| West Leeds High School: Specialist Technology College | |
| Coordinates: | 53.7946°N -1.6064°W |
| Motto: | Non sibi sed ludo (Not for self but for the game) |
| Established: | September 1907 |
| Closed: | August 2009 (demolished 2009/2010) |
| Type: | Comprehensive |
| Head Label: | Headteacher |
| Specialist: | Technology College |
| Address: | Congress Mount |
| City: | Armley Leeds |
| County: | West Yorkshire |
| Country: | England |
| Postcode: | LS12 3DT |
| Local Authority: | City of Leeds |
| Enrolment: | 1,119 |
| Gender: | Mixed |
| Lower Age: | 11 |
| Upper Age: | 18 |
| Website: | http://www.westleeds.leeds.sch.uk/index.htm |
West Leeds High School Specialist Technology College was a mixed comprehensive school located in Armley in Leeds, West Yorkshire, 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.
The school served the Armley, Bramley and Wortley areas of Leeds for 100 years.
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, Oswald Harland, the 10-year-old son of a master, died of pyaemia 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.
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 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.
The school increased its A*-C GCSE examination results from 19% in 2000 to 39% in 2006.
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.
John Wishart (statistician), known for the Wishart distribution, 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. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV7ZfBSnMlY
Peter Robinson, award-winning crime novelist, author of Inspector Banks novels.