Ms R Lacey-Cole

Ms Lacey-Cole came into the teaching profession in 1999 with a desire to make a positive impact on children’s learning, increase their desire to learn and enable them to become independent life-long learners. Nothing gives her more pleasure than seeing young people develop into confident, articulate and positive young adults who become role models for younger students and the wider community.

She started her career teaching PE and Sociology in Kent, and over the years has held several roles of responsibility. These include: Assistant Head of Year, Subject Leader for PE, Assistant Principal for Post 16 and Curriculum and Vice Principal.


Outside of school, Ms Lacey-Cole enjoys playing and watching sport, still playing and umpiring netball regularly in the West Yorkshire League and also enjoying running. She is a competitive person and thrives on challenges.


Ms Lacey-Cole spent 15 years teaching at Abbey Grange and loved every minute of it and one of her proudest achievements was leading the transformation of the 6th Form into being one of the best in Leeds. Her drive for school improvement continues to motivate her and her greatest achievement was in 2024 when BYA gained a ‘Good’ judgement from Ofsted. She looks forward to using the skills she has acquired over the years to ensure that she leads BYA to becomes one of the best schools in Leeds.

Ms R Lacey-Cole
Principal