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Our view
It would be hard to find a school with a stronger family feel than this all-through co-ed set in the gorgeous Yorkshire Dales. Many pupils are children of teachers (often both mum and dad are on staff) and/or children of alumni – we met a handful of teachers who are former pupils – and the Old Giggleswick network sees OGs pouring their time back into the school. It is testament to the trust and loyalty Giggleswick inspires. With its nurturing approach tailored to the individual, soaring academic results, outdoor pursuits that are second to none and seamless age two to 18 offering, it’s no wonder – small and perfectly formed, this is a school that sets you up for life.
Where?
Located on the edge of Giggleswick village, the school encompasses an expansive 215 acres of Yorkshire Dales. It was founded in 1512 and has a rich history (head Sam Hart is particularly keen to showcase this), with many impressive, listed buildings made from traditional Yorkshire stone. It’s modernised inside, with some new extensions, and there are more recent buildings, such as the Richard Whiteley Theatre (named in 2010 in honour of the late Countdown presenter, who was a pupil and benefactor here), which also serves as a community arts hub for films, theatre and music performances.
High on a hill, the chapel was bestowed by Victorian philanthropist and politician Walter Morrison, and pupils take a scenic walk to the Grade II-listed building to attend twice-weekly services. A charming cricket pavilion is used by boarders in the summer for barbecue and rounders nights, and there’s an observatory in the grounds for budding astronomers. The lovely market town of Settle is within walking distance, giving older pupils a place to enjoy a coffee or go shopping in their free time.
There are eight school buses covering a radius of 50 miles and serving towns including Harrogate, Ilkley, Skipton, Lancaster, Kirkby Lonsdale and Clitheroe – and the friendly bus drivers are considered an important part of the Giggleswick community. There’s also a chauffeur service for boarders arriving by train or plane.
Head
Head Sam Hart took up the post in January 2022. He was previously at Winchester College and was attracted by Giggleswick’s non-selective, nurturing philosophy, as well as its breadth and location: ‘It’s an academic school, but there is a focus on all areas, and that gives the pupils the opportunity to find their own interests.’ He also loves its unique northernness and its ‘one school’ ethos that sees specialist teachers from the senior school going down to teach in the prep.
His style is very open-door and he likes to know what’s going on so he can take a strategic and operational approach to making improvements. His previous career as an army officer no doubt informs his methods: seeking opinions and making decisions for the best interests of the pupils. ‘Leadership must be flexible. It depends on the audience,’ he says.
His first move when he took up the headship was to restructure the school day, consulting with pupils about what would work best for them. The result was staggered lunchtimes, an hour of supervised study (with supervision tiered to pupils’ needs) and then an hour of co-curricular with 80 different activities on offer from water polo in kayaks in the pool to knitting in the library. For Years 11 and 13, there are study workshops tailored to their exams. He’s now planning ‘Gigg 26’, a swathe of refurbishment projects that will see the junior boarding house renovated, more Year 9 and 10 study spaces, a revamp of the assembly hall to create a more flexible space and a new sixth form centre.
Admissions
The school is non-selective, but all pupils do sit entrance assessments in maths, English and non-verbal reasoning. There is no pass or fail, the school just wants to make sure each child is a good fit. Children who need extra learning support will be looked at on a case-by-case basis. Very few pupils leave after Year 11 and plenty of new students join for sixth form.
Academics and destinations
In line with the school’s learner profile – curious, skilled, aware, passionate, creative, proactive, resilient, assured – the emphasis is on quality rather than quantity. And the new structure of the academic day absolutely does that, giving pupils targeted support where it’s needed. In the sixth form, pupils can take a mixture of A-levels and BTECs, and there is a commitment to bespoke exams so pupils can follow their own path. Lots of academic clinics are available to sixth formers who can opt to go to these instead of other co-curricular activities. At GCSE, the curriculum is based around three tenets: academics; the CASE (Creative, Active, Service, Enrichment) programme; and skills to develop leadership, teamwork and communication. The latter includes mentoring at the prep school and helping to coach sport as part of a sports leadership award.
Academically gifted pupils follow an enrichment programme, where they discuss and debate everything from rococo art to forensic science, plus the CASE programme offers subject visits, speakers, competitions, clubs and workshops, as well as university-related opportunities in subjects that pupils are taking. For sixth-formers, the Giggleswick Diploma captures and rewards each pupils’ participation in the whole curriculum.
There’s a lot of excitement about the new sixth form centre due to open in 2026; the current centre will become a performing arts space. The head of sixth form Anne Coward is an absolute font of knowledge (she’s a member of the UCAS Advisory Group) and has a 92 per cent success rate in helping pupils secure their first-choice university, well above the national average. She puts this down to knowing each pupil personally and being able to tailor the approach to suit each individual. BTECs are no barrier to gaining places at Durham and St Andrews, she tells us. Most leavers do head off to Russell Group universities – five of the 2024 cohort went to Durham and five to Exeter – but others opt for degree apprenticeships. Among last year’s leavers there were pupils heading off to the ministry of justice, Jaguar Land Rover, BAE Systems and the police.
Co-curricular
The school has a good reputation for sport, with many pupils reaching county level for rugby, hockey, tennis, athletics, football and cricket (the girls’ team is particularly popular at the moment). There’s a High Performance Sports Programme that sees quality external coaches coming in to work alongside sports teachers. Fell running is very strong – one of the current sixth formers was selected for the U20 GB squad for the European Mountain Running Championships last year. Head of outdoor pursuits, Pete Keron, is endlessly inspiring as a former world champion kayaker, and a keen rock climber, fell runner and mountain biker. Each year, the whole school takes on The Gaggle, aka the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge – a breeze for such a sporty lot.
Facilities are excellent, with Astro pitches, a large sports hall for indoor cricket, grass tennis courts, rifle ranges, clay-pigeon shooting, natural rock faces, climbing walls, a dance studio, a swimming pool, a spin room with 25 bikes… the list goes on. Pupils also use Skipton tennis courts and the indoor driving range at Bentham Golf, and there are also opportunities for horse riding.
The music, drama and art departments are impressive. More than half of pupils learn an instrument (three are harpists), there are a plethora of bands, orchestras and ensembles, choir numbers keep growing and the Giggleswick’s Young Musician of the Year competition is eagerly anticipated. As is The Gigg, a line-up of live acts from all year groups that sees younger pupils performing with sixth formers, and the staff and house band as ‘session’ musicians.
Drama productions are ambitious and well-funded – we dropped in on rehearsals for Blood Brothers and were blown away. There are lots of opportunities for pupils to get involved backstage too, whether it’s set design or lighting and sound.
Art and D&T are impressive too, both the work the pupils create and the facilities. They’re both popular GCSE and A-level options, and everything from textiles and fine art to 3D design are on offer. Last year three out of the five D&T A-level students got A*s and one sixth form pupil even got the opportunity to work with Morgan Motor Company as part of his A-level design course. Life drawing classes happen one evening a week and there’s always a resident artist; the current one is a ceramics specialist.
The CASE Programme comprises more than 100 enrichment activities including Gigg Sounds (a podcast), Gigg Adventures, volunteering in the community and Welsh for beginners. All the pupils do their activities at the same time which gives leadership opportunities to the older years.
Clubs and societies include everything from Model United Nations and debating to astronomy club held at the school observatory, with the option of taking a GCSE in the subject.
Boarding
The school divides into thirds when it comes to full boarders, flexi-boarders and day pupils. Lots of forces families love the full boarding offering and quite a few German boarders come for a term or two. There are also pupils from Honduras, China, America and Barbados. Day pupils have the option of an occasional overnight stay and/or staying for supper.
Boarding parents are very supportive, and everyone has a mentor, a buddy and a tutor. The three boarding houses all have cosy kitchens ready with ‘stidge’ (the school slang for doughnuts and snacks at breaktime), lots of nooks and crannies, comfy sofas and fairy lights, table football and pool tables, as well as plenty of bathroom facilities. Sixth formers have their own kitchen, bar and ‘snug’. There’s a great raffle ticket system to reward good behaviour with enticing prizes at the end of each term and weekends are full of activities, such as ice-skating, riding along the mountain-bike trail or sitting round the firepit roasting marshmallows, as well as day trips to Manchester or to visit, say, a Christmas market, which day pupils can come along to too. On exeat weekends, the school can stay open for children who are unable to go home, a real boon for military families.
School community
Strong on pastoral support, Giggleswick is a past winner of the Silver Award by the Leeds Carnegie Centre of Excellence for Mental Health in Schools, which ensures robust strategies are in place to enable a whole-school approach to wellbeing. The house system helps this to run comprehensively, offering a good support network with tutors, independent listeners, matrons and heads of house always available for pupils to talk to. The older pupils are also encouraged to support the younger ones. Year 13s act as mentors for Year 9s, holding half-termly check-ins, and a new wellbeing centre led by both medical staff and the chaplaincy is cementing itself as a supportive and welcoming space.
The older pupils take on prefect duties too. There are different praepostors (prefects) for each part of the school – music, drama, academic, equality, diversity and inclusion, sport and international students – which means the younger pupils know who to go to if they need help in a certain area and the older prefects take on responsibility for their department and organise events and fundraisers, including an annual charity ball for the younger years. Parents are invited to the Year 13 Leavers Ball at the end of the summer term.
And finally....
A school that is 100 per cent committed to pupils and their families, Giggleswick has a wonderful ‘throw yourself in’ ethos that allows children to find their passions and grow in confidence. A commitment to not passing on VAT costs has seen the skilled leadership team make efficiencies without compromising on the bespoke care, academic excellence and amazing coo-curricular offering that really set the school apart. We predict the fierce loyalty the school engenders will run and run.