Heckmondwike Grammar School

Heckmondwike Grammar School

Motto	Nil Sine Labore Nothing without Work
Established	1898
Type	Selective academy
Headteacher	Mr Mike Cook
Specialisms	Technology, Languages
Location	High Street (A638) Heckmondwike West Yorkshire WF16 0AH England
Local authority	Kirklees
DfE URN	136283
Students	1,312
Ages	11–18
Houses	Brontë, Clarke, Houldsworth, Priestley
Publication	The Heckler
Website	www.heckgrammar.kirklees.sch.uk

Heckmondwike Grammar School (HGS) is a state selective, coeducational grammar school providing free education, located in Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, England.

Admissions

It is a Technology College and, in addition, has recently acquired Language College specialism. The school has approximately 1,250 students aged between 11 and 18 and includes a sixth form. The headmaster of the school is Mr M.Cook. 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. Even after the tests only the top 150 pupils get accepted into the school. Schools that can select the very top performers are known as super-selective schools.

HGS also has an annexe, formerly a church hall, which is used for physical education, and social sciences as well as being a secure test area.

History

It was built due to Thomas Redfearn and Samuel Wood, who lived on Eldon Street, and opened on 17 January 1898. Further north in Cleckheaton was Whitcliffe Mount Grammar School (now Whitcliffe Mount School).

It used to be a foundation school, but became an academy in September 2010.

On 18 January 2011, the Crellin Building was officially opened by Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, with Ingrid Roscoe and the Mayor of Kirklees.

Headmasters

• Kenneth Ford 1956-70, Quaker and conscientious objector in World War 2, who joined the Friends' Ambulance Unit (11 April 1911- 14 October 99)
• Lt-Col Harold Edwards DSO MC 1924-48
• Mark Crellin Tweedle 1990-2010

Traditions

Rear of the school

Houses

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). There are several activities and competitions that take place between houses such as, the swimming gala, spelling bee, house drama and so on. The House that receives the most points wins the Lees Cup. The winner of the Lees cup in the 2010-2011 school year was Priestley.

Forms

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 after former teacher Mr Short, the first form tutor of the 'S' form. In years 10 and above, the 'S' form is usually split into two groups; S1 and S2 and a small selection of new students are placed into these forms. In more recent years the Priestly Form has been the one to be divided.

GCSE Options

Mathematics, Statistics, English, English Literature, separate science and a language are compulsory.

Students taking each science as a separate subject, 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. Recently, however, GCSE students have had taking all three separate sciences as compulsory, possibly for the beneficial factor in that they then have three, detailed knowledge, GCSEs.

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

• Food Technology
• Graphics
• Resistant Materials
• Textiles
• ICT

All students take one or two Modern Foreign Languages. In year 9 they have a choice of:

• French
• German
• Spanish

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.

Similarly, it is possible to study Italian, Russian or Urdu at GCSE following the completion of a GCSE course in French, German or Spanish

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. Up to Year 8 pupils take both Games and PE and after students have only a weekly Games lesson. In Year 9 & 10 there are only games lesson and no P.E. lesson. 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.

Sixth form

There are approximately 450 students in the sixth form, entering via the lower school or via neighbouring schools after GCSEs. Each prospective student is interviewed by a member of the senior management team before confirmation of a place or rejection is assured.

Academic performance

The school has a strong academic record. It is currently ranked the 5th Best School in England. and is regularly among the top 100 state schools in the country.

It gets some of the best A level results by a state school in England. In the Yorkshire and the Humber it gets results only below two other grammar schools in Halifax and Skipton. Kirklees LEA has one of the highest averaged set of A-level results in England.

Notable former pupils

See also: Category:People educated at Heckmondwike Grammar School

• John Bentley, professional rugby player
• Luke Burgess, older brother of Sam, also a rugby league player for Leeds Rhinos
• Sam Burgess, professional rugby league player for the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the England national rugby league team
• Barry R. Clarke, international puzzle author
• Donald Fisher CBE, County Education Officer from 1974-90 of Hertfordshire, and Headmaster from 1964-7 of Helston Grammar School and Midhurst Grammar School from 1967–72
• Prof John Fozard, took over from Ralph Hooper as the Chief Designer from 1965-78 of the Hawker Siddeley Harrier
• Emily Freeman, 100m and 200m runner, in the British 2008 Olympic 4x100m relay team
• Andrew Gale, professional cricket player and current Yorkshire County Cricket Club captain
• Prof Michael Hampshire CBE, Professor of Solid State Electronics from 1978-85 at the University of Salford
• Mike Heaton, Embrace drummer
• Sir (Harold) Basil Houldsworth, 2nd Baronet (Hubert's son)
• Sir Hubert Stanley Houldsworth, 1st Baronet, Chairman of the National Coal Board from 1951 until his death in 1956
• Thomas Jessop OBE, Ferens Professor of Philosophy from 1928-61 at the University of Hull
• Michael McGowan (politician), Labour MEP from 1984-99 for Leeds
• Prof Ian Poll OBE, Professor of Aerospace Engineering since 1995 at Cranfield University, Professor of Aeronautical Engineering from 1987-95 at the University of Manchester, and President from 2001-2 of the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS)
• Robert Reid, Editor from 1966-9 of BBC2's Horizon, where he established the programme's format, and later Head of Science and Features from 1969-73 at the BBC
• Frederick Campion Steward FRS, Charles A. Alexander Professor of Biological Sciences from 1965-72 at Cornell University
• Geoffrey Taylor, Group Chief Executive from 1982-6 of Midland Bank

External links

• Official website