The school was built by 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. HGS was a foundation school, but became an academy in September 2010. On 18 January 2011, the Crellin Building was officially opened by Prince Edward, with Ingrid Roscoe and the Mayor of Kirklees. In December 2018, the headteacher, Nathan Bulley, quit following allegations of mismanagement.
Admissions
HGS is a Technology College and, in addition, has recently acquired Language College specialism. The school has approximately 1,500 pupils aged between 11 and 18 and includes a sixth form. Prospective pupils pass examinations in verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, English and mathematics before entry to the school. After testing, 180 pupils are accepted. HGS annexe, formerly a church hall, which was previously used for physical education and social sciences was reopened in 2019 as the Jo CoxSixth Form Centre, in memory of the late MP and former Head Girl of the School.
Houses and forms
The school has a house system of four houses, and pupils are allocated to a house. The houses are named after notable people from the West Yorkshire area, and are Brontë, Clarke, Houldsworth and Priestley. Activities take place between houses, with competitions such as a swimming gala, spelling bee and house drama. A house music competition takes places once every academic year – entrants choose a solo, duet or group piece, with points awarded by a panel. The house that receives the most points in competitions wins the Lees Cup. For years that entered the school in school year 2012–13 or earlier there were 5 forms of 30 pupils in them each year, one for each house and one form with a mix of pupils from about 3 houses. Forms are denoted by B for Brontë; C for Clarke; P for Priestley; H for Houldsworth; and S for the mixed form. However, from school year 2013–14 the forms are made up of pupils from all houses and are denoted by the number of the year and the three initials of the form tutor. From school year 2014–15 there are 6 forms per year. New pupils are admitted in year 10, and to accommodate them, one of the forms is split into 2 smaller forms, and the new pupils are split between these 2 new forms. There are approximately 600 students in the sixth form, entering through the lower school or through neighbouring schools after completing GCSEs. Each prospective student is interviewed by a member of the senior management team.
Curriculum and performance
Heckmondwike Grammar School follows the England, Wales and Northern Ireland National Curriculum. In 2010 and 2013/2014 the school was ranked the 5th best-performing school in England for GCSE results. and is regularly among the top 100 state schools in the country. Pupils achieve some of the best A level results by a state school in England. Kirklees LEA has one of the highest averaged set of A-level results in England.
