Sports Centre

Sport is a crucial element of the educational experience we offer at The Leys.

The variety, depth and quality of our provision are essential components in generating an atmosphere in which our pupils can both develop and enjoy their sport, while also creating an awareness of the relationship between constructive exercise and a healthy lifestyle.

The Sports Centre contains our Sports Hall, squash courts, state-of-the-art gym facilities, indoor cricket lanes and a variety of teaching rooms.

West House

West is a boys’ boarding house for pupils from Years 9 to 13. With a lion as its emblem, West has a proud sporting heritage, boasting county and even international representation. However, we also take work and cultural contributions seriously.

West House was founded in 1878 and the current building was opened by the Queen Mother in 1961. Perhaps our greatest claim to fame is that the eponymous character in ‘Goodbye Mr Chips’ is based on a former Housemaster of West House, W.H. Balgarnie; the original novel was written by former West pupil James Hilton.

West has a proud sporting heritage, boasting county and even international representation. However, we also take work and cultural contributions seriously. Above all, West boys are friendly, purposeful and supportive of each other. The house symbol of the lion conjures up the sense of pride that the boys feel about the house.

Clapham Building

The Clapham Building was constructed in 2002 and contains our Divinity, Classics, History and Geography departments. Overlooking the playing field, the building maximises views whilst sitting comfortably between West House and the Rugg Centre.

The Clapham Building is also home to our Vision Studio which allows pupils to experience the latest technology including virtual and augmented reality, audio engineering and videography production.

Rugg Centre

The Rugg Centre is the school’s home for Art, Design Technology and Information Technology, where pupils can use art and ceramics studios and well-equipped design technology workshops (with 3D printers). Workshops are open for pupils to explore a wide range of activities including ceramics, pottery, sculpture, printmaking, batik, life drawing, photography, video and web design, woodwork and metalwork.

Fen House

Fen House is located on the west side of the school grounds, close to Great Hall. The biggest house on site, it is home to 65 girls aged 13 to 18 – “home” in the sense that the full boarders live here throughout term, whilst the home-boarders go home each night for bed and breakfast. We are a purpose-built boarding house which gives us plenty of space to live, work and relax in. The Fen Family plays a huge part in how the House is run, and the girls all take responsibilities in helping to keep the House running efficiently.

Fen encourages the development of the whole person, recognising the importance of both individual achievement and community spirit. Fen girls access all areas of the school life and are enthusiastic about enriching their lives through the opportunities on offer at The Leys, in Music, Drama, Sport, Art and outreach activities. Academically we have our share of the highest fliers in the school, and the girls work hard to keep their high expectations in sight. Fen and fun are closely related, but we’re much more than that, as you’ll see when you visit!

Great Hall

Great Hall is our Performing Arts Centre, completed in September 2013 and officially opened by HRH the Earl of Wessex in January 2014.

Great Hall is a modern, medium-sized theatre, suitable for a wide range of events including theatrical performances, music concerts, lectures, exhibitions, holiday courses, rehearsals and conferences. The building is also home to our Performance Arts and Dance departments, with dedicated studio and teaching spaces.

Thomson Building

The Thomson Building is the location of our Science Department with Biology, Chemistry and Physics occupying their own floor.

Queen's Building

Our English Department is based in the Queen’s Building, at the heart of the school, and is always buzzing with enthusiastic debate and thoughtful engagement. There is a dedicated critical library for Sixth Form pupils and a recent renovation has facilitated greater opportunities for debate and independent work. iPads are integrated into English classrooms, facilitating independent research; the drafting and redrafting of coursework; electronic text annotation; and student presentations.

Dale House

Dale House was the original ‘School House’ and the first boarding house at the school. It is now a boarding house for girls from Year 9 to Year 13.

This is a relaxed and happy house. The girls are very sociable and take pride in creating a wonderful house spirit. Warmth and friendliness springs to mind, alongside the noise, chatter and singing. Dale takes pride in the different talents of its residents and there are numerous academic, art, music and sports scholars within the walls. The girls participate fully in the life of the school. We nurture and develop the all-round enthusiastic, high spirited girl in conjunction with the quiet, scholarly, gentle and placid young lady. Altogether they are a close-knit set of girls.

School House

School House has a diverse mix of people; all with different personalities, backgrounds and experiences.

School House is the oldest house at The Leys, dating back to 1878. It houses 50-60 boy boarders and home-boarders between the ages of 13 and 18. Centrally located in the school, School House took up its current residency in 1989, before which it occupied what is now Dale House.

School House is an eclectic community at the heart of The Leys. A boarding House of 55 boys aged 13-18 it is proud of its traditions and doing things a little differently. It has the ‘Eyrar’ system of five House teams, where boys from each year work together under a House Under Prefect to support each other and aid in the day-to-day running of the House. This system fosters integration between the year groups and a great sense of community. Charity plays an important part in the life of the House and the Charity prefect is a significant role in the Upper Sixth.

Medical Centre

The school has an 8-bedded medical centre on site, which is staffed 24/7 by a team of nurses from various backgrounds and specialities, including paediatrics and mental health. The nurses run regular clinics throughout the day, offering support for pupils’ physical, psychological and emotional needs. Each boarding and day house has an allocated link nurse, who works closely with the house staff and pupils, building relationships and helping with continuity of care. For pupils who may benefit from additional mental health support, the school also offers a counselling service, as well as access to an independent listener. We are closely linked to a local GP surgery, who offer clinics at the school three days a week for boarders who are registered with them.

If you need to contact the Medical Centre, please call 01223 508922.

Swimming Pool

The Leys has a strong and successful swimming programme. We run a year-round programme of training in our four-lane 25m pool, and the swimming team regularly competes. The majority of competition is in the Autumn and Lent terms, when we take on other independent schools from all over the region. The competitive swimming season culminates in the Bath Cup held at The London Aquatics Centre in March every year.

The Leys swimming team has a high standard of water-based training and extra training is undertaken in our fully equipped sports hall, which has cardiovascular equipment and a weights room.

Kelvin Building

Alongside our main Reception and school offices, the Kelvin Building contains our Business and Economics teaching rooms as well as our ESOL and Careers Departments.

Dining Hall

All meals are served in the Dining Hall which is located in the heart of the site.

Here at The Leys we recognise the importance of a good balanced diet to support the growth and development of the pupils. Breakfast, lunch and supper are served in our Dining Hall.

Our menus are done on a three-week rotational basis and changed each term to remain seasonal.

Granta House

Granta is a Sixth Form Girls’ House with 28 Sixth Form girls, most of whom are full boarders.

Although one of the smallest houses at The Leys, Granta girls most certainly make their mark in all aspects of Leys life. Founded in 1985, Granta House is centrally placed at the heart of The Leys, next to the Dining Hall and Chapel. Granta is a modern and recently refurbished house. Granta girls are known for their sense of fun and involvement in all school activities as well as a strong desire to perform well academically. It is a warm, friendly house where every individual is valued.

Granta girls participate fully in a wide variety of activities, such as dancing and debating, while our house is often successfully represented on the sports field in inter-house competitions. Our recent successes include winning ‘Switch Off Fortnight’ and reaching the final of the inter-house debating competition.

North A House

North A is a through boarding house for boys aged 13-18 and is designed for a maximum of 58 Boarders and Home Boarders. It was founded in 1880 and is located adjacent to the Upper Quad, close to the Dining Hall, Library and Chapel. On joining North A, all boys become members of the Spartan Club giving them a strong sense of belonging. It is a traditional boarding house where ‘house spirit’ and loyalty are valued.

Day Houses

Our Day pupils in Years 9-13 are based in one of three 13-18 co-educational Day Houses: Barrett, Barker and Bisseker. Each House has a dedicated Housemaster or Housemistress and shared House Administrator (Matron). They are situated close to the Main Library, Sixth Form Club and the Chapel, overlooking the Upper Quadrangle.

Day pupils are involved in all areas of school life including the extensive range of wider curricular activities which take place in the early evenings. Day pupils start their day with House registration at 8:15am. They usually leave for home between 4:30pm and 6:00pm, although the Day Houses remain open until 7:00pm.

King's Building

The two rooms on the top floor of the King’s Building are dedicated to our Library which contains both fiction and non-fiction resources. It offers a welcoming, comfortable space for study or leisure reading with a wide selection of physical material and access to more online. It is staffed by professional librarians who promote reading not just for pleasure but for its fundamental role in successful learning and who are involved in developing pupils’ information literacy skills formally and at point of need. We want pupils to grow a love of reading and for that reading to enhance their learning.

The lower floor contains Maths teaching rooms.

The Chapel

The School Chapel is one of the most beautiful buildings on campus, offering pupils and staff a restful haven from the busy demands of the school day; and is our focus for worship and prayer.

The Chapel was built as a memorial to the first headmaster of The Leys, William Fiddian Moulton and was consecrated on 27 October 1906. It is a Grade II listed building. Regular services are held each week, and on several Sundays each term, enriching the spiritual life of both the school and the wider Leysian community.

East House

East House is a Sixth Form Boys’ House. We are predominantly a boarding house, so there are lots of people around. We aim to foster as informal an atmosphere as possible within the school community.

Being a Sixth Form House, it is possible for us to have a philosophy unique within the school. The philosophy that we are hoping to engender is that East House members become independent and responsible for their own private study within a structured system. We are trying to bridge the gap between school and university.

Stamp Building

The Stamp Building is home to East House, as well as our Moulton Day House and Modern Foreign Languages Department.

Music School

The purpose-built Music School was opened in 2005 by Julian Lloyd Webber and the facilities are excellent and very well resourced, including: an acoustically engineered Recital Hall with Steinway and Yamaha grand pianos, a well-equipped classroom with a new Kemble baby grand piano and state of the art smartboard, ICT suite containing ten Mac computers with a full range of compositional software, comprehensive music library and extensive CD collection, percussion suite, numerous practice rooms, offices and a recording studio.

Moulton House

Moulton is our co-educational Junior House for Years 7 and 8, which comprises a Boarding House over the road from the main school campus, which can accommodate 23 pupils and a Day House on the main site where boarders and day pupils mix happily.

Moulton is a very friendly House where the children can enjoy all the advantages that a senior school has to offer while still getting the level of individual support and guidance that this age group needs.

We try to ensure that the pupils feel valued as individuals and as members of a unique house within the school. They take part in most of the inter-house events and certainly hold their own amongst some of the older year groups and indeed often win.

‘Moultonites’ are encouraged to be responsible, honest, supportive and caring. Other characteristics typically seen in the house include diligence, motivation and a vibrant (sometimes noisy) sense of fun.