Fulneck School

Fulneck School was an independent day and boarding school, situated in the Fulneck Moravian Settlement, in Pudsey, West Yorkshire, England. For 272 years, it provided education for pupils between the ages of 3 and 18. It closed on 8 July 2025. The School buildings are part of the Fulneck Moravian settlement, which includes the Church, Museum, multiple resident buildings and shops and is named after Fulnek, Czechia.

In 2025, it was announced that Fulneck would close after the 2024-2025 School Year.

The History of the Fulneck Settlement can be traced back to the Proto Protestant reformer Jan Huss. His teachings that the Bible should be translated into the vernacular tongue (In this case, Czech), his opposition to Simony (which was widespread at the time) and the existence of Purgatory led to his being excommunicated, deemed a heretic and burnt at the stake in 1415. The resulting Hussite wars would see the Hussites crushed and Catholicism re-established as the dominant Religion in Bohemia. The Hussites of the 15th century would evolve into what is now the Moravian Church.

In the 18th century, Moravian Nicolaus Zinzendorf (Count Zinzendorf) attempted to spread the Moravian Church outside of Bohemia and his native Saxony. The Church bought the land that would become Fulneck in 1744, but the Fulneck Moravian Church would not be established until 1749 and the School 4 years later in 1753. It was progressive for the time as it educated both boys and girls. The influx of Moravians was not welcomed locally, and many Moravians feared for their safety in case of a possible pogrom. The Moravians built many underground tunnels leading outside the site in case they needed to escape in an emergency. These tunnels, although not in use, can still be seen today.

In the late 19th century, the office of Headmaster was abolished and the school was made into separate Boys' and Girls' Schools with separate Head Teachers. In 1994, the 2 schools were reunited after the former suffered financial difficulties. The Head Teacher of the Girls' school became Principal of the whole school.

In 2008, the school reopened a building and renamed it the Robinson Building (it used to be the science block for the boys' school), which now serves as a learning centre for maths, geography, art and food technology. In 2014, the school extensively refurbished Joan Mort House, the building that houses the Sixth Form Centre.

When Fulneck first opened, the pupils would sleep at the top of the church. Now the school has boarding facilities, which are located on the upper floors of the main school building.

Fulneck School has a Learning Support Unit and has been registered as a "DU" category school by CReSTeD (Council for the Registration of Schools Teaching Dyslexic Pupils), which means it has a designated unit for the teaching of pupils with dyslexia on a one-to-one or small-group basis. Fulneck is one of only a few mainstream schools in the North of England to be registered "DU".