The school began as
Gateway Grammar School for boys. It was founded in 1928 and located in Skeffington House which is now the home of the
Newarke Houses Museum. The school was established primarily to feed the Colleges of Art and Technology (later Leicester Polytechnic and now De Montfort University) and the curriculum showed a significant bias towards Craft and other practical subjects. In 1933 it moved across the road to the site it occupied until 2009, which comprised a three-storey house dating from 1772 with a purpose-built extension and additional buildings for science, and art and design. Its first head master (1928–31) was
Harold Dent who went on to become editor of
The Times Educational Supplement and professor of education at the
University of Sheffield. Dent was succeeded by E C White (1931–1952) and then Hyman Frazer (1952–71), whose granddaughter
Lucy Frazer became a UK Cabinet minister in 2023. In Frazer's time the Gateway (as it was known by locals) became more like a conventional grammar school but retained its commitment to teaching crafts. It was also progressive in its acceptance of 11+ exam "failures" at 13+ and 15+, some of whom achieved distinction and are among those listed in alumni below. M H Bailey (1971–1990) saw the school through its transformation into a mixed sixth form college in 1976. After Bailey's retirement the college principals were A Sortwell (1990–97), N A Goffin (1997–2009), S Overton-Edwards (2009–2016). The current principal is J Bagley. Gateway joined Better Futures Multi Academy Trust in April 2019. ==Courses==