A struggling high school could begin a bold new era by linking up with Leeds City College.
Woodhouse’s City of Leeds School narrowly escaped closure in 2010 and was recently told to raise its game by Ofsted inspectors.
Now headteacher Georgiana Sale is aiming to breathe fresh life into City of Leeds through a partnership with Leeds City College.
She is seeking to win Government approval for the school to become an academy, with the further education college acting as its sponsor.
The college is understood to be open to the idea of taking on a role that would give it, rather than Leeds City Council, responsibility for the performance and finance of the new academy.
Ms Sale hopes the arrangement would allow her pupils to benefit from the college’s range of courses and staffing resources. City of Leeds currently has no sixth form and is without teachers for subjects such as business studies and textiles.
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Pupil numbers also fell from a maximum of 800 to around 300 during the period when the school was at risk of closure.
Details of the proposed link-up have emerged as the college works on separate plans for an apprenticeship-led technical academy and training agency for 14 to 24-year-olds.
Speaking earlier this year, college principal Peter Roberts said a site had yet to be identified for the scheme.
Ms Sale today did not rule out the possibility of it taking up some of the City of Leeds building space that has been left free by the school’s depleted pupil numbers.
But she also stressed: “This has got to be right for me, my kids and the community.
“I wanted a partner that could take the school forward and make it something really special. The college is an ideal choice.”
A spokesman for the college today confirmed that it was involved in discussions about “future options” for the school.
He also said, though, that “no firm decisions have been made as yet”.
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