The headteacher of Harrogate’s largest school has released a book about leadership.

Neil Renton, who became head of Harrogate Grammar School in 2019, said New School Leader: What Now? aims to help school leaders daunted by their role.

It examines the challenges new leaders face and how they can be overcome.

Mr Renton, who was previously the school’s deputy head, said “this was the one book I looked for when I became a headteacher that I couldn’t find”.

Based on his own experience, it covers issues such as the weight of responsibility he felt on his appointment, leading through a pandemic and coping with an Ofsted inspection.

Mr Renton said:

“Something happens when you step from being a senior leader to being appointed as headteacher. Everyone tells you it will feel different, but no one can quite explain how.

“I found it helpful to write about my experience and what I was learning as a leader. I then tried to set that learning out in a way that could help other new leaders.

“I wanted to tell a simple, honest and positive story about school leadership.”

He said he wrote 500 words a day in every school holiday for the last three years “until I felt that I had answered the question in the title of the book New School Leader: What Now?”

Critical Publishing, which published the 210-page book, described it as “an uplifting and honest story about how school leaders develop and hone their practice over time to navigate doubt, overcome challenge, and lead well every day”.

The book, which costs £19.99, can be bought here.

Read more:

• Councillors agree to create new school for autistic children in Harrogate
• Line-up for Harrogate literature festival revealed

Harrogate Grammar School‘s boys’ first team has been crowned under-18s national rugby union champions.

The team beat St Peter’s High School, Gloucestershire 31-20 to win the Continental Tyres Schools Bowl at Saracens’ StoneX Stadium in London. A total of 125 schools entered.

It was the first time in the school’s recent history that the under-18s reached a national final.

Coached by former Scotland International Tom Ryder, director of sport at the school and Stuart Vincent, former captain of Ilkley RFC, six of the team the team have represented Yorkshire Academy this season.

Mr Ryder said:

“This was a fantastic performance from the boys, they’ve worked very hard all year so I’m really pleased for them that it was such a great game.

Try time for HGS

Captained by Matthew Leatham, who plays for Yorkshire Academy under-18 team and vice-captained by Sam Parsons-Bastiman, who was selected for the North of England under-18 squad, the team scored five tries in the final, which was live-streamed on England Rugby’s YouTube channel.

Matthew said:

“The squad would like to thank Mr Ryder and Mr Vincent for their coaching, mentoring and encouragement throughout the season; not forgetting Michelle Farnhill, our strength and conditioning coach, who helped us keep the intensity throughout the game.

“The players would also like to thank all the travelling supporters, it certainly made a difference hearing the singing, drumming and trumpet playing.”

Kicking for glory

Harrogate Grammar’s sixth form sports academy is only in its second year, with 30 boys currently in the rugby programme.

This, along with twice-weekly gym sessions and weekly fixtures, has cultivated a more professional approach to school sport.

Evading a tackle

Headteacher Neil Renton said:

“This is an outstanding achievement to be very proud of and a reflection of their dedication, commitment and unity as a team. We are delighted to be crowned national champions.

“The academy is a unique asset to our school, championing success in netball and rugby, and we want to continue attracting students from across the county to our sixth form.”

Photographs by Leo Wilkinson Photography

A Harrogate headteacher has said he is torn between his head and heart over this week’s teacher strike.

Children in years seven to 10 and year 12 at Harrogate Grammar School will study remotely from home on Wednesday when the first of four days of planned industrial action take place.

Pupils in years 11 and 13 will attend school as usual and have lessons if teachers are not striking.

Speaking on the BBC News channel today, headteacher Neil Renton said half of the school’s 115 staff belonged to the National Education Union, whose members had balloted in favour of the strikes.

Mr Renton said that as head he was keen to ensure the school stayed open but at the same time he could see the issues teachers faced and he therefore had conflicting emotions between his head and heart.

He said “there are just not enough teachers out there” and added one recent vacancy for an English teacher at the 2,000-pupil school attracted just one application.

Mr Renton, who said the union he belonged to would not be on strike this week, said too many teachers were leaving the profession. He added:

“If this continues and we are not able to work with government and ministers to create an education for the future I would, as an educator, want to take steps to make sure we make a much brighter education for our children.”

Read more:

• Some Harrogate Grammar School pupils to study at home during teacher strike
• Harrogate school to recruit fourth headteacher in two years

Mr Renton said Department for Education guidance stated schools should prioritise students taking exams and therefore pupils in years 11 and 13 would attend school as normal and either have lessons when teachers were not striking or undertake private study.

Other schools set for ‘unavoidable impact’

Harrogate Grammar School is part of Red Kite Learning Trust, which also manages Oatlands Junior School, Coppice Valley Primary School, Rossett Acre Primary School, Western Primary School in the Harrogate district.

Richard Sheriff

Red Kite chief executive Richard Sheriff sent a letter alongside Mr Renton’s saying “a very significant number of our teachers” are members of the NEU and “sadly it is unavoidable that this will have an impact on the provision we offer across our schools on the strike days”. He added:

“The impact will vary considerably from school to school, depending on the number of staff who are members of the union concerned and who decide to support the action.

“Red Kite Learning Trust is the employer for all our teachers and staff in schools, and we have received some information from the National Education Union (NEU) about how many members are in each of our schools. This information does not give us the full picture, however, as we do not know which teachers will choose to actually be on strike on the days concerned. Headteachers/principals will therefore have to cope with a high degree of uncertainty, as they plan for the strike days.”

He added:

Harrogate Grammar School has been rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted.

The Harrogate district’s largest school announced last night it had retained its outstanding verdict in its first full assessment for 15 years.

Ofsted has yet to publish the report but the school said in a statement that government inspectors had judged the school to be outstanding overall and in all five areas assessed: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management and sixth form provision.

Inspectors described the school as “an extremely rewarding place to learn” with “an exceptional curriculum”. They added:

“Effective teaching and assessment enable pupils to learn well. This depth of knowledge is sustained from key stage 3 to the sixth form.

“Through sports, outdoor pursuits and performance opportunities, pupils develop their skills and self-confidence. Pupils are articulate and polite. They are keen to engage in discussion and debate. Teachers make sure that pupils’ views are heard.”

Ofsted described the sixth form curriculum as “exceptional”, offering students “an extensive range of subjects”. It added:

“The headteacher has built a very strong team of leaders at all levels. Leaders demonstrate clear moral purpose in their actions.

“Leaders maintain a constant focus on the safety and well-being of pupils. Pupils feel safe because of the supportive environment built by staff.”

Read more:

• Ripon Grammar boarding school rated ‘good’ by Ofsted
• St Aidan’s school in Harrogate rated’ inadequate’ by Ofsted
• Ofsted indicates Boroughbridge High School’s ‘good’ grade under threat

Headteacher ‘very proud’

Neil Renton

Headteacher Neil Renton praised students, parents, staff, governors and colleagues at Red Kite Learning Trust, which the school is a member of, for the outcome. He added:

“It makes us very proud to see the exceptional commitment that we experience every day from our community, being recognised in this way.”

Six inspectors visited Harrogate Grammar over two days last month.

Tougher regime

Ofsted’s assessment regime has become tougher since inspections resumed after covid in September 2021. Only 50% per cent of schools have maintained their outstanding judgement since then.

In January, Harrogate’s St Aidan’s Church of England High School, which was previously rated ‘outstanding’, was assessed as ‘inadequate’.

Christopher Russell, Ofsted’s national director of education, said:

“There’s no doubt that under the current education inspection framework, outstanding is a challenging and exacting judgement to achieve.”

Paul Cotton, chair of governors at Harrogate Grammar, said,

“The Ofsted report captures so clearly what takes place each and every day at the school. Harrogate Grammar School is indeed an extremely rewarding place to learn.”

Richard Sheriff, chief executive of Red Kite Learning Trust, said:

“Students benefit from an exceptional curriculum at Harrogate Grammar School.”

Harrogate Grammar School headteacher Neil Renton says the secondary school “won’t abandon children” as uncertainty on what will happen with GCSE and A-level grades continues.

Yesterday in Parliament, education secretary Gavin Williamson said that a form of teacher-assessed grades will be used in place of exams — but Mr Renton said schools are still awaiting clarity on how this will work in practice.

He said Year 11s and Year 13s in Harrogate are increasingly anxious about how they will be assessed,

“We need information very quickly as last year was a fiasco. Because this lockdown has come earlier than last year, we’ve got to do something to keep Year 11 and Year 13 children engaged in learning.

“We can’t just suddenly stop now and abandon them and just give them grades. We need to collect more information and teach them and finish GCSE and A-Level courses.

“The government needs to come out and give us real clarity on what evidence we will need to give them for their final grades.

“I really, really hope they base this on the information we’ve had from over two years of the course. Children have had so much disruption so we need more time to fully assess the level they’ve achieved.”

‘Chuffed to bits’

Mr Renton said the school is embracing online learning, with every pupil having access to the technology they need and the school maintaining the timetable, including live contact with teachers in each period. He said:

“This means that we’ve been able to protect their provision. We’ve been chuffed to bits with the feedback we’ve been receiving. Parents say it’s given the children structure and they’ve had that interaction with their teacher, which was harder to achieve in the first lockdown.

“Some people say it must be tiring for children to do six hours of Teams or Zoom lessons. We’re mindful of that so they are breaking off to do activities, speak to each other and talk to the teacher. It feels very similar to what they experience in school.”

Children at Harrrogate Grammar School playing in the snow on Friday.

After a heavily disrupted half term up to Christmas, with whole year groups having to self-isolate, a degree of certainty with lockdown has been welcomed. But staff and parents have been left to deal with last-minute announcements by the government, he said.

“The vast majority of the profession are really struggling because of the lateness of information and the number of U-turns by the government but I’ve been proud of our staff and community and how they’ve responded.”

On Friday, the school carried out its first lateral flow covid test, as they are rolled out across the country in an effort to identify asymptomatic cases and reduce transmission of the virus. Staff will begin being tested this week, after which students who are in school because their parents are key workers will be tested every week.

Testing for children began at Harrogate Grammar School today

While national reports suggest there have been many more students in school this time compared to the first lockdown, Mr Renton said the grammar school’s numbers were broadly the same, at around 50 to 60 students. However, he expects the number to rise as any students who are struggling at home are brought back in, and says staff are ready to support them.

Looking to the future, Mr Renton said the current challenges may result in better long-term teaching and learning, such as embracing more use of technology. He added:

“There has been a great kind of bonding. The behaviour in school was so good in September and children were so appreciative to back at school.

“We want there to be a long shadow from this experience and for it to have a positive impact in the future.”