[1][2] It is one of the best-performing schools in the North of England; in 2011, 91% of pupils gained the equivalent of 5 or more GCSEs at grade C or above, including English and maths; the figure has been over 84% consistently since at least 2006.

[5][6] In December, RGS holds its annual Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in Ripon Cathedral, where student choirs and orchestras perform.

There is an Old Riponians' Association Winter Reunion every year, when past pupils return to the school to challenge current students in a series of sports fixtures including rugby, hockey, football and netball.

[9] Recent charities which have benefited include St Michael's Hospice in Harrogate, Surfers Against Sewage and the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

The school offers sporting activities including swimming, tennis, rugby, cricket, climbing, netball, hockey and football.

[17] Olympic diver and gold medalist Jack Laugher attended RGS from Year 7 to the end of his sixth form in 2014.

[18] Team GB and World Championships cyclist Abi Smith joined sixth form in 2018 as a boarding student.

[19] In 2012, pupil and Olympic diver Jack Laugher, then aged 17, backed the campaign to save the school's swimming pool from council cuts.

Due to the size and scale of rural North Yorkshire, and to overcome the lack of money, boarding was introduced for children in outlying villages and farms, but the school soon came to rely on the income and in the 1880s was plunged into financial uncertainty when wealthy families removed their boys from the school because of a rumour involving the headmaster and a local woman.

[33] While academic outcomes are outstanding, the school encourages sixth formers to take on leadership roles and develop wider skills through enrichment activities encompassing everything from charity work and volunteering to sport, music, drama and business enterprise.

Every year, students take part in a series of points-based inter-house competitions, which include sport, debating and singing, traditionally a source of pride for pupils of respective houses.

The school has a purpose-built music block which includes a bespoke recording studio and Apple Mac computer suite.

[37] In 2022, string players in the Chamber Orchestra played the backing track for local band The Dunwells latest album.

The junior drama club meets weekly for workshop activities and improvisations and puts on a major production in the summer term.

[39][40][41] Even the head of the neighbouring secondary modern school, Ripon College, Paul Lowery was in favour of keeping the selection system as it was, which contributed to the proposal's defeat.

The huge cost of administration came from education officials having to write individually to registered parents at feeder primary schools.