Holgate School was a state school in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England. It was closed in 2012, when it was merged with The Kingstone School to form Horizon Community College. After Holgate closed, it was demolished and the site was turned into a car park for Horizon Community College.
The school was awarded the status of Sports College in 2005 for its attention to sporting achievements.
History
Opening of the new grammar school in 1912
Holgate School was founded in 1546 in Hemsworth by Robert Holgate, the Archbishop of York. In 1888 it was re-organised and moved to Barnsley, South Yorkshire.[1] The grammar school had around 850 boys and moved to its present site in 1912. The school has now closed due to the conjoining of the two Barnsley schools Holgate and Kingstone, coming together to form Horizon Community College.
In January 1981, Michael Parkinson said that Barnsley Grammar School was to his education what myxomatosis was to rabbits.[2]
Comprehensive
In 1978 it became a fully co-educational comprehensive school, having first admitted its first comprehensive first year intake in 1973. The sixth form went soon after, in 1980.
Academic performance
It got GCSE results under the England average but about average for Barnsley. Like all schools in Barnsley, except the Barnsley Academy, it had no sixth form, with A levels taken at Barnsley College.
Notable alumni
This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations.(November 2022)
Sam Nixon - a UK pop singer and television presenter
Azeem Rafiq, cricketer
Barnsley and District Holgate Grammar School
Frank Atkinson CBE, Director from 1970 to 1987 of Beamish Museum, President from 1974 to 1975 of the Museums Association
Flight Sergeant David Horsfall (16 April 1920 - 17 May 1943), who flew on the Dambusters Raid as a Flight Engineer in Lancaster AJ-A with pilot Squadron Leader Dinghy Young DFC; the aircraft was the fourth to bomb the Möhne Dam, but was hit by flak when returning near the Dutch coast at Castricum aan Zee; he is buried at Bergen General Cemetery
Eric Illsley, Labour MP from 1987 to 2011 for Barnsley Central, convicted of fraud in the United Kingdom Parliamentary expenses scandal
Tom Johnson, footballer
John Malcolm, actor
Martyn Moxon, Director of Pro Cricket at Yorkshire CCC, Yorkshire and England cricketer
Sir Michael Parkinson, broadcaster and journalist
Jack Pickering, footballer
William Prior CBE, Chairman from 1979 to 1984 of the Yorkshire Electricity Board
Paul Quinn, lead guitarist of Saxon
William Rayner, novelist
Neil Rhodes, Chief Constable from 2012 to 2017 of Lincolnshire Police
Stan Richards, actor best known for playing the role of Seth Armstrong in the soap opera Emmerdale from 1978 to 2004
Denis Roberts, former Managing Director at the GPO, and Chairman from 1981 to 1985 of the British Philatelic Trust