Ripon Grammar School
 |
|
| Motto |
Giorne ymb lare y diowatdomas (Old English: Eager to learn and seek after righteousness) |
|---|---|
| Established | 1555 |
| Type |
Grammar school Day and boarding school |
| Headmaster | Martin Pearman |
| Chairman of Governors | Peter Mason |
| Location |
Clotherholme Road Ripon North Yorkshire HG4 2DG England Coordinates: 54°08′20″N 1°32′22″W / 54.139°N 1.5395°W |
| Local authority | North Yorkshire |
| DfE number | 815/4215 |
| DfE URN | 121694 Tables |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Students | 920 |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Ages | 11–18 |
| Houses |
DeGrey Hutton Porteus School |
| Colours | Navy, Blue & Yellow |
| Former pupils | Old Riponians |
| Website | RGS |
Ripon Grammar School is a co-educational, selective grammar school in Ripon, North Yorkshire, England. It is one of the best-performing schools in the North of England; in 2011, 100% of pupils gained the equivalent of 5 or more GCSEs at grade C or above, including English and Maths; the figure has been over 95% consistently since at least 2006. The school was graded "Outstanding" in its 2012 Ofsted report and is listed in the top 50 schools in the United Kingdom.
It is a selective school, one of the very few in the North of England (Penrith, Cumbria has the most northern grammar school). It is situated in the north-west of Ripon, on Clotherholme Road.
The school motto is the Old English phrase Giorne ymb lare ymb diowatdomas ("Eager to learn and seek after righteousness").
The school was founded in Saxon times, but it was re-founded in 1555 during the reign of Queen Mary. Originally a boys' school, the school merged with Ripon Girls' School to become coeducational in 1962. Although most pupils are day pupils from the surrounding area and Ripon itself, there are boys' and girls' boarding houses.
Ripon was the first and only school catchment area in England in which parents voted to keep a selective school in March 2000 by 1,493 to 747. Even the head of the neighbouring secondary modern school, Ripon College, Paul Lowery was in favour of keeping the selection system as it was, which contributed to the proposal's defeat. The campaign against the school was co-ordinated by Debbie Atkins, who like other local parents chose to send her children to school in Harrogate.
To force a ballot, petitions had to be successfully raised. These were allowed from December 1998, and Ripon was the only one out of 39 resulting in a ballot. The cost of administration of these petitions and the one ballot was £437,000. The huge cost of administration came from education officials having to write individually to registered parents at feeder primary schools. In the year of the ballot - 1999/2000 - £216,283 was spent on the petition procedure's administration. The vote was allowed by the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. Unsuccessful attempts at ballots were made in Trafford and Sutton, both being areas with outstanding academic success. North Yorkshire LEA, largely comprehensive, has the best academic results in Yorkshire and the Humber (Kirklees has slightly better A-level results, but has only a few sixth forms).
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