The school was founded as the Free Grammar School of Penistone in 1392, when it is recorded that a gift of land was made by John Clarel, Lord of the Manor at Penistone, for the purpose of a school. Later, the school was situated in the town centre on a site opposite St. John the Baptist Church and across the road from the old Cloth Hall. In 1443 the Free Grammar School of Penistone received further bequests and in 1547, after the dissolution of the chantries, the school continued as the free schoolfor the children of Penistone. Following further endowments, the school was rebuilt in 1702 and enjoyed a considerable period of academic renown under a series of very able Masters. In 1892 the school withdrew from its town centre site to a position about half a mile north-west of the town centre. Around this time the school took fee-paying boarders, had a strong reputation for mathematics and science, and a tradition of sending students to the University of Cambridge. The school remains on this site. The school was originally an all-boys grammar school, with girls being admitted for the first time in 1907. In the late 20th century the school ceased to be a grammar school, becoming one of the first neighbourhood comprehensive schools in the country. It became fully comprehensive in 1969, with partial selection for a few years prior to that. The comprehensive school initially retained its Grammar school name and traditions such as the house system and speech night. These traditions were gradually scaled back, with uniform downgraded from blazers to sweaters during the 1990s. In 2011, the school restored its traditional house system and uniform, and entirely demolished and rebuilt its buildings in a modern style. The school motto was traditionally "Disce Aut Discede", with the school colours being traditionally red and black. It used the coat of arms of the founder, John Clarel, which showed six martlets, as its logo. In 2003 the school changed its historic motto to "Learning and Achieving Together". It rebranded again in 2010 with the motto "Never Stop Flying", a reference to martlets having no legs so always being in flight, changing the logo and school ties to show a single stylised martlet in flight. The school's history is now described in a walkway to the new building, with each road named after points in the school's history.
Present day
In September 2003 the school obtained specialist status to become a Business and Enterprise College. The school has also received an Artsmark Silver award and has recently been re-certified as an investor in people. The new £35 million state of the art school building opened on 2 May 2011, with a complete demolition of the old ones except for Fulford and Weirfield blocks. Fulford was ultimately demolished in early 2014 after much protest from past students and locals. After taking over from headteacher of 5 years Glynis Gower in 2007, Joanne Higgins stood down in November 2017 with Paul Crook taking her place as principal. The sixth form at Penistone currently has 224 students in attendance. Penistone Grammar School is the only maintained school in the Local Education Authority of Barnsley to have a sixth form. After internal remodeling in 2018, work started on a £4.3 million two-storey extension in 2019, expected to provide an additional 250 places at the school. The project is due to be completed February 2020 and will be linked to the main school by a walkway.
