Denbigh High School () is an English medium secondary school based in Denbigh, North Wales. Pupils who attend are between the ages of 11 and 18.
Overview
Denbigh High School is situated on Ruthin Road, Denbigh and had 542 pupils on roll in 2017. About 6% of the learners speak Welsh as a first language or to an equivalent standard. The school serves Denbigh, St Asaph and surrounding rural areas, including Trefnant, Henllan and Tremeirchion.
Denbigh High School forms part of the Dyffryn Clwyd Consortium at A level. This was a partnership agreement with neighbouring schools, St Brigid's School (in Denbigh), Ysgol Brynhyfryd (in Ruthin), Ysgol Glan Clwyd (in St Asaph), and Denbigh College, to provide transport for students who wish to study subjects from different schools. However, in 2018 Ysgol Brynhyfryd and Ysgol Glan Clwyd withdrew from the agreement. The Consortium now consists of Denbigh High School, St Brigid's School, Denbigh College and Llysfasi College.
The school has represented Wales at the F1 in Schools Championship. Team Tachyon competed in Texas and Singapore and, in 2019, Team Quantum were travelling to Abu Dhabi to compete in the World Finals.
Singer/songwriter Kameelion attended the school and left in 2008 after successfully achieving his GCSEs.
History
The school was originally situated on two separate sites with the first 3 years on the existing site and the older years at an older building on Middle Lane, which is situated half a mile away. This Middle Lane site was built in 1903 as The County School and Denbigh High ceased using it in 1983. The site then became a Youth Club and is used for Teacher Training and Education Administration.
The school is in conjunction with the secondary department of the autistic school Ysgol Plas Brondyffryn, which was built next door in 2003. In September 2009, Maths teacher at the school, Ian Gee, was suspended and later fired from the school when images of child pornography were found on a computer at his home. Investigators found no evidence to suggest criminal activity had taken place on school premises or during school hours. He was banned from working with children for five years.
In December 2011 Paul Evans who was a teacher at the school but also the chief examiner for the WJEC history qualification at the time, was subject to a "sting" operation by the daily Telegraph which triggered an investigation into all examination boards, by the then education secretary Michael Gove. The sting sought to prove allegations that examiners were providing attending teachers with information which they could use to improve students results unfairly. The sting pointed specifically to informing attendees that the questions written by the examiners were subject to a cycle. In the video which is widely available, Evans can be heard admitting to cheating and he further states that the regulator would "probably" tell him off if they knew.
Assistant Headteacher and Performing Arts teacher Gwawr Ceiriog was fired by the school in 2014 for failing to hand over charity raised money for BBC Children in Need, and for pocketing student payments for hoodies. In November 2013, she was ordered to pay £1,400 in compensation.
In September 2016, Denbigh High School placed 72 pupils; mainly girls, in exclusion and isolation on the first day of school, for wearing 'inappropriate' uniform. The case saw coverage from many major news companies and received outcry from parents, many claiming that the uniform is adequate and claiming they could not afford to purchase new uniform.
In August 2017, the school achieved its best set of A Level results in its history, with 77% of students achieving the top grades of A*-C. In 2019, A-Level students achieved the highest percentage of A*-A results in Denbighshire.
It was put in special measures in 2018 by the inspectorate Estyn.