As soon as the Endowed Schools Act had been passed in 1869 the Governors of Giggleswick began to consider a new scheme for the management of the School. On May 30, 1870, Mr. D. R. Fearon, an Assistant Endowed Schools Commissioner, came down to confer with the Governors. He suggested that the foundations of Giggleswick and Sedbergh should be amalgamated and that out of their joint funds two first-grade schools should be established, one Classical, one Modern; and that in some respects it would be more convenient that Sedbergh should be the Modern School, because at that time it was almost in abeyance and therefore the difficulties would be less great. If the Governors of Giggleswick had not already expended large sums in building, the Commissioners would have approved a scheme for removing both schools and establishing one central foundation for Classical and Modern studies, but this was then impossible. It was proposed that the Governing Body should be increased and no teaching be gratuitous, but in order to provide for the satisfaction of local requirements a Third Grade School should be established in Settle either as a separate school or as an upper branch of the National School or alternatively they should annex to Giggleswick School a Junior Department with a lower fee and a limitation of age. Further, in consequence of the twelfth clause of the Endowed Schools Act, some provision was to be made out of the Giggleswick Endowments for the education of girls. These suggestions were not all carried out. The two foundations were treated separately, except that Sedbergh was established as a First-grade Secondary School with Classics as its main subject, and Giggleswick was similarly established on Modern lines.
The new regulations for the government of the School came into force in 1872. The Governing Body was to consist of sixteen members; eight were to be Representative Governors, and were to consist of the Justices of the Peace in the Petty Sessional Divisions in which Giggleswick and Sedbergh were respectively situated; representatives nominated by S. John's College, Cambridge, Owen's College, Manchester, and the Governing Bodies of certain neighbouring Grammar Schools. The remaining eight were to be co-optative. The Vicar of Giggleswick ceased to be an ex-officio Governor and the Bishop of Ripon was no longer the official visitor of the School. His powers were henceforward vested in the Crown. The Headmaster had no freehold but was liable to be dismissed at six months' notice without cause assigned by a two-thirds majority of the Governing Body, twice assembled for the purpose. But on the other hand he was given complete jurisdiction over the whole internal management, teaching and discipline of the School, and full power to appoint and dismiss his Assistant Masters.