The School History

Millthorpe School was formed in September 1985 when the schools in York were reorganised into the current comprehensive system. The first pupils to attend the school were the boys from Nunthorpe Grammar school, on whose site the new school was situated, and the girls from the nearby Mill Mount Grammar school . Both of the original grammar schools took their names from the buildings in which they were housed.

The school is centered on Nunthorpe Court, a large Victorian House built in 1856. The architectural firm still has the original plans and it is interesting to see how the house was adapted to meet its new role as a school in 1920. The gardens and grounds were extensive, ranging from formal Italian parterres to a belt of mature trees and a pond.

The house was well planned and well built. Gracious reception rooms were designed around a central top lit hall, with the principal bedrooms opening onto a circular landing. At first the school was entirely contained within the mansion. Now the house is used purely for offices and staff rooms, the Headteacher’s office being situated in what was the main bedroom.

The school was added to at various stages as it grew in popularity. In 1927 a new wing was opened, containing four new classrooms, an art room, two store rooms and a cloakroom. The stableboys’ sleeping quarters from the old house were converted into a new school library. The stables themselves were converted into two laboratories. Even the stable yard was pressed into service. It was roofed over and became the assembly hall, and later still the school’s dining room as it still is to this day. The current hall and the completion of the quadrangle classrooms came in 1937. In 1959 the gym was added as well as what was for the next 25 years to be known as the “new block”, the building containing laboratories and classrooms now designated A block. A Sixth Form block was added in 1974, this now houses C and D blocks and was designed with comprehensive education in mind. In 1984 a new sports hall was built to complete the preparations for the new school which would open the following year.

Millthorpe School has continued to grow and expand. We now have over a thousand pupils on the site, a far cry from the original forty nine who began their education at Nunthorpe in 1920. Included in the additional facilities added more recently are our Learning Resource Centre and yet another classroom block, both of which have been added in the last five years.