Grammar School at Leeds

[Ceebeejay]

Anyone have any experience of this school? We may have to move to Leeds early next year and have a very sporty dd who also loves drama. any other suggestions for schools?? many thanks

Look at Ashville, much smaller than Leeds Grammar. Ashville has a family atmospher, rather than being just a number in the much larger GSAL.

Ashville has very active sports teams and a dedicated drama unit. It's in the process of being totally refurbished and has boarding facilities.

Small can be good but some children thrive in a large place with lots of opportunities and a wide range of academic options. You need to think carefully about what kind of place would suit your child. What does she say?

It depends where abouts in Leeds you are moving to, if you are in South Leeds it would be easier to get to the schools in Wakefield - WGHS is excellent for both sporty and artistic girls , Silcoates is co-ed and has very good facilities.

All schools mentioned previously are great in their own way. Have a look around and see which best suits your daughter.

Depending on whereabouts in Leeds you would live, Bradford Grammar might also be a possibility. Don't have any personal experience of BGS, but it seems to have a good reputation.

Yes, we need to know whereabouts in Leeds you will be living in order to help properly. I've kids at two of the schools mentioned, and have friends with kids at all of them. Most folk are pretty happy with their choice, but different kids will thrive on different things. How old is your dd, what sports does she like?

Do you have to live in Leeds itself or just within commuting distance. There are lots of commuter areas that are near to good state or private grammar schools.

My friend teaches at the GSAL. It has great facilities and if she is anything to go by, extremely dedicated staff. The sports provision is excellent- I don't know about drama.

Agree with the other posters that it would be helpful to know where in Leeds you plan to live. GSAL good for North Leeds and surrounding area. If you live further out- e.g. Ilkley then Bradford Girls Grammar and Bradford Grammar both warrant a look too. Also Woodhouse Grove school in Apperley Bridge (close to areas like Guiseley and Rawdon in Leeds). WGS tends to be regarded as less academic than other local private schools but I know parents who are happy with it.

Other options in Leeds: Fulneck School (towards south Leeds) and Gateways, although I haven't heard good things about the latter. It's located close to GSAL and I don't think is doing as well since GSAL went co-ed on the same site.

As the poster above has said, there are some very good state schools depending on the area.

Hi everybody and many thanks for the replies!! Have been away in Nottingham with no internet hence the sudden silence - guess I didn't time my posting very well!! My dd's main sport is netball - it's by far the most important thing to her atm - she does homework then straight out shooting!! We were thinking of living towards Harrogate end of Leeds hence the grammar school. We have driven round there this summer and my main concern is that it seems so big and concrete - her current school has 25 girls per year and the senior about 90. It was one of the coaches at netball who suggested it as being good at sport -

forgot to mention she will be going into year 6 this week!!

not sure what you mean about concrete - the place has 100's of acres of grass! - literally - if you only drove up and down the drives and round the car parks then you only saw a very small proportion of the grounds/playing fields.
The school is really good at Netball, and it is played a lot by the girls. The junior school kids do very well indeed at it, as do the seniors.
It is big, though the students really don't seem to mind or notice, but it would certainly be a huge jump up in numbers for her. Certainly the staff all seem to know the students.
The results are really very good indeed though, as is the value added score - both for GCSe and A levels
Gateways is much smaller - about 40/year in senior school if this years gcse results are standard, but has a good reputation for nurturing - the only 2 grils i know leaving y13 this year got AAA and AAB but i don't think they are representative of the results. It is used quite a lot as a feeder for GSAL now, folk moving their kids at y3/7 from there. Still alittle bit of an old fashioned feel if you like that, the prefects wear gowns.
would avoid woody grove unless you are bling, not very bright and aggressive - apologies if you are - in that case it will suit nicely.
Ashville has a really nice feel to it, again good pastoral care, and is much smaller than GSAL. They are prepared often to give kids who have failed in some respect in other schools a chance. Not sure whether netball or hockey is bigger there for the girls. It is about £3k/year more expensive for day pupils if that matters to you.
State wise if you can afford to live in Harrogate then Harrogate Grammar is fab in every way, (same size per year as GSAL tho').

Fayrazzled says it all very well and i would just reiterate - further out there are great state schools and not much further - state grammar

Save your pounds for their university fees

loshad or Harrogate Ladies College

I think Woody Grove are hoiking their way up the league tables and they pride themselves on the sporty thing

St Marys Menston is great for sports and tops the league tables for Leeds at A/AS level....

Since the merger I have heard quite a number of people who withdrew their children from this school, especially parents of girls.

The main complaint is the lack of pastoral care and the consequent problems such as bullying being unresolved. If you read their most recent ISI inspection there is a mention of parents complaining, which ISI could not substantiate. However it does raise alarm bells, especially when you know some of the parents and how distressed they were.

Also, if you go on Schoolsnet you will find some similar veined reviews.

I visited the school and have it on my list for my own children - however, whilst it was my n.1 choice it is probably now down to my 3rd or 4th, as I am very wary of the large number of negative comments I have heard in the last 2 or 3 years.

Loshad - in my experience Woodhouse Grove is neither bling nor aggressive indeed, true to its Methodist roots, it puts a lot of emphasis on developing a caring environment for its pupils - very important if you are considering the boarding option (the pastoral care is excellent). It's true it isn't an exam factory (thank goodness) but the exam results reflect the broad ability of the intake and many pupils achieve excellent grades. The pupils seem happy and enjoy all the facilities at their disposal.

As ever though, it horses for courses but probably a little too far to travel to if you live near GSAL. :-)

Hi Ceebeejay! You seem to have had lots of replies and many opinions have been expressed in response to your question but I don't think so many of the people who have posted have any first-hand experience of the school so I thought I would join in! I have had children at the school since 2006 and they are currently in Junior School on the Alwoodley site. If you are locating to the North Leeds area and the Harrogate side of Leeds then I would definitely encourage you to visit GSAL with your daughter. Yes, the school is big but take a look at the recent Ofsted report - it might be big, but it is also excellent and was deemed to be so in every area of the recent ofsted report. The infant section (Rose Court) received outstanding for every area of the report so as far as ofsted goes, GSAL could not have asked for a better report. The class sizes themselves are small - my daughter is in a class of 14 and my son in a class of 16. Each year group has it's own corridor/area within the junior school so although the building may seem big, each year group is rather 'self-contained' within it. Even though the whole school has the same playtime, individual Year groups have their own playgrounds to play in and so your daughter wouldn't feel overwhelmed. Facilities at this school are first rate and netball is one of the major sports at school. Your daughter would be in her element! Netball is on the timetable until Easter with many, many fixtures (both home and away). The netball club currently runs on a Tuesday from 3:30 - 5:00pm. The other sport facilities are too many to mention on here but if you go to the school website (www.gasl.org.uk) you will see the extent of sport provision at school. Academically, I don't think anyone scored higher in the area when the GCSE and A-Level results came out. So the comments that the school wasn't doing well since the merger aren't really substantiated. Some people did leave because they wanted single-sex education but I have seen first-hand that most of the people who left at merger (and there weren't so many in my childrens' year groups) have now actually re-joined GSAL. Anyone can tell you anything about any school; only you and your daughter will know which one will be the best for you. Visit as many as possible and see which 'feels right'. You can always arrange to have a taster day or go to an open morning (many schools offer this now) and make your decision but I suspect you will be very impressed by GSAL!!

PS Ceebeejay - your daughter might be interested in this link:
www.gsal.org.uk/news/junior-netballers-lift-hmc-trophy/

cor Mayday have you swallowed the school prospectus, or are you principal skinner in disguise?

Hi, just wondering if you sent your kids to GSAL and what did you think?

If she did they will have left at least 3 years ago (the thread is from 2011).

Hi, we will be relocating to Harrogate area next summer and are looking for an independent school for our son who will be a rising 8th year. We are coming from the states and want to make sure he is somewhere where he will be included. I know a lot of people have sent their children to Asheville, but wanted to see what other options are recommended. He plays sports, but we place higher importance on the quality of education. Thanks for insight!

Hi @AEvan . You need to start a thread of your own with a title such as 'Moving to Harrogate from the States - advice please'. This thread is 12 years old & not many people will bother scrolling to the end ro see your request.