Alumni, History and Heritage

The school was founded in 1913 with the distinctive name adopted by the founder Miss L. Hoe, in honour of the then influential German educationalist, Freidrich Froebel. Froebel pioneered early years’ learning and the school still follows this tradition, educating children from the age of three years in Kindergarten classes.

Since World War I the school has always maintained premises in Clarence Road, Horsforth, and Miss Hoe remained as Head until 1949 when Mr. Noel Williams was appointed Headmaster. In 1969 the school ceased to be privately owned and became a Charitable Educational Trust, administered by a board of governors known at the School Council.

By now, the school had developed a reputation as one of the best independent schools in Leeds, and this was further strengthened in 1988 when, under the leadership of Mr. John Andrew, the school was amalgamated on one site with new, purpose-built facilities.

In 1991, Mr. John Tranmer was appointed and the school’s reputation as the leading private independent primary school has been further consolidated. The Sunday Times continues to rank Froebelian as one of the top schools in the country. Mr Tranmer left Froebelian in 2015 to take up the post of IAPS Chairman.

Mrs Catherine Dodds joined The Froebelian School in September 2015 to take over as Headteacher. Catherine was previously Deputy Head at GSAL Junior School.

Mrs Anna Coulson joined The Froebelian School in January 2023 as Headteacher. In a teaching career that has spanned almost two decades, she progressed quickly from teaching to increasingly senior roles.
She has held positions such as: EYFS and Key Stage One leader, Deputy Headteacher, Head of School, Executive Headteacher, and Director of a large Teaching School Alliance. Anna’s areas of expertise include delivery of school improvement, strategic operational change, curriculum design and innovation and all aspects of teaching and learning.
Throughout her career, Anna has conducted leadership development programmes for middle and senior leaders in primary schools. Starting her career in the business world, Anna recognises the benefit of working alongside business colleagues to secure the best outcomes for children. In 2016, she developed a programme entitled ‘Developing Future Winners’, which offered a greater understanding of the business environment children may enter, to motivate them to strive to reach their goals. To this end, Anna has completed her NPQH and, in 2016, was designated a National Leader in Education (NLE). She completed the ‘Building Capacity in a multi-academy trust: the critical role of an executive leader’ programme. In January 2018, Anna was appointed the chief executive officer for a large multi-academy trust, where she led ten schools. Although geographically close, these ten schools were diverse in nature and need.