| Headteacher | Catherine Lennon |
|---|---|
| Location | Brigshaw Lane Allerton Bywater West Yorkshire WF10 2HR England |
| Local authority | City of Leeds |
| Website | www.brigshaw.com |
Brigshaw High School and Language College is located in the village of Allerton Bywater, West Yorkshire, England.
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It is the fastest-growing high school in the City of Leeds with over 1,400 pupils in September 2006 compared to 870 pupils in 1996.
The school was originally opened in September 1972. A new block, "De-Lacey", was built in the mid-1980s to cope with school growth. In September 2004 the school became a specialist Language College as part of the UK's Specialist schools programme. Feeder schools include: Colton Primary School, Swillington Primary School, Great and Little Preston Primary School, Kippax North Junior and Infant School, Allerton Bywater Primary and Methley Primary schools.
The schools in the Brigshaw Federation have worked closely over recent years. Eight of the schools in the Federation formally consulted on establishing a shared ‘Trust’ for the partnership, and achieved this on 1 April 2010.
Within the trust are: Allerton Bywater Primary School; Brigshaw High School and Language College; Great Preston C of E Primary School; Kippax Greenfields Primary School; Kippax North Junior and Infants School; Kippax Ash Tree Primary School; Lady Elizabeth Hastings C of E Primary School; and Swillington Primary School.
The main building was destroyed by a fire in April 2000. It was rebuilt during 2002 at a cost of £8 million and opened in September. It was re-named Silkstone after a coal face located underneath the school.
The sports block was destroyed by an electrical fire in December 2003, and was rebuilt in July 2005 at a cost of £1.5 million. The new sports facility includes a gym, a running track, football and rugby fields and indoor tennis and basketball courts. Faults were found with the sports hall water system, and tests revealed evidence of Legionellosis in the water dispensed at drinking fountains.
The music centre is the only building left which remains from the original 1972 construction. It has recently been updated with a new state of the art music technology computer suite.
British rock band The Music met at the school.
Brigshaw is a Language College. In year seven the 'Y' side of the year studies German and the 'X' side studies French. When pupils reach year eight they learn Spanish as well as German and French. Since 2005 some pupils have been fast tracked to take GCSE German and French two years earlier than typical; after completing language GCSE early they can choose between Spanish GCSE, or Japanese as a non-GCSE course.
In Year 10 pupils choose three 'pathway' subjects from Drama, Media, Business, ICT, Cooking, Electronics, Art, Music, Woodwork, Graphics, Textiles, Geography, History, P.E., Health and Social, and Metalwork. Some of these courses can be taken to BTEC level, where only coursework is carried out and no exams held.
In addition to the three chosen options there are compulsory subjects: English, Mathematics and Science, one or two languages (Spanish, German, French, Japanese or Russian) PHSE, RE and Basic P.E.
School pupils have gained places on the Prime Minister's Global Fellowship programme, the first in the inaugural year of the programme, 2008, and again in 2009.[1]