Archbishop Holgate's School is a coeducational

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

and

sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

with academy status, located in

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

, England.

History

The school was founded as Archbishop Holgate's Grammar School in 1546 by

Robert Holgate Robert Holgate (1481/1482 – 1555) was Bishop of Llandaff from 1537 and then Archbishop of York (from 1545 to 1554). He recognised Henry VIII as head of the Church of England. Holgate was a canon of the Gilbertine Order, and was probably ...

, the then

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers the ...

. The link between the school and successive Archbishops of York has been continuous throughout the school's history, and as recently as 2004, the Archbishop of York held the post of Chair of

Governors A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

for the school.

Grammar School

The original

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

was in

Ogleforth Ogleforth is a street in the city centre of York, in England. History The street lies immediately inside the north-east section of the York city walls; this part of the walls' alignment is unchanged from the Roman Eboracum. Remains of a barrac ...

near

York Minster York Minster, formally the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, is an Anglicanism, Anglican cathedral in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The minster is the seat of the archbishop of York, the second-highest of ...

. In the 1800s it was referred to as "The Rev. Shackley's School", and Thomas Cooke taught there.

Comprehensive

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 omprehensiveschool. 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 A boathouse (or a boat house) is a building especially designed for the storage of boats, normally smaller craft for sports or leisure use. describing the facilities These are typically located on open water, such as on a river. Often the boats ...

on the River Ouse. In 2009 a £4.3 million two-storey learning centre with landscaping, parking and bike storage, called the ''LearningCentre@AHS'' was built, and now serves as the home of the school's

facilities.

Former headteachers

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 (1984–92), 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) York College is a Further education, further and higher education college in York, England, established in 1999 through a merger of two post-16 providers in York. History The ''York Mechanics' Institute'' was founded in 1827 and taught ar ...

), established in the building previously occupied by

Ashfield Secondary Modern School Ashfield Secondary Modern School was a coeducational secondary modern school in York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse ...

, 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. Andrew Daly was Headteacher until 2024, 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 Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...

Academic performance

In 2007 the school was inspected by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

and was judged as "outstanding". Similar to most secondary schools in York, it gets well above-average GCSE results, 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).

Notable former pupils

Archbishop Holgate's Grammar School

* Jack Clarke, English footballer for

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

* James Crossley, bodybuilder and contestant in ITV's ''The Circle'', series 3 *

Frank Dobson Frank Gordon Dobson (15 March 1940 – 11 November 2019) was a British Labour Party politician. As Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St. Pancras from 1979 to 2015, he served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Health from 1997 ...

, Labour Party politician * Richard Philip Douglas, chief operating officer since 2001 of the Department of Health (1968–75) *

Ben Godfrey Benjamin Matthew Godfrey (born 15 January 1998) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a centre-back or Left-Back, left-back for Serie A club Atalanta BC, Atalanta. He has represented England national football t ...

, English footballer for

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

* Tony Iveson, Royal Air Force Second World War Fighter and Bomber pilot *

Peter Woodthorpe Peter Woodthorpe (25 September 1931 – 13 August 2004) was an English actor who supplied the voice of Gollum in the 1978 Bakshi version of ''The Lord of the Rings'' and the BBC's 1981 radio serial. He also provided the voice of Pigsy in the c ...

, actor known for ''

Only Fools and Horses ''Only Fools and Horses'' (titled onscreen as ''Only Fools and Horses....'') is a British television sitcom that was created and written by John Sullivan (writer), John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Ki ...

'' amongst other work

Coat of Arms

The school was granted the following arms by the

College of Arms The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional Officer of Arms, officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the ...

References

External links

Archbishop Holgate's School
(official school website)
Archbishop Holgate's Grammar School website
(offering information on the early-to-mid 20th century and early history)

(offering more information on the last few years) *
EduBase
{{Authority control Educational institutions established in the 1540s 1546 establishments in England Church of England secondary schools in the Diocese of York People educated at Archbishop Holgate's School Secondary schools in York Academies in York