Headingley Primary SchoolHeadingley Primary School - Bennett Road - History Project

Headingley Primary School also known as Bennett Road School finally closed in July 2006. The school has meant much to many over the years and the history project aims to keep the memories of the school alive and provide a permanent record of its history. The project has been underway for some months having received the Heritage Lottery Funding.

We’ve been delighted to receive interest from people of a variety of ages connected with the school as pupils or staff members. The school and its 124-year history are clearly very important to many people. We’ve had coverage in the local press and through various community groups and much assistance through personal contacts.

We have acquired a range of material some in written form, along with photographs and documents belonging to individuals and archival material held by the school. The majority of the material has come from past pupils but we have some contributions from old staff members too. We have heard from all over the world including New Zealand, United States, Italy and France.

The written material will hopefully compliment the audiovisual, which includes coverage of the closing events in July 2006 and further interviews with a number of pupils and some staff members. Our eldest old pupil so far discovered is 93 and the oldest class photograph goes back to 1937. We have received memories of school life from pupils who attended Bennett Road during the war years and this has included stories of evacuation. There have been many mentions of trips to the delightful outside toilets, of visits to Blenheim Baths and trips to Becketts Park for sporting activities. The West Yorkshire Archive Service now has the remaining documentation from the school closure and this includes the original Logbooks, Admission Registers and the Punishment Book, some of this material we hope to reproduce in our publication.

We would be very grateful for more memories and any photographs. Do you know of anyone who might not have heard about the project? Do you know of some pupils who attended the school? All these personal contributions are vital to us in producing as full a history as we can and celebrating the life of the school. We hope to have gathered enough information sometime within the next few months.

Rachel Sannaee

Contact the History Project