West Leeds High School

Specialist Technology College In the United Kingdom, a Technology College is a specialist school that specialises in design and technology, mathematics and science. Beginning in 1994, they were the first specialist schools that were not CTC colleges. In 2008, there were ...

was a mixed

comprehensive school A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is res ...

located in

Armley Armley is a district in the west of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It starts less than from Leeds city centre. Like much of Leeds, Armley grew in the Industrial Revolution and had several mills, one of which houses now the Leeds Industrial ...

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, England. The school had around 1,200 students on roll from ages 11 to 18. The school was replaced with Swallow Hill Community College in 2009, following the merger between two local schools. After 102 years West Leeds High School closed and replaced by Swallow Hill.

History

The school served the

, Bramley and Wortley areas of

for 100 years.

Grammar school

The West Leeds High School opened on 7 September 1907 to improve standards in the city. The school was effectively two schools in one as both Girls and Boys were kept completely separate from each other. In September 1930, following a knock on the knee in the gymnasium on a

vaulting horse The vault is an artistic gymnastics apparatus which gymnasts perform on, as well as the skill performed using that apparatus. Vaulting is also the action of performing a vault. Both male and female gymnasts perform the vault. The English abbreviat ...

, Oswald Harland, the 10-year-old son of a master, died of

pyaemia Pyaemia (or pyemia) is a type of sepsis that leads to widespread abscesses of a metastatic nature. It is usually caused by the staphylococcus bacteria by pus-forming organisms in the blood. Apart from the distinctive abscesses, pyaemia exhibit ...

in Leeds General Infirmary. By the 1950s the schools were known as West Leeds High School for Boys, with 500 boys, and West Leeds High School for Girls, with 450 girls. They were administered by the City of Leeds Education Committee. In 1959 the Girls School moved to a new campus and formed West Leeds Girls' High School on the Congress Mount Campus, with 550 girls. The Boys' school remained at the Tong Road Campus and formed West Leeds Boys' High School on ''Whingate'', with 550 boys.

Comprehensive

The schools retained their name as 13–18 ages comprehensives. In 1993 the two schools merged to form West Leeds High School. The Congress Mount Campus was expanded in 1999 to become the size it is today. The boys' campus was sold off and converted to 66 apartments by North British Houseing and renamed as 'Old School Lofts'. The School also merged with

Benjamin Gott Benjamin Gott (24 June 1762 – 14 February 1840) was one of the leading figures in the industrial revolution, in the field of textiles. His factory at Armley Mills, Armley, Leeds, was once the largest factory in the world and is now home to the ...

High School, as that school had failing results and a falling pupil roll. In 2004 the School successfully applied for Technology Status and became West Leeds High School Specialist Technology College. The School renovated some classrooms and fitted new SmartBoard software.

Performance

The school increased its A*-C

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

examination results from 19% in 2000 to 39% in 2006.

Closure

In 2006 the school was informed that it would be merging with another local school, Wortley High School, to form a new school because of the falling birth rate in the local area. Both schools opposed the merger saying that this would create more disadvantages than benefits. The merger was approved and construction of the new school began in 2008 on the West Leeds High School site, named, in May 2008, Swallow Hill Community College. In September 2009, After the new school was completed, the West Leeds buildings were closed. In October 2009 the school buildings began to be demolished to be replaced with sports fields for the new school. However the original 1907 school still stands, a listed building on Whingate where it was converted into apartments.

Former teachers

John Wishart (statistician) John Wishart (28 November 1898 – 14 July 1956) was a Scottish mathematician and agricultural statistician. He gave his name to the Wishart distribution in statistics. Life Wishart was born in Perth, Scotland on 28 November 1898, the son of ...

, known for the

Wishart distribution In statistics, the Wishart distribution is a generalization to multiple dimensions of the gamma distribution. It is named in honor of John Wishart, who first formulated the distribution in 1928. It is a family of probability distributions define ...

, taught mathematics from 1922 to 1924. Stanley Wilson, the leading British javelin thrower in the 1930s, taught PE at the school in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s

Alumni

Boys' grammar school

* Sir Jeffrey Benson, businessman, Group Chief Executive from 1978 to 1982 of NatWest, and President from 1983 to 1985 of the Institute of Bankers (now called the ifs School of Finance) *

Joseph Hiley Joseph Hiley (18 August 1902 – 17 November 1989) was a British Conservative Party politician, and a member of the Conservative Monday Club.Seyd, Patrick, "Factionalism within the Conservative Party: The Monday Club" in ''Government and Opposit ...

, Conservative MP from 1959 to 1974 for

Pudsey Pudsey is a market town in the City of Leeds, City of Leeds Borough in West Yorkshire, England. It is located midway between Bradford, Bradford city centre and Leeds city centre. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of ...

Bill Bowes William Eric Bowes (25 July 1908 – 4 September 1987) was an English professional cricketer active from 1929 to 1947 who played in 372 first-class matches as a right arm fast bowler and a right-handed tail end batsman. He took 1,639 wickets ...

, Yorkshire and England cricketer * Alex Lyon, Labour MP * Pro
Colin McGreavy
Professor of Chemical Engineering from 1974 to 1997 at the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

* John Sheldon OBE, Joint General Secretary from 1996 to 2000 of the

Public and Commercial Services Union The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) is the sixth largest trade union in the United Kingdom. Most of its members work in UK government departments and other public bodies. History The union was founded in 1998 by the merger of th ...

, and General Secretary from 1993 to 1996 of the

National Union of Civil and Public Servants The National Union of Civil and Public Servants (NUCPS) was a trade union in the United Kingdom. The union was formed in 1988 with the merger of the Civil Service Union and the Society of Civil and Public Servants. John Sheldon (trade unionist ...

, and from 1982 to 1988 of the

Civil Service Union The Civil Service Union (CSU) was a trade union in the United Kingdom which existed between 1917 and 1988. It represented lower-paid staff within the British Civil Service such as cleaners and messengers. History The union was formed in 1917 as ...

* Cecil Shipp CB OBE, deputy Director-General from 1982 to 1988 of

MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...

* Phil Tate, musician *Sir Harold Fieldhouse KBE Permanent Secretary responsible in 1948 for shepherding the three major Acts through Parliament creating the Welfare State. Father of Admiral of the Fleet The Lord Fieldhouse of Gosport who in 1982 commanded the forces tasked with retaking the Falkland Islands."Commander in Chief" by Basil Watson published in 2005 by the RN submarine Museum * Professor Darren Griffin BSc, PhD, DSc, CBiol, FRSA, FRSB, FRCPath. Professor of Genetics, University of Kent, 2007–present. https://www.kent.ac.uk/bio/profiles/staff/griffin.html Peter Robinson, award-winning crime novelist, author of Inspector Banks novels.

Girls' grammar school

* Air Commodore Joan Metcalfe CB, Director of Royal Air Force Nursing Services (

Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service (PMRAFNS) is the nursing branch of the British Royal Air Force. It was established as the Royal Air Force Temporary Nursing Service (RAFNS) in 1918, and became part of the permanent establishment ...

) from 1978 to 1981

References

West Leeds High School Specialist Technology College
at Leeds Learning Network. Retrieved 13 October 2009.
Ofsted
(Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills). Retrieved 13 October 2009.

External links

New Name and Headteacher

Media

Former science teacher jailed in 2008

Parents sent to prison in 2004 for truanting children

Girl murdered in November 2000
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1907 Educational institutions disestablished in 2009 Defunct grammar schools in England Defunct schools in Leeds 1907 establishments in England 2009 disestablishments in England