Inside story of Harrogate High School's remarkable journey to Ofsted recovery
A Harrogate school which prides itself on being truly inclusive says it feel like it’s recovered its place in the town after turning around its Ofsted ratings.
Since an Ofsted report in 2023 labelled Harrogate High School as “requires improvement”, the hard-working team at the school have introduced a wide-ranging series of significant improvements.
The fruits of all that labour can be seen in the latest Ofsted report; the first under the Government’s new ratings system, which shows Harrogate High School hit the “expected standard” almost across the board.
To the layman that may not sound earth-shattering but in the treacherous world of Ofsted where small words can have big consequences for a school’s reputation, it’s cause for celebration, albeit with an element of caution.
"The Ofsted inspection earlier this year was a great experience,” the school’s headteacher Sukhraj Gill told the Harrogate Advertiser when we visited the school.
"We are so proud of our staff and our facilities.
"The report shows the immense amount of progress we have made since 2023.
"We are closing the gap with other schools in Harrogate and are feeling very positive.”
Part of Northern Star Academies Trust, a diverse partnership of 15 primary and secondary schools across North and West Yorkshire and East Lancashire, the last decade has seen its challenges for a school which, rightly or wrongly, has never enjoyed the social cache of some other secondary schools in Harrogate.
Completely rebuilt in 2017, even its move into a new state-of-the-art building at its Ainsty Road site failed to shift the dial.
Talking to Jenn Plews OBE, Chief Executive Officer of Northern Star Academies Trust, it’s apparent that Harrogate High School no longer feels like the bottom of the pack.
"When a school has always felt like the underdog, it can feed into the school’s psyche,” she said.
“We’ve now tipped that on its head and have become a school of choice in Harrogate, rather than the poorer relation.”
The flurry of new initiatives has seen changes in almost every facet of school life, from the culture and values of the school to collaborations with local organisations such as Army Foundation College Harrogate and RHS Garden Harlow Carr.
Known for decades as a community hub for sport, in particular, recent years have seen an impressive increase in extra-curricular activities, after school clubs and life experiences for pupils.
But Harrogate High School is aware it still has work to do.
Under Ofsted’s updated system, schools are no longer given a single overall grade, with reports instead focusing on standards across key areas.
The evident delight within the school at their recent report was tempered by one blot on its copybook.
Ofsted made it clear that further progress was needed in the Achievement category where, it said, pupils at Harrogate High School had not achieved in line with national tests at key stage 4.
The rules may have changed but, as a school with one of the highest proportion of disadvantaged pupils in the North, rather than simply Harrogate, it sometimes feels like the system is weighted against Harrogate High School despite its successes.
"We are proud to be fully inclusive,” said headteacher Sukhraj Gill, “but it’s not a level playing field.
"Close to 40% of our students are disadvantaged.
"That means, because of the way things work, the school is put at a disadvantage itself in terms of the data all schools are judged on.”
Harrogate High School can point to students success in both the Speak Out Challenge, which puts the public speaking skills of Year 10 students to the test across England, and the SHINE programme, an educational initiative designed to boost literacy, numeracy, and oracy for disadvantaged children.
At a time when even the highest rated schools are not immune from the country’s wide problems, there have been no permanent exclusions from Harrogate High School for two years.
Talking to a group of youngsters at the school, some of whom had been skiiing on a school trip, pupils in general appear to feel encouraged and engaged with education and school life at Harrogate High School, with plenty of opportunities to enrich their lives and pursue excellence.
Perhaps, the most important point of all for the team at Harrogate High School as they attempt to beat back the odds is to create just that sort of environment.
"We’ve got incredible teachers at Harrogate High School and staff turnover here is low,” said Mr Gill.
"We make sure everyone is grounded in the values of the school, that everyone shares a sense of caring.
"Although we cannot solve all of society’s problems, we try to offer a save haven.”