Wetherby High School (formerly Wetherby Secondary Modern School) is a

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

and

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

located in the

Hallfield Hallfield or Hallfields is an area predominantly of council estates in Wetherby, West Yorkshire, England. The area is situated east of the town centre. The area is home to Wetherby High School. History and development The Hallfield area w ...

area of

Wetherby Wetherby () is a market town and civil parish in the City of Leeds district, West Yorkshire, England, close to West Yorkshire county's border with North Yorkshire, and lies approximately from Leeds City Centre, from York and from Harrogat ...

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 is run by the

City of Leeds The City of Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. The metropolitan borough includes the administrative centre of Leeds and the towns of Farsley, Garforth, Guiseley, Horsforth, Morley, Otley, Pudsey, Rothwell, W ...

Local Education Authority. It is situated on Hallfield Lane, on the Hallfields Estate in

, and adjacent to the Wetherby Campus of

Leeds City College Leeds City College is the largest further education establishment in the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England with around 26,000 students, 2,300 staff, with an annual turnover of £78 million.

, formerly

Park Lane College Park Lane College Leeds was the largest further education college in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, and provided further, higher and adult education to over 45,000 students. It operated out of over 40 sites across Leeds. On 1 April 2009 Park L ...

. The school buildings were frequently used by the college at night.

History

The school is a former

secondary modern A secondary modern school is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Schools of this type continue in Northern Ireland, where they are usually ...

school (pupils who passed the

11-plus The eleven-plus (11+) is a Test (assessment), standardized examination administered to some students in England and Northern Ireland in their last year of primary education, which governs admission to grammar schools and other secondary schools ...

would have most likely attended

Tadcaster Grammar School Tadcaster Grammar School founded in 1557, is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located near Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, England, educating children aged 11–18 years old, and has an on-site sixth form. The school is located in t ...

). The school was originally on Crossley Street, but once these premises had become too small for the school, the new site was built in 1966 – the notable feature being a tower block overlooking the car park of The Horsefair Centre; the town's shopping precinct. Crossley Street Primary School now occupies the Victorian buildings of the former secondary modern school. The school's 2009

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

report rated the school as Grade2 (Good). Following the October 2012 Ofsted inspection the school was assessed as Grade 3 (Requires improvement) in all areas and for overall effectiveness. After a follow-up February 2013 Ofsted Section 8 monitoring inspection, under the

Education Act 2005 The Education Act 2005 (c 18) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was enacted in order to simplify the process of school improvement, strengthening the accountability framework for schools, in particular by amending the approac ...

, the school was judged to have made improvements. Wetherby High School was a designated

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 59 ...

with an academic and vocational curriculum. In February 2010 it became a

foundation school In England and Wales, a foundation school is a state-funded school in which the governing body has greater freedom in the running of the school than in community schools. Foundation schools were set up under the School Standards and Framework A ...

, and in partnership with the British Library and the University of York formed 'The Education Trust for Wetherby', a charitable trust that owns the school's land and buildings. In 2014, The school partnered with

Carr Manor Community School Carr Manor Community School (formerly Carr Manor High School) is a mixed all-through school located in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was formed from a merger of Lawrence Oates Middle School and Stainbeck High School in 1992 under headmast ...

Buildings

Aerial photographs of Wetherby (7th May 2021) 005

The buildings were built in the mid-1960s and are very much 'of their time'. Although typically 1960s, and similar to many schools across Leeds, such as

East Leeds High School East Leeds Family Learning Centre was a large Adult Education Centre in Seacroft, Leeds, England. The buildings were originally used as a secondary school, Foxwood School. The school is notable for its use for filming ''The Beiderbecke Trilog ...

Seacroft Seacroft is an outer-city suburb/township consisting mainly of council estate housing covering an extensive area of east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It lies in the LS14 Leeds postcode area, around east of Leeds city centre. It sits in th ...

and the former

Merlyn Rees Community High School Cockburn John Charles Academy (formerly The South Leeds Academy) is a mixed secondary school located in the Belle Isle area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was originally known as Belle Isle Middle School, before becoming a secondary s ...

in Belle Isle, they are not of a

Brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by Minimalism (art), minimalist constructions th ...

nature. The site is dominated by a main tower block, linked to the school hall by two footbridges, with two protruding stairwells. The site contains a smaller number of older buildings left over from HMS Ceres Landship. Over the years the school's grounds have become considerably smaller with land being sold off for the redevelopment of the Horsefair Shopping Centre and for housing developments on McBride Way. In the early 2010s the pre-1960s buildings were demolished having been replaced by newer buildings; one built in the early 2000s in the courtyard formerly separating the school hall with the tower block. In 2013 work was undertaken to replace many of the original aluminium-framed windows in the main tower block. Further remedial work has since been undertaken updating the campus; however the main buildings of the site remain fundamentally unchanged since their completion in 1966. Wetherby High School (6th February 2013) 003

Wetherby High School (6th February 2013) 003

The school had a new sports hall built a few years ago. This was built away from the older buildings to facilitate future developments. The site is maintained in good condition, though now that the buildings are coming to the end of their life cycle the governors have been working with

Leeds City Council Leeds City Council is the local authority of the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in West Yorkshire and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of England, and provides the majority of l ...

on options for investment. File:Wetherby High School (28th August 2014).JPG, Temporary buildings make up a lot of the site to accommodate the schools expansion in the five decades since it moved to the Hallfield Lane site. File:Wetherby High School (30th August 2015) 004.JPG, The single storey home economics block

Proposed incorporation of Boston Spa School

In 2018 it was proposed to close nearby

Boston Spa School Boston Spa Academy (formerly Boston Spa Comprehensive School) is a coeducational secondary school for pupils aged 11–19 years old on Clifford Moor Road in Boston Spa, West Yorkshire, England. It is larger than other secondary schools in ...

and merge it into Wetherby High School which would be accommodated at a new campus in Wetherby. Both schools have dated campuses with buildings reaching the end of their life cycles.

Notable alumni

Jessica Barden Jessica Amy Barden (born 21 July 1992) is an English actress. She began her career as a child actress. She is best known for her role as Alyssa in the Channel 4 comedy-drama ''The End of the F***ing World'' (2017–2019). She received a British ...

– actress *

Kadeena Cox Kadeena Cox (born 10 March 1991) is a parasport athlete competing in T38 para-athletics sprint events and C4 para-cycling and British television presenter. She was part of the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships and the 2016 UCI Para- ...

–

parasports Parasports are sports played by people with a disability, including physical and intellectual disabilities. Some parasports are forms of adapted physical activities from existing able-bodied sports, while others have been specifically created for ...

athlete * Jon Craig – political journalist * Seb Hines –

professional footballer Association football is the world's most popular sport and is worth US$600 billion worldwide. By the end of the 20th century it was played by over 250 million players in over 200 countries. Around the world, the sport is played at a professi ...

* Stuart Naylor – professional footballer and coach *

Micah Richards Micah Lincoln Richards (born 24 June 1988) is an English former professional footballer, sports pundit for Sky Sports and BBC Sport, and as an ambassador of Manchester City. As a player, he was a right back who played in the Premier League and ...

–

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

international footballer *

Primrose Shipman Harold Frederick Shipman (14 January 1946 – 13 January 2004), known by the public as Doctor Death and to acquaintances as Fred Shipman, was an English general practitioner and serial killer. He is considered to be one of the most prolif ...

– wife of murderer Harold Shipman *

Wash Westmoreland Paul Westmoreland (born 4 March 1966), known professionally as Wash Westmoreland and previously known as Wash West, is a British director who has worked in television, documentaries, and independent films. He frequently collaborated with his hus ...

– film director File:Richards crop.JPG, Micah Richards File:Kadeena Cox Rio2016.jpg, Kadenna Cox at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

File:CINvOCB 2017-05-13 - Seb Hines (34525816801) (cropped).jpg, Seb Hines playing for Orlando City

References

External links

* {{authority control High School, Wetherby Foundation schools in Leeds Secondary schools in Leeds