Mount Saint Mary's School is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, England.

History

Mount Saint Mary's School was founded in 1853 by the Sisters Oblates of Mary Immaculate. Father Robert Cooke, OMI, looked to the Sisters Oblates, who sent four sisters to establish a convent and school in the cellar of their convent. Many pupils were girls who worked in local flax mills and factories. By 1858 the sisters had raised enough funds to build a convent next to Mount Saint Mary's Church. More fundraising by the Sisters soon produced the £800 needed for new school buildings that were erected next to the Convent. It became a girls' Secondary Modern in 1946, at the same time as St Michael's College became a Grammar School. In 1978, Mount St Mary's and St Michael's College both became comprehensives.

Different parts of the school

There are three main buildings at Mount St Mary's, one is the oldest building consisting of most parts of the school, one is home to many important parts to the school and is split in half and the last one is the sports department. If including all outdoor areas then the whole school is roughly 28,000 square metres in size.

Admissions

Mount Saint Mary's is a

Faith school A faith school is a school in the United Kingdom that teaches a general curriculum but which has a particular religious character or formal links with a religious or faith-based organisation. The term is most commonly applied to state-funded fai ...

for ages 11–16 in Richmond Hill. Catholic education after 16 is found at

Notre Dame Catholic Sixth Form College Notre Dame is a Catholic Church, catholic Sixth Form College in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The college is situated on Saint Mark's Avenue, near the engineering departments of the University of Leeds in Woodhouse, Leeds. It is near the (for ...

(former Notre Dame Collegiate School, the other girls' direct grant grammar school in Leeds). It i
situated
just north of the A61, next to the derelict church of Mount St Mary which opened in 1857 and closed in 1989.

St Michael's College

This was a former boys'

direct grant grammar school A direct grant grammar school was a type of selective secondary school in the United Kingdom that existed between 1945 and 1976. One quarter of the places in these schools were directly funded by central government, while the remainder attracted ...

on St John's Road in the Hyde Park area of Leeds, the analogous school to the girls' Notre Dame Collegiate School. It later became a comprehensive school, St Michael's Catholic College. It was a

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

college which opened as Leeds Catholic College on 18 September 1905, becoming St Michael's College in 1933. It had the motto "Quis ut deus" (Who is like God), a translation of the Hebrew "Mikha'el", meaning God like.

Merger

Mount St Mary's announced a merger with St Michael's College of St John's Road in Hyde Park after a review by the diocese found that there was no longer a need for four catholic secondary schools in Leeds. St Michael's is no longer in operation. The remaining Year 7 pupils who began education at the school in 2005 were transferred to Mount St Mary's after the schools merged the same year. The last year group to move through the site left in 2008. St George's Crypt, a Leeds homeless charity, used the site temporarily.

Alumni

* David Doherty, rugby union player * Andy Lynch, former rugby league player *

Tom Elliott Thomas or Tom Elliott may refer to: * Thomas Elliott (footballer) (1890–?), English footballer * Thomas Elliott (Australian cricketer) (1879–1939), Australian cricketer * Thomas Elliott (New Zealand cricketer) (1867–?), New Zealand cricketer ...

, former

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

striker *

Barbara Keeley Barbara Mary Keeley, Baroness Keeley (born 26 March 1952), is a British Labour Party politician. She served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Worsley and Eccles South, previously Worsley, from 2005 to 2024, and has been a member of the House ...

, Labour MP for

Worsley and Eccles South Worsley and Eccles South was a county constituency in Greater Manchester in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was represented since its 2010 creation until abolition by Barbara Keeley of the Labour Party. Further ...

Chris Moyles Christopher David Moyles (born 22 February 1974) is an English radio and television presenter, author and presenter of '' The Chris Moyles Show'' on Radio X. Previously he presented '' The Chris Moyles Show'' on BBC Radio 1 from 2004 to 2012 ...

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

DJ * Darren Cullen, artist and musician *

Nadine Mulkerrin Nadine Rose Mulkerrin (born 23 June 1993) is an English actress, known for portraying the role of Cleo McQueen in the Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'' from 2015 until 2022 and since 2024. For her portrayal of Cleo, she has been nominated for ...

, actress

St Michael's College

Colin Burgon Colin Burgon (born 22 April 1948) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Elmet from 1997 to 2010. Early life Colin Burgon was born in Leeds to Catholic, Labour-supporting parents. His mother, Winnie, ...

, Labour MP for

Elmet Elmet (), sometimes Elmed or Elmete, was an independent Brittonic Celtic Cumbric-speaking kingdom between about the 4th century and mid-7th century. The people of Elmet survived as a distinctly recognised Brittonic Celtic group for centuri ...

from 1997-2010 *

Derek Enright Derek Anthony Enright (2 August 1935 – 31 October 1995) was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician. He was a Member of the European Parliament from 1979 to 1984, and the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), MP for Hemsworth ( ...

, Labour MP for

Hemsworth Hemsworth is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire and had a population of 13,311 at the 2001 census, ...

, 1991–1995 *

John Grogan John Joseph Grogan ( ; born March 20, 1957) is an American journalist and non-fiction writer. His memoir ''Marley & Me'' (2005) was a best-selling book about his family's dog, Marley. Early life Grogan was born to a Catholic family of Irish de ...

, Labour MP for

Selby Selby is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, south of York on the River Ouse. At the 2021 Census, it had a population of 17,193. The town was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire; from 1974 until 2023, ...

from 1997-2010 * Francis Matthews, actor * John Porter, musician and record producer of some Smiths' albums including ''

The Smiths The Smiths were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Manchester in 1982, composed of Morrissey (vocals), Johnny Marr (guitar), Andy Rourke (bass) and Mike Joyce (musician), Mike Joyce (drums). Morrissey and Marr formed the band's songwrit ...

'' * Dave Prentis, Baron Prentis of Leeds, General Secretary of UNISON 2001-2021 *

David Stubbs David Stubbs (born 13 September 1962 in London) is a British music journalist. He grew up in Leeds and in the early 1980s was a student at the University of Oxford where he was a close friend of fellow journalist Simon Reynolds. The two were par ...

, journalist *

Jake Thackray John Philip "Jake" Thackray (27 February 1938 – 24 December 2002) was an English singer-songwriter, poet, humourist and journalist. Best known in the late 1960s and early 1970s for his topical comedy songs performed on British television, hi ...

, singer * Fr Edward Yarnold *

Valentine Pelka Valentine Pelka (born 23 February 1956) is an English actor who has starred in film and on television. Biography Pelka was born in Dewsbury, West Riding of Yorkshire, to a Polish engineer father (Tadeusz Pelka) and an Irish actress (Alma Her ...

, actor *

Steve Nallon Steve Nallon (born 8 November 1960) is a British actor, writer, voice artist and impressionist. Nallon began his career as a stand-up performer on the northern club circuit in the 1970s. He is known for his work as a voice artist on the satir ...

, actor and ''

Spitting Image ''Spitting Image'' is a British satirical television puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. First broadcast in 1984, the series was produced by 'Spitting Image Productions' for Central Independent Television ...

'' impressionist

References

External links

*
Both former schools becoming direct grant in 1946Both former schools becoming comprehensive in 1978EduBase
{{Former Jesuit Places in Britain Catholic secondary schools in the Diocese of Leeds Secondary schools in Leeds Educational institutions established in 1853 1853 establishments in England Voluntary aided schools in Yorkshire People educated at Mount St Mary's Catholic High School, Leeds

History

Different parts of the school

Admissions

St Michael's College

Merger

Alumni

St Michael's College

See also

References

External links