Yarm School

Yarm School grew out of a group of parents' decision to preserve independent education in the town, and its senior identity is still closely tied to the place. The Senior School occupies The Friarage beside the River Tees and just off Yarm High Street, while the younger years are across The Spital. That two-site arrangement gives the senior school a clear centre and makes the town part of the daily texture of school life.

The senior curriculum is deliberately slow to close doors. In Year 7, pupils encounter English, mathematics, science, languages, computing, history, geography, design, art, music and religion and philosophy. Later choices widen through options such as Classics, Computer Science, Spanish, Design Technology and Music, with setting and subject selection developing as pupils move towards GCSE. The point is not simply variety for its own sake, but time to discover which subjects deserve a deeper commitment.

That approach continues into the Sixth Form, where A Level choices are supported by a programme that links academic study with personal development and future planning. The EPQ gives pupils the chance to pursue a sustained piece of research, while the SPaCE programme places practical questions about health, relationships, finance and adult life alongside formal courses. The school is large enough to offer choice, but its co-educational day-school model keeps the rhythm grounded in the local community.

Yarm's history is relatively young: the school was founded in 1978 and moved to The Friarage in 1980. Its present character combines that family-founded beginning with a mature senior programme, a Sixth Form of around 200 pupils and an outward-looking curriculum. The river-side setting and the breadth before specialisation remain central to a school day that is rooted in Yarm rather than separated from it.