Harrogate High School
Ainsty Road, Harrogate, HG1 4AP
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- NORTHERN STAR ACADEMIES TRUST
- Head of Academy
- Mr Sukhraj Gill
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Northern Star Academies Trust
- Constituency
- Harrogate and Knaresborough
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 750
- Pupils on roll
- 579
- URN
- 138190
- Local authority
- North Yorkshire
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01423548800
About this school
Harrogate High School is a secondary academy in Harrogate. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 579 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted no longer gives schools a single overall grade. Each area of the school's work is graded on a five-point scale, and safeguarding is judged separately.
- Inclusion
- Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Expected standard
- Achievement
- Needs attention
- Attendance and behaviour
- Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- Expected standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 130 | 139 | 144 |
| Attainment 8 score | 34.5 | 36.1 | 39.1 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.67 -0.91 to -0.42 | -0.46 -0.71 to -0.21 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 24% | 25.9% | 31.3% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 38% | 46% | 52.8% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 28% | 35.3% | 22.2% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 2.8 | 3.1 | 3.3 |
Progress 8 is paused nationally for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 school years. Those pupils sat no key stage 2 tests during the Covid pandemic, so there is no starting point to measure progress from. A blank figure here is not missing school data.
Trends over time
How Harrogate High School has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | North Yorkshire average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 34.5 | 41.9 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 36.1 | 41.8 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 39.1 | 40.4 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 12.6% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 12.3% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 11.2% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 724 |
| 2023/24 | 720 |
| 2024/25 | 672 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Harrogate High School compares
Harrogate High School ranked 36th of 41 secondary schools in North Yorkshire for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 36% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 5% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 39.1 | 11.2% | 32.4% | 579 | — |
| St Aidan's Church of England High School | 56.4 | 6.9% | 6.6% | 1,966 | 0.8 miles |
| St John Fisher Catholic Academy | 55.1 | 8% | 10.1% | 1,250 | 1.0 miles |
| Harrogate Grammar School | 56.6 | 7.9% | 10.4% | 2,081 | 1.5 miles |
| Rossett School | 44.1 | 10.5% | 23.4% | 785 | 2.0 miles |
| King James's School | 46.1 | 8.9% | 18% | 1,554 | 2.5 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
Inspection history
-
Graded inspection report3 February 2026
- 25 April 2023
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 32.44%
- English as an additional language
- 7.6%
- Overall absence
- 11.19%
- Persistent absence
- 31.13%
Location
Nearby schools
-
St Aidan's Church of England High School0.8 miles
Secondary · Harrogate
-
St John Fisher Catholic Academy1.0 miles
Secondary · Harrogate
-
Harrogate Grammar School1.5 miles
Secondary · Harrogate
-
Rossett School2.0 miles
Secondary · Harrogate
-
King James's School2.5 miles
Secondary · Knaresborough
Other schools in Harrogate
Harrogate High School ranks 6th of the 6 ranked secondary schools in Harrogate.
- Harrogate Grammar School Secondary
- Nidderdale High School Secondary
- Rossett School Secondary
- St Aidan's Church of England High School Secondary
- St John Fisher Catholic Academy Secondary
- Admiral Long Church of England Primary School Primary
- All Saints Church of England School Primary
- Beckwithshaw Community Primary School Primary
- Birstwith Church of England Primary School Primary
- Bishop Monkton Church of England Primary School Primary
- Burton Leonard Church of England Primary School Primary
- Coppice Valley Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Harrogate High School teach?
- Harrogate High School teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Harrogate.
- Who is the head of academy of Harrogate High School?
- The head of academy of Harrogate High School is Mr Sukhraj Gill, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Harrogate High School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Harrogate High School, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How big is Harrogate High School?
- Harrogate High School has 579 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Harrogate High School full?
- Harrogate High School has capacity for 750 pupils and 579 on roll (77%), so it has space against its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Harrogate High School a faith school?
- No. Harrogate High School has no designated religious character.
- Is Harrogate High School a selective school?
- No. Harrogate High School is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Harrogate High School?
- Harrogate High School is part of NORTHERN STAR ACADEMIES TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Harrogate High School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 34.5 in 2022/23 and 39.1 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Harrogate High School rank locally?
- Harrogate High School ranked 36th of 41 secondary schools in North Yorkshire for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 36% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 5% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Harrogate High School's absence rate?
- Harrogate High School's overall absence rate is 11.2% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Harrogate High School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Harrogate High School's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 1 July 2026.