 The school is relatively small for its type; as of 2007 it had 537 students, of whom 28 were in the sixth form.Before it became the Ridings school, it was known as The Ovenden High School (which closed on 31 December 1994).The headteacher, Anna White was rewarded with a CBE in 1999 for improving the school after it had been labelled "Britain's worst school".