Grammar School at Leeds

The Grammar School at Leeds

Motto	Inspiring Individuals
Established	2005
Type	Independent school
Religion	Multi-Faith
Principal and Chief Executive	Mike Gibbons
Chair	David P A Gravells
Location	Alwoodley Gates Harrogate Road Leeds West Yorkshire LS17 8GS England Coordinates: 53°51′54″N 1°31′07″W / 53.86503°N 1.51851°W / 53.86503; -1.51851
Students	2,370
Gender	Co-Educational
Ages	3–18
Houses	8
Colours	Indigo
Publication	GSAL Life
Website	www.gsal.org.uk

The Grammar School at Leeds (GSAL) is an independent fee-paying school in Leeds, England, created on 4 August 2005 from the merger of Leeds Grammar School (founded c. 1552) and Leeds Girls' High School (co-founded in 1876 by Frances Lupton).

The schools physically merged in September 2008, at which point the school became open to both sexes. The school is now situated on two sites: the Senior School (ages 11–18) and Junior School (7–11) at the Alwoodley Site, while the Leeds Girls' High School site in Headingley is used by the Infant School and a new Nursery School. The merged school operates as a "diamond school" meaning that classes for girls and boys between the ages of 11 and 16 remain segregated, but all extracurricular activities are mixed. Classes for all below the age of 11 and in the Sixth Form are co-educational. During the merger consultation process, the student, parent and teaching bodies of both schools agreed on major goals for The Grammar School at Leeds.

House structure

A key element of the new school is intended to be the foundations of eight school houses, each with two house captains and four deputy house captains. These houses, into which the pupils of The Grammar School will be divided, are:

• Eddison House — named after Anne Eddison, on the Yorkshire Ladies Council of Education who helped set up Leeds Girls' High School.
• Ermystead House — named after William Ermystead, a priest who donated properties to Leeds Grammar School in 1552.
• Ford House — named after John Ford, a founding member of the LGHS Council.
• Harrison House — named after John Harrison, benefactor, who built Leeds Grammar School's third site on North Street in 1642.
• Lawson House — named after Godfrey Lawson, Mayor of Leeds, who endowed the Lawson Library, the oldest library in the city.
• Lupton House — named after Frances Lupton, who helped found LGHS, and also Elinor Lupton, who funded the eponymous centre at the Headingley site.
• Powell House — named after Helena Langthorne Powell, the second Headmistress of LGHS, who established its move to Headingley, where it remained until 2008.
• Sheafield House — named after William Sheafield, who is traditionally thought of as the founder of Leeds Grammar School in 1552.

Locations

The Grammar School at Leeds was established via the legal merger of Leeds Grammar School and Leeds Girls' High School in 2005. Both these schools operated on two separate sites which were some distance between each other; Leeds Girls' High School operated from three separate sites in Headingley, whilst Leeds Grammar School ran from a 138-acre (0.56 km²) modern campus situated in Alwoodley.

Upon physical merger in 2008, four sections of school were created. The Junior School, Senior School and Sixth Form now operate from extended buildings at the Alwoodley Gates site (originally Leeds Grammar School). The site was redeveloped from 2007 to 2008, and now contains a new Sixth Form and Maths departments whilst the Lawson Library, Science department and Refectory were extended. Rose Court Nursery & Pre-Prep School operates in Headingley; from a new nursery extension and the refurbished building formerly known by Leeds Girls' High School as 'Ford House'. The rest of the Leeds Girls' High School site, which is now surplus to requirements, is currently the subject of discussion with Leeds City Council planning officers prior to anticipated application for outline planning permission for residential housing. The site currently stands empty.

Senior management team

The current principal and chief executive is Michael Gibbons, the previous headmaster of Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield. Gibbons was educated at the City of Leicester Grammar School and gained his degree from King's College London. He is the founder member of the working party for the Forum of Independent Day Schools. Gibbons took up the office of principal at the beginning of the summer term 2010, formally taking over on 1 April 2010.

The previous headmaster was Dr. Mark Bailey, a former Rugby Union player and bursar of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He was appointed headmaster of Leeds Grammar School in 1999 amid controversy.^[1] Despite this, his tenure as head saw a sharp increase in entrance applications and financial stability, and a number of high-profile appointments to senior management levels. He led the merger of Leeds Grammar School and Leeds Girls' High School following his appointment as both headmaster and chief executive of The Grammar School at Leeds, in February 2005. He left GSAL in March 2010 to become the Professor of Later Medieval History at the University of East Anglia and a visiting Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.

Merger

The school administrations of Leeds Grammar School legally merged with Leeds Girls' High School on 31 August 2005, with the schools physically merging in September 2008.

Plans for the merger were not universally welcomed. As early as 2003, a campaign group called "No Merger in 2007" stated that there was a "hidden agenda", a drive to reduce debts incurred from an LGS building programme, and that the proposed merger "makes no educational sense". The LGS headmaster, Mark Bailey, said that only a fifth of parents opposed the planned merger, and the LGHS headmistress Sue Fishburn stated that 80% of parents were in favour of the merger.^[2] A number of parents were reported to have stated a preference for strictly single-sex establishments despite assurances that classrooms would be single-sex.^[3]

In January 2004, Mark Bailey was reported to have stated that less than 1% of the 1500 families with children at the two schools "wrote to oppose the move".^[4] Further controversy was reported in 2005, when plans for the new school crest were released. According to the report, "Parents who contacted the Yorkshire Post said many felt dismayed by the merger and the new logo but dared not speak up". One parent stated that the existing crest had been "obliterated by a felt-tip doodle".^[5]

Plans to redevelop the Alwoodley site were met with some opposition. Leeds City Council delayed its decision for the LGS planning application until summer 2006, requiring the physical merger to be put back a year until September 2008. As well as this, there was controversy due to the expected increase in traffic levels at the Alwoodley site,^[6] but this was reduced by the drawing up of a new traffic plan.^[7]

Work began in August 2007 and involved the formation of a new signalised site access junction. The construction of a new pedestrian tunnel and a 30 mph (48 km/h) speed limit were also installed to relieve traffic pressure. Controversy persisted into late 2007, however, over the possible need for an additional vehicle entrance at the new school site in Alwoodley and the arrangements for the disposal of the Headingley LGHS site.^[8]

References

External links

• Grammar School at Leeds website