Selby High School links back to Selby Grammar School, founded in 1908 as an all-girls school as Selby High School. In 1967 this changed to the Selby Grammar School grammar school and became coeducational, and in 1979, a mixed comprehensive school. The comprehensive was renamed Selby High School.
Buildings
In 2003 Selby High School began fundraising towards securing specialist school status – the school was awarded specialist status in Performing and Visual Arts in 2005. Following this the school built a dance studio, a 325-seat theatre stand and an all-weather pitch. In September 2010 the school was awarded specialist status in Science. The school maintains these specialisms in the present day.[2] In January 2013 the school added an ICT suite with new computers. In 2017 it added the Eckersley Centre, named after the previous headmaster, Paul Eckersley.