Westfield School, Sheffield

History

Eckington Grammar School

Westfield School is the successor to Eckington County Secondary School which opened in 1930 in Halfway, which was then located in Derbyshire. It became Eckington Grammar School in the early 1940s.

Comprehensive school

Westfield Comprehensive School came into existence in 1957 as the first comprehensive school in Derbyshire. There were two sites, a new site on Westfield Crescent () in Mosborough and the existing Eckington Grammar School, which became the Lower School. Frank Rollinson, who had been appointed headmaster of the Grammar School in 1953, oversaw its conversion into a comprehensive school.

In 1967 Sheffield extended its administrative boundaries to include Mosborough. After peaking at just under 2000 in 1977, Westfield's roll declined in the 1980s and the Lower School at Halfway was demolished in 1989.

On 1 December 2019 Westfield joined Chorus Education Trust, led by Silverdale School in Sheffield. A new headteacher, Joe Birkbeck, was appointed.

New building

Westfield School campus, on Westfield Crescent in Mosborough, was closed in December 2006 and the new building opened in January 2007. Westfield Secondary School is one of four schools under the Sheffield Schools Private finance initiative project. Kier Managed Services Ltd were awarded the 25-year contract for the facilities management of the school, as part of the PFI project.{{cite web |access-date = 18 July 2009 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110722142546/http://www.kier.co.uk/Developments/newsdetails.asp?x=&co=110&n=865 |archive-date = 22 July 2011 |url-status = dead

The new school building was designed around the W-shaped symbol of the school logo and consists of 6 wings across two levels for English, Mathematics, Humanities and Modern Foreign Languages. The school has dedicated accommodation for special educational needs and also includes an Integrated Resource Unit for students with moderate learning difficulties. The building also incorporates four fully fitted ICT rooms and the Science wing has 9 laboratories and a prep room. The Art and Technology departments include facilities for art, textiles, food, graphics and design technology. Performing arts have two music rooms with twelve keyboards and computers in each, a soundproof studio box and two performance rooms. |access-date=21 July 2009 The sports facilities include a 25m swimming pool, large sports hall, fitness suite, activity centre, all weather floodlit pitches and hard games courts. These are available to the public outside school hours.

The Vikki Orvice Library

The new school building included a library but this was soon converted into the Mega ICT suite. In October 2019 this was converted back into a library, which was opened by children's author and comedian, David Baddiel. The library is named after sports journalist and former Westfield student, Vikki Orvice.

Academic performance

Like most secondary schools in Sheffield, it does not have a sixth form, but Westfield students have priority access into Silverdale Sixth Form (part of Chorus Education Trust), which is regularly one of the highest achieving sixth forms in Sheffield.

In 2014, the school received an Ofsted judgement of "Requires Improvement".

Westfield School became a new academy within Chorus Education Trust on 1 December 2018. Ofsted usually inspects all new schools within their third year of operation. Until that time, there is no current Ofsted judgement on the school.

Notable former pupils

Eckington Grammar School

• Air Vice-Marshal Eric Plumtree CB OBE DFC became Station Commander RAF Leuchars 1959–61

Westfield School

• Neil Warnock – Football Manager
• Katie Summerhayes – Freestyle Skier & Olympian
• Kyle McFadzean – Footballer
• Callum McFadzean - Footballer
• Ellie Roebuck – Footballer for England and Man City
• Vikki Orvice – sports journalist
• Oliver Arblaster - Footballer
• Scott Pollock - Football
• Harold Cartwright - Cricketer

References

References

1. "Westfield School".
2. "History of Mosborough – David English".
3. "Finance Minister 'trapped' in net of balloons". China Daily.
4. "Silverdale Sixth Form".
5. Ofsted Communications Team. (2 September 2019). "Find an inspection report and registered childcare". Ofsted.