Rose Centre. Education Teachers were employed in the village in 1811 and a Sunday school, built by the Brandlings, providing education in reading and writing, was established by 1833 and used for worship before the church was built. The 1833 school was the premises of a national school in 1845. It became Middleton St Mary's C of E School and moved to a new site in 1972. There was a secondary school named "Middleton Park High School" on Acre Road in Middleton, but this was closed on 31 August 1999 despite a challenge in the High Court over the decision to close the school. Other schools in Middleton are Middleton Primary School, in the centre of the housing estate which opened in the 1920s, St Philip's Catholic Primary and Nursery School which opened in 1941, and Westwood Primary School. In the Middleton Park ward in 2012, at the Foundation Stage (3 to 5 years), 51.6% of children have a good level of achievement and by the end of Key Stage 2 (11 years) 69.6% of pupils achieved Level 4 or better. By the age of 16, 32.8% of pupils achieved five or more A-C grades including English and Maths in GCSEs, far less than the Leeds average of 53.4%. In secondary education, 16.5% of pupils are persistent absentees missing 15% or more sessions during the school year and 12.4% of 16- to 18-year-olds are not in employment, education or training. Religion Middleton was a chapelry of the ancient ecclesiastical parish of Rothwell. In 1497 a chantry chapel was endowed by Gilbert Leygh and dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, it was closed at the time of the Reformation though the building is extant and now a private residence. R.H. Brandling of Middleton Lodge gave land on Town Street on which to build a church and parsonage in 1845. St Mary's Church was built in 1846 to designs by R. D. Chantrell, who also designed Leeds Parish Church. The church and its lych gate are designated Grade II listed buildings. The church originally had a tall spire which was taken down because of mining subsidence in 1939. There is a tradition that local miners gave either a week's wages or a week's work towards the cost of its construction. Out of the parish, two more parishes were created as the population increased after the Middleton council estate was built. In 1921