| Motto | To Learn, To Serve |
|---|---|
| Established | 1907 |
| Type | Community & Private |
| Religion | Mixed |
| Principal | Mr. John Le Townsley |
| Location | Fountain Street Morley West Yorkshire LS27 0PD England |
| Local authority | City of Leeds |
| Students | 1505 |
| Gender | Mixed |
| Ages | 11–18 |
| Houses | Einstein, Franklin, Turing and Quant |
| Colours | Red, Green, Yellow and Purple |
| Website | School website |
The Morley Academy is a co-educational comprehensive school for pupils ages 11–19 in West Yorkshire, England. Morley is situated 5 miles south-west of Leeds city centre with a population of about 50,000. The school has approximately 1,400 students enrolled. The head teacher is John Townsley. The school is one of only four in the United Kingdom to have been awarded the Investors in People Champions Award.
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The school was first established as Morley Secondary School on 4 July 1907, becoming Morley Grammar School in 1930. The first head teacher was John Robinson Airey (1868–1937) who was a nationally renowned mathematician.[1] It became a mixed comprehensive in 1975. The school has had six different headteachers. During the First World War, pupils at Morley Grammar school raised £5,000 to pay for the correct uniform for struggling families within the school.
On 1 January 2011, Morley High School became The Morley Academy under the government's new academy programme. It is the only one in Morley eligible to get the status, due to it being the only one judged "outstanding" by Ofsted.
In July 2001, the Arts Council awarded the school the Artsmark at the Silver level. The school was one of only three in Leeds and of only thirteen in Yorkshire to be so recognised.[2] The Morley Academy is a Specialist Technology College.
The head teacher, John Townsley, has proved controversial since taking over from Dr Roland Walker. On one hand, Ofsted claimed that the school has academically improved since his inception.[3] Despite these improvements, a climate of fear and bullying has been reported within the school and also at Farnley Park High, where John Townsley is also a head teacher. In 2010, Farnley Park High took strike action over the issue.[4]
The introduction of the fingerprint system at Morley High School has also proved controversial, with some parents and pupils claiming they were forced into a fascist system not respecting their civil liberties.[5]
The head teacher has also been accused of improving Ofsted results by hiding the more badly behaved pupils and deliberately setting up inspectors with prepared students.[6]
In their 2006 inspection, Ofsted found that the school was "satisfactory and improving".[7] In its 2009 inspection, the school was granted the "Outstanding" grade by Ofsted.