[10] John Wood, currently head of Year 7 and a long time staff member of the school has been appointed Headteacher from January 2012. Cathy Roberts, when Head of Music at St Aidan's, won "The Teacher of the Year" award. On 31st December 2011 it was announced that the former Deputy Head of St Aidan's Mr Steve Hatcher had been awarded an MBE for services to education in the Queen's New Year's Honours list.