Cockburn School

Cockburn School:
(11-16 secondary school)

The original Cockburn School was opened on 17 July 1902 on land near the corner of Dewsbury Road and Burton Road in Beeston, Leeds, now the site of Hunslet Moor Primary School. Cockburn School was named after Sir George Cockburn, a former Chairman of the Leeds School Board.

In the 1980s, the school moved to the former Parkside County Secondary School site on Gipsy Lane. The school underwent a full refurbishment in 2010 under the government ‘Building Schools for the Future’ scheme and now has state-of-the-art modern facilities.

Cockburn School announced plans to become an academy in October 2015 and the conversion was completed in February 2016, under the Academies Act 2010. Thus, Cockburn School became the founding member of the Cockburn Multi-academy Trust.

Cockburn School is designated by the National College for Teaching and Leadership as a National Support School using their success and professionalism to provide additional leadership capability in other schools.

Cockburn School’s provision in the arts has been awarded Artsmark Platinum status in recognition of the school’s commitment to, and excellence in, arts education. Artsmark is Arts Council England’s award recognising excellence in cultural education. It celebrates schools’ commitment to embracing arts across the curriculum and bringing creative learning to life for children and young people.

Cockburn School was judged to be Outstanding in all areas in their Ofsted inspection in February 2022. During the inspection, inspectors judged the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management all to be outstanding, leading to an overall effectiveness judgement of outstanding. This latest recognition again puts the school in a position amongst the UK’s elite of ‘outstanding’ education providers.