The academy is split over two sites, with the Upper academy located in the centre of Doncaster (in the Town Fields area) and the Lower academy in the north of Bessacarr, near the Dome. Hall Cross Academy has specialist status as a Science College. The total number of pupils who attend the academy is over 2000. It features as an integral part of the community, providing access to facilities for many primary schools, which also form part of its large catchment area. The headteacher of the academy is Mr Simon Swain.
It is named after the Hall Cross on Hall Cross Hill, on the opposite side of the main road through Doncaster.
The Gilbert Scott building and Christchurch House[edit]
The Gilbert Scott building is the oldest building on the Town Centre site, it was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott and was built in 1869. Downstairs it features a plaque dedicating the building to Queen Victoria. The upper floor houses the school's library and an IT suite. The building is a classic example of Victorian Gothic Revival, featuring a large Hammerbeam roof decorated with flowers cut into the massive oak beams which may, in fact, be stained pine. The building also features a tower at one corner. Inside the library there are two massive Gothic-style glass windows at either end, one of them being stained glass, designed and executed by former pupil C. Rupert Moore, which was unveiled in 1938 as a tribute to "Old Boys" from the school who died in World War I. The library features a large number of Victorian plaques, dedicated to past headteachers of the school as well as to staff and students killed in the two world wars. The most recent plaque commemorates the visit by Prince Charles to the school in 1989.
Christchurch house is the school's equivalent of a "6th form block". It is a large detached Victorian Townhouse which overlooks the local church that the house is named after. The house features a grand wooden staircase, stained glass skylights, and a statue of the Venus de Milo which originally resided in the Girls' School, built in 1918. When the school was disbanded, the statue was moved to Hall Cross Academy.
Remembrance Day is one of the most important days in the academic calendar. The academy has held a ceremony every year since 1918 to remember those who attended the school and died in battle. The service begins at 9am. Speeches are made by the Head Teacher who gives thanks to those who died as a result of conflict. Two poppy wreaths are then carried down the corridor to the library by the Head Boy and Head Girl. They are then laid by the World War One and World War Two plaques respectively, while the Last Post is played on the trumpet, with the sounds carrying through to the library.
High Speed Train power car no. 43045 was named 'The Grammar School, Doncaster AD1350' in Spring 1984.[1] It was last in revenue earning service with East Midlands Trains and was stored at Long Marston, not carrying its former name.[2]
The nameplate removed from the locomotive was kept in the collection of railwayana originally located in the tower of the academy along with a large collection of amassed by the Doncaster Grammar School Railway Society, to which, at one point, one in six pupils belonged.[3] The collection also includes nameplates from two locomotives destroyed as a result of the Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash.[3] This collection is now in the Railway Heritage Centre of the Danum Museum.[4]
This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations.(September 2011)
Alumni and former staff of Doncaster Grammar School, Doncaster High School for Girls, Hall Cross Comprehensive School and Hall Cross Academy, known as Old Danensians, are able to join the Old Danensians' Club.
The object of the club is to maintain connections between past members of the School with one another and the School, and generally promote the welfare of the foundation.[13]
GCSE results for the school are slightly above average. At A-level it performs well, with some of the best results in South Yorkshire, and the third best in Doncaster LEA. Results in Doncaster at GCSE are notably low, but they are much better at A level, similar to the situation in Grimsby and Hull.
