Newfield Secondary School

Newfield secondary school is a community comprehensive secondary school for mixed 11–16-year-old children, situated in the south of the city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, specifically in the Norton Lees area. It is co-located with a special school (the Talbot specialist school) with which it has some collaborative arrangements. There are approximately 900 students at the school. The current headteacher is Mr Tim Eldridge, who recently took over Dr Sue Bains^[1]in August 2012, due to the fact she was resigning.^[2]

Physical aspects of the school

The school has its own private drive from Lees Hall Road which leads on to a split site with one wing, the Applied Learning Centre (previously West Wing), partially demolished. This wing now holds two science labs, the Design and Technology and Business Studies departments with some IT suites. Another wing further along the drive, Newfield Learning Centre (previously known as East Wing) is the main building of the school and contains most aspects of the school. Behind this is a temporary building called the Village which houses R.E, English, Art and Dance. Also situated on the site is the South Sheffield Computer Learning Centre (CLC) which opened fully in September 2008.

New build

The school's rebuild, begun in summer 2007 and completed in January 2009, brought new facilities so that the school, including a recording room, a gym with seats for spectators and astroturf football pitches. A new purpose-built specialist school, The Talbot specialist school, was also constructed as part of the rebuild; it is located on the lower field.

Academic performance

The percentage of students achieving five or more A*–C grades at GCSE level (or equivalent) was 55% in 2011; 88% passed five or more GCSEs at any grade (A*–G), and 96% of all pupils achieved at least one qualification.^[3] When specifically including English and maths GCSEs, the percentage of students achieving five or more GCSEs at A*–C grade was 35% in 2011 (down from 44% in 2010).^[3] This compares with 49.4% for all secondary schools in the Sheffield local authority area, and 58.9% for England as a whole.^[4]

Pupil demographics

Newfield is a broadly average sized secondary school. The proportion of students known to be eligible for free school meals (21.6% in 2011^[3]) is in line with the national average. The proportion of students identified as having special educational needs and/or disabilities is above average, although the proportion with a statement of special educational needs is below the national average. The large majority of students are of White British heritage. The proportion of students from minority ethnic heritages is below average, and the proportion that speaks English as an additional language is well below average.^[1]

Overall pupil absence was reported as 10.9% in 2011, compared to a national average of 6.5%. Unauthorised absence was 5.7% (national average 1.4%).^[3]

Ofsted inspections and special measures status

In 2008 an Ofsted inspection report graded Newfield overall as Grade 4 ('inadequate'), resulting in special measures status being applied.^[5] Over the following two years, progress was made culminating in the special measures status being removed and the school being judged to be Grade 3 ('satisfactory') in the 2010 inspection.^[1]

References

External links

• School web site (currently under development, as of April 2012)
• School details from the Department for Education's Performance Tables
• Ofsted inspection reports
• Tablot specialist school web site