The Council transferred the site of the former secondary school (Mary Linwood) to the sponsors.
[1] Samworth, Leicester's first City Academy, was built on the site of the old Mary Linwood school and completed in September, 2007.
The children of author Sue Townsend attended the school during the late 1970s and early 1980s; their experiences influenced her highly successful Adrian Mole books.
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole was reputedly based on Sue Townsend's son's experiences at the school.
Several of the teachers who appear in the book (such as Mr. Dock and Miss Fossington-Gore) are based on actual staff who worked at the school in the early 1980s.