Gateways Educational Trust Ltd  Gateways Educational Trust Ltd Gateways School

Founded in 1941 by two teachers Miss Nancy Simpson and Miss Lillian Cox, Gateways began in a converted house in Alwoodley, Leeds. When war broke out in 1939, both Miss Simpson and Miss Cox had both been teaching in the Junior School of Roundhay High. They soon realised that parents in the professions and in business didn't want to send their children away from home in wartime and that there was support for the kind of school they wanted to open. Gateways duly opened in September 1941 with just 15 pupils; by the second term there were 30 pupils attending and numbers quickly grew so that before long more space was required. In 1947, the opportunity arose to lease the Dower House on the Harewood estate and helped by the advice of Ronald Schofield, Managing Director of Schofields Department store, Miss Cox and Miss Simpson, seized their chance. The school continued to grow and flourish with both women contributing to its success with their vision for a all-round education for all. Miss Simpson left in 1955 to marry Sir Alfred Wort, High Court Judge for India, with Miss Cox remaining as sole headmistress until her retirement in 1963. Successive headmistresses have overseen further developments to the school in the intervening years with extensive new buildings being created and state-of-the-art facilities being added right up to the present day. Within the 20-acre site, the original Dower House is still, in the 21st century, very much at the heart of the school, attended today by several hundred pupils, surrounded by the modern structures that have grown up around it.