It is a boarding and day school for about 565 pupils between the ages of eleven and eighteen, and the head is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.

The nineteenth century saw the founding of a large number of new schools in Britain, especially by the churches—including the Wesleyan Methodist Church.

[1] Following several visits to Cambridge, they discovered that a twenty-acre (80,000 m2) site called "The Leys Estate" was being offered for sale.

The estate was situated within easy reach of the city centre on the Trumpington Road, and it was close to the River Cam and to a number of Cambridge Colleges.

During World War II, the school temporarily moved to the Atholl Palace Hotel in Pitlochry, Scotland, returning to Cambridge in 1946.

[3] Today the majority of the pupils are boarders and since the admission of girls to the Sixth Form in the 1980s, the school has become fully co-educational.

The red cross signifies the Christian foundation of the School whilst the open book and the lighted lamp are symbols of learning.

The wyvern, the crest used by the Wesley family, was presumably added to signify the association of The Leys School with the Wesleyan Methodist Church.

Many pupils received confirmation into the Church of England in the school chapel, and some others have had religious backgrounds from faiths other than the Christianity.

The school has a 25-meter heated indoor swimming pool and a rowing boathouse on the River Cam, shared with King's, Churchill and Selwyn Colleges.

[12] The setting for popular novel and play Goodbye, Mr. Chips is believed to have been based on The Leys where author James Hilton was a pupil (1915–1918).

When I read so many other stories about public school life, I am struck by the fact that I suffered no such purgatory as their authors apparently did, and much of this miracle was due to Balgarnie."

Plans for the chapel, designed by architect Robert Curwen, were first presented to the school's second headmaster, W. T. A. Barber; he deemed the project an unnecessary luxury.

The foundation stone was laid at the marble West Door by Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont on 8 June 1905 and the chapel was consecrated on 27 October 1906.

The memorial consists of four rows of names divided in the middle by a statue of an armoured St George, below which is written "To The Immortal Memory of Old Leysians Who Fell In The War Of 1914–1919", and in large block capitals the words "My Marks And Scars With Me To Be A Witness For Me That I Have Fought His Battles Who Now Will Be My Reward."