The Grammar School at Leeds

The Grammar School at Leeds (GSAL) was created on 4 August 2005 by the merger of two of Yorkshire's oldest independent schools: Leeds Grammar School, founded in approximately 1552 under a charter associated with the dissolution of the chantries, and Leeds Girls' High School, founded in 1876 by the philanthropist Frances Lupton. The merged school opened to both sexes in September 2008 and now educates approximately 2,370 pupils aged 3-18 across a single integrated campus at Alwoodley on the northern edge of Leeds.

GSAL operates the "Diamond Model" of co-education: boys and girls are taught in separate classes between the ages of 11 and 16 but share the same campus, the same extra-curricular programme and the same sixth form, where teaching is fully co-educational. The junior school (ages 3-11) is co-educational throughout. This model preserves much of the academic and pastoral character of the original single-sex schools while pooling resources and broadening the social mix.

Academic provision is broad. Sciences, mathematics and modern languages are particular strengths, and the school has a long-standing record of placing leavers at Russell Group universities — Leeds, Manchester, Durham, Sheffield and Edinburgh especially — with regular Oxbridge offers. The sixth form offers A-Levels alongside an EPQ option, and the GSAL Junior School and senior school sit side by side on the 36-acre Alwoodley site.

The Principal and Chief Executive since 2017 is Sue Woodroofe, formerly head of the British International School Bratislava and former director of education at GEMS Education in the Middle East. The chairman of governors is David P. A. Gravells. The school is a member of the HMC and the historic Leeds Girls' High lineage also gives it GSA heritage. GSAL operates a substantial bursary programme and remains the largest independent day school in West Yorkshire.