Yarm School


Yarm School is a co-educational independent day school in Yarm, North Yorkshire in the North East of England. The school welcomes pupils aged 3-18 years old and has a Nursery Pr-Prep, Preparatory School, Senior School and Sixth Form on site. The School was founded in 1978 and is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.
Yarm School is located in the market town of Yarm, on the edge of the Teesside conurbation. The Senior School and Sixth Form border the River Tees and can be found just off Yarm High Street. The Preparatory School is located on the opposite side of The Spital, again just a short walk from the High Street.
The School welcomes boys and girls from across the North East, including Teesside, Durham and North Yorkshire.

History

Yarm School was founded in 1978 as an independent day school for boys. The School was opened under the headship of R. Neville Tate and was located on the site of Yarm Parish Church, as well as an additional three acres of land all on The Spital road.
These buildings had previously housed a Free Grammar School that had been providing education to disadvantaged boys since 1590. After becoming comprehensive, the Grammar School decided to move site. Yarm School remained in this location until September 1980 when the school moved to The Friarage on the west bank of the River Tees. At the same time, Yarm Preparatory School opened following public demand for traditional preparatory school education. Yarm Prep School moved into the buildings on The Spital. The School was now educating boys from the age of 3.
In 2001 Yarm School became fully co-educational and was the first co-educational independent school in the North East. Many local independent schools followed suit. In 2006, the school expanded further with the acquisition of Raventhorpe Preparatory School which became the satellite feeder school Yarm at Raventhorpe. However, in January 2013 it was announced that Yarm at Raventhorpe would be closed. This is because the school was no longer financially viable, however all Yarm at Raventhorpe pupils were offered places at Yarm Preparatory School.
In 2009 an ambitious £20 million redevelopment plan won approval by Stockton Council - and with it, a potential boost to the Teesside economy.
The School underwent significant developments in the years to follow, including new classrooms, improved dining and kitchen facilities, exceptional sporting facilities like a boat house and fitness suite, and a 750-seat auditorium. The school has received national acclaim for the new development from the Royal Institute of British Architects.
R. Neville Tate was Headmaster of Yarm School until 1999 when David Dunn was newly appointed. Following 20 years in charge of this North East independent school, David Dunn stepped down in 2019 and Dr Huw Williams took on the position.
The School now welcomes over 1,100 pupils between the ages of 3 and 18 and employs some 240 individuals. The standard class size in the Senior School is around 18-22 pupils. Sixth Form classes are closer to 10 students, which groups typically not exceeding 16 students.  
The School is arranged into four houses, each with its own housemaster or housemistress and tutor team. Houses compete at an inter-house level in sport and drama. The houses are named after prominent British saints associated with the North East of England: Aidan, Bede, Cuthbert and Oswald.

School buildings

The school originated in the buildings which are now the Preparatory School, before moving into the current Friarage building when the older buildings became too small to accommodate the expanding pupil body. The Friarage building is a large Georgian manor house, that was built after the demolition of the Dominican Friary which had existed there from the 12th till the 16th century. Some parts of the old friary still survive - for example, the oldest building in Yarm is located on the school grounds - the Dovecote was originally part of the Dominican Friarage, and was built in the 12th century to provide a source of food for the monks. It is reputed that there is a tunnel from the haunted cellar of the Friarage to the Tees, as a way for the monks to get down to the river if necessary. However, no such tunnel has been found. The current Sixth Form common rooms are in the old Friarage stable block, which was built as part of the Georgian development - the original coach archways are still visible.
In the 1990s, further expansion of the school resulted in the building of the 'Tate Building' for science and technology, named after the founding headmaster, R. Neville Tate. At the same time, the 'Hunt Building' for History, Geography and English was built, named after and opened by the former governor of the Falkland Islands, Sir Rex Hunt. In conjunction with the 'Hunt building' the school also opened a new theatre, which was opened by Lord Briggs. Since the school's expansion in 2009, this has been turned into the school refectory.
In 2009, the School was granted permission to build £20 million worth of new facilities to the schools existing site. Whilst there were wide-ranging developments to the Preparatory School such as the building of new multi use sports pitches and extending the schools pre-prep facilities, the majority of investment was on the School's main site by the river. This included the development of a new dining hall and construction of new class rooms alongside the riverside. The school invited Princess Alexandra to open its new, state of the art Auditorium. The school has received national acclaim for the new development from the Royal Institute of British Architects. The new development houses classrooms for English, Modern Languages and Economics.

Curriculum

The school teaches subjects towards the International General Certificate of Secondary Education and GCSE qualifications, including English and English Literature, Mathematics, Sciences, and Languages.
Aside from compulsory subjects, students are able to study Humanities, Business Studies, Art and Design Technology. Some GCSEs can be studied outside of curriculum time, including General Studies and Russian.
A-levels are taken in Humanities, sciences, creative arts and social sciences
In 2012 the school was listed for A-levels, as the 20th most successful independent school in the country by The Independent. In 2019 Yarm School was recognised as the top performing school in Teesside and County Durham for its A-level results by The Gazette.
Most pupils from Yarm go on to study at Russell Group universities, and in 2013 17 Upper Sixth students secured places at medical and dental schools, amounting to 20% of the cohort.
Sports include rowing, rugby, cricket, hockey, netball, rounders, football and canoeing; partaking in sport is compulsory.

Extra-curricular activities

Pupils participate in activity sessions such as beekeeping, horseriding, rowing, debating, stock brooking and cricket, rugby and rowing, or continue academic study in Ancient Greek, Russian or general studies.
In election years, such as 2010, the school holds a mock election, where pupils from Sixth Form politics classes acted as candidates representing the main British political parties. Similarly, in 2016, the school held a mock EU Referendum, with senior school, sixth form, and staff eligible to vote. The school voted to remain.
Pupils help to raise money for their designated house charities. These charities can be local, national or international. Each house typically raises over £2,000 per year through a variety of fundraising activities.

Sport

Most of the school's sports' pitches are located off the school site; Aislaby playing fields are located on the north side of the river near the village of Aislaby, whilst Green Lane are located on the outskirts of Yarm. Green Lane contains rugby pitches and a 1st XI cricket pitch. There are multi-weather playing fields for hockey and tennis located on site. Tennis, rugby, cricket and hockey are played as fixtures for the boys; tennis, netball, rounders and hockey are played as fixtures for the girls.
There is emphasis on sport at Yarm; both boys and girls have a 'games' session each week in the senior school. In the Sixth Form, Mondays and Wednesdays are completely devoted to sport. Rugby and Hockey are compulsory for boys in the 1st to 3rd years, after which they continue only sports in which they show aptitude. Rowing is an option in 3rd year games, which can be continued throughout the rest of the pupil's school career.
In 1991 Yarm won the Midland Bank National Schools Tennis completion, beating Millfield and Sevenoaks in the Semi-Finals and Finals respectively.
In July 2009 a team of cyclists from the school won the over-16 category of the British Schools Cycling Association National Time Trial Championships. The school has a rugby tradition, and maintains links with the 'Yarm Old Boys' rugby team. On 23 March 2013 the 1st XV won the U18 Daily Mail Vase against Felsted School 17-15 at Twickenham.
The school also has a competition boat club, the Yarm School Boat Club. In 2009 it won 2 of the 32 categories in the Durham Regatta, and has performed successfully at the National Schools' Regatta, most recently in 2014 when the J15 1st8+ won bronze. It has also been represented at Henley Royal Regatta. and has recently been to international events, such as Royal Canadian Henley Regatta and the Head of the Lagan in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It regularly produces high performance athletes, most notably Kat Copeland, Olympic Gold medallist.

Outdoor education

The school has an outdoor education department which organises games, activities and school expeditions.
The department provides annual trips for 1st and 2nd years to the Lake District. During summer kayaking and canoeing takes place on the river. A winter option is climbing, with trips to nearby Scugdale and local indoor climbing walls. Expeditions have included those to Peru and Nepal.
The school promotes the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, with most pupils undertaking the Bronze Award, and others continuing to Silver and Gold. This year 12 UVI formers took part in the Gold DofE programme.

Combined Cadet Force

The school Cadet Force Contingent includes two sections: Army and RAF. The Army section is attached to the Yorkshire Regiment, with whom it attends regular training, using facilities at nearby Catterick Garrison.
The cadets learn military based skills such as climbing, abseiling, weapons training, orienteering and tactical assault simulation. There are a number of CCF Camps, Military Training Weekends and cadet competitions each year, during which the cadets go on field manoeuvres in order to apply the skills they have learned to a practical situation.
The cadets represent Yarm School on Armistice Day on parade in Yarm High Street, in memory of the Boer War, First World War, Second World War and the Korean War.
An Autumn term annual dinner is held for CCF staff members and cadets. Parents of cadets are invited to the dinner by the Contingent Commander. The dinner represents that of a military mess dinner.
The RAF Section attends flying days to RAF Leeming for experience in flying the Grob Tutor plane. Cadets in the RAF section also attend Gliding events at bases such as Topcliffe, and Easter camps with RAF sections from other schools.
The Contingent regularly participates in local competitions such as Colts Canter, The SAAM at Strensall and Tremlett Trophy.
The CCF go on annual camps to different military locations, most recently to Munster, Germany in 2010, Crowborough in 2011 and Episkopi, Cyprus in 2013.

Awards and recognition

According to the Good Schools Guide, the school is "cheerful and welcoming" and is a balance of the "traditions of grammar School with modern, forward-thinking attitude". School pupils received a total of 1102.2 A/AS points per pupil and 242.8 A/AS points per entry in 2010. At GCSE, in 2010 28.2% of entries were A* and 60% of GCSE entries were either A* or A's.

Houses and year groups

The school is arranged into four houses, each with its own housemaster or housemistress and tutor team. Houses have their own colours, and compete at an inter house level in sport and drama. Each house is named after prominent British saints associated with the North East of England: Aidan, Bede, Cuthbert and Oswald. There are five Senior School year groups, plus a Lower and Upper Sixth.

News

In December 2006 two old Yarumians added a graffito of a penis on the roof of the Friarage building, which was recorded by Google Earth. The graffito has since been removed.

Notable Former Pupils

Politics