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 got demolished and the site was turned into a car park for Horizon Community College.
It was awarded the status of Sports College in 2005 for its attention to sporting achievements.
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. 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.
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.
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.
Sam Nixon - a UK pop singer and television presenter
Azeem Rafiq, cricketer
Barnsley and District Holgate Grammar School
Frank Atkinson CBE, Director from 1970-87 of Beamish Museum, President from 1974-5 of the Museums Association
Denis Barker, former BP executive
Sir Stuart Burgess CBE, Chairman from 1995-2004 of Finsbury Worldwide Pharmaceutical
Donald Chapman, Baron Northfield, Labour MP from 1951-70 for Birmingham Northfield
Prof Norman Chapman, G. F. Grant Professor of Chemistry from 1956-92 at the University of Hull
Prof Gordon Cherry, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning from 1976-91 at the University of Birmingham
Prof John Coyne CBE, Vice Chancellor, University of Derby 2004-2015
Prof Donald Davie, poet
Brian Fieldhouse, Chief Executive from 1990-5 of West Sussex County Council
Brian Glover - actor
Michael Green, Controller from 1986-96 of BBC Radio 4, and Chairman from 1990-5 of the Radio Academy
Jimmy Greenhoff, and his brother Brian, footballers
Prof Alan Hall FRS, Director of Cell Biology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, New York 2006-2015
Harry Hill, Chief Executive from 1998-2007 of Countrywide plc, and founded Rightmove in 2000
Sir Ronald Holroyd, former ICI executive
Eric Illsley, former Labour MP from 1987-2011 for Barnsley Central, sentenced to 12 months in February 2011
Tom Johnson, footballer
John Malcolm, actor
Martyn Moxon - Director of Pro Cricket at Yorkshire CCC
Sir Michael Parkinson - broadcaster and journalist
Jack Pickering, footballer
William Prior CBE, Chairman from 1979-84 of the Yorkshire Electricity Board
Paul Quinn - lead guitarist of Saxon
Neil Rhodes, Chief Constable since 2012 of Lincolnshire Police
Stan Richards, actor best known for playing the role of Seth Armstrong in the soap opera Emmerdale from 1978-2004
Denis Roberts, former Managing Director at the GPO, and Chairman from 1981-85 of the British Philatelic Trust
Dave Rollitt, rugby union player
Prof Harry Rothwell, Professor of History from 1945-68 at the University of Southampton
Rev Canon Geoffrey Shaw, Principal from 1979-89 at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford
William Taylor CBE, Conservative MP from 1950-64 for Bradford North
Howard Thackstone, Chief General Manager from 1962-6 of Midland Bank
Norman West, Labour MEP from 1984-98 for Yorkshire South
David Woodhall CBE, Chief Executive from 1982-92 of the Commission for New Towns (became English Partnerships)
George Wright (bishop),
Peter Dews (director), theatre director (taught 1952-3)
Joseph Soar MBE, Organist and Master of the Choristers from 1952-54 at St David's Cathedral (taught Music from 1904–15)
