Westfield School, Sheffield

Westfield School
Established 1957
Type Foundation school
Headteacher Mr Andrew Ireland
Location Eckington Road
Sheffield
S20 1HQ
England England
53°20′11″N 1°20′31″W / 53.3365°N 1.342°W / 53.3365; -1.342Coordinates: 53°20′11″N 1°20′31″W / 53.3365°N 1.342°W / 53.3365; -1.342
Local authority City of Sheffield
DfE number 373/4252
DfE URN 107135 Tables
Ofsted Reports
Students 1,291
Gender Mixed
Ages 11–16
Website www.westfieldschoolsheffield.org.uk

Westfield School, is a mixed secondary school located in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The school was a specialist Sports College but removed this title from the name in June 2013. It serves an area on the south east edge of Sheffield where many people now work in service industries and where levels of prosperity range from above to below average.[1]

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 (53°20′N 1°22′W / 53.33°N 1.36°W / 53.33; -1.36 (Mosborough site)) 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.[2]

Today

Westfield School campus, on Westfield Crescent in Mosborough, was closed in December 2006 and the new modern building opened its doors in January 2007. Westfield Secondary School is one of four schools under the Sheffield Schools PFI3 project. Kier Managed Services Ltd were awarded the 25-year contract for the facilities management of the school, as part of the PFI project.[3] The new school, situated on Eckington Road behind the Waterthorpe Supertram Stop in Sothall, is roughly two miles from its predecessor. On 1 May 2007, the new school campus was officially opened by Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, who, at the time, was Chancellor of the Exchequer. After releasing a net of balloons to mark the opening of the school, he spoke to students and answered questions about how he got into politics and whether or not he will be raising the pension scheme.[4][5]

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 2 music rooms fully equip with 12 keyboards and computers in each as well as a sound proof studio box and 2 performance rooms.[6] 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. These sports facilities are used by the school daily, contributing to the school the status of sports college. the school owns a residential learning and outdoor education centre- Greta Cottage, at Cliburn in the Lake District, which is used by groups for both curriculum extension work and for adventurous outdoor activity.[7]

Mega ICT Suite

Westfield sports college created an IT centre in 2008 consisting of 100 PCs, which replaced the existing school library. The new addition, known as the Mega ICT Suite, was officially opened in 2008 by Clinton Woods. The room is open to students in the lunch-break for revising, researching and homework. It is divided into four main sections which allows four classes to use the room at a single time. In 2013 this was developed further to create individual learning spaces and a school library was reintroduced.

Rewards

The school operates the Vivo reward scheme. Points are awarded by all staff in recognition of effort or quality of work. Further points are awarded for positive contribution to School life. Every week six students are nominated for a Headteacher's award of 50 Vivo points This is to recognise especially hard work or outstanding contribution. Students are able to redeem Vivo points for rewards at a website or donate their cash equivalent to a nominated charity.

Westfield School had a link with Malawi set up by the Youth Sports Trust and the British Council. In February 2008, two senior teachers from Malawi visited Westfield Sports College and an action plan was drawn up to share experiences between the two Sports Colleges in Mzuzu, Malawi and Westfield Sports College. The school is currently in the process of organising future visits to Malawi and a group of students are engaged in fundraising activities to support this experience.

Young Leader work, geography lessons, citizenship and global issues are to be shared through a sporting link. As the action plan rolls out, students at Westfield Sports College will correspond with Malawian students, share lessons via DVD and websites and compete in physical fitness competitions with the young leaders in Malawi. The link is to culminate at the 2012 Olympics. Photographs from the visit are being used in geography lessons. Two Westfield teachers paid a visit to Malawi in November to find out more about the colleges in Malawi.[8] Pupils at Westfield School took part in the Xoolon Games day as part of their partnership with the Mzuzu Government School in Malawi. Pupils and staff plan to create a virtual competition between the schools using the Xoolon platform.[9]

Academic performance

At a 2009 Local Authority meeting it was identified that Westfield Sports College is the 3rd in the city for highest attendance.This record has been maintained to the current date.[10] Like most secondary schools in Sheffield, it does not have a sixth form but through an arrangement with Sheffield College there is some delivery of post-16 courses on site. Currently this comprises level 3 qualifications in sport and computing.

2012 was the most successful in the history of the College. 55% of students achieve five or more good GCSEs including English and mathematics. This was an 11 percentage point increase on the previous year making the College one of the most improved secondary schools in the City and beyond. This improvement was maintained in 2013 with even higher results.

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

Notable former pupils

Eckington Grammar School

Westfield School

References

  1. ↑ the school has gone through transformative change over the last couple of years reflected in the significant increase in achievement and student pride in their school. After the most recent Ofsted reports, the head of the school decided to leave without giving out any notice. The school was then lead by a head from Silvadale School and the future for the school is being worked on. They have been considering changing the uniform and other changes may be taking place. This is being continued and many thanks are being delivered to the new temporary head that allows them the opportunity to have six form. "Westfield School - Ofsted". Ofsed. Retrieved 2009-07-21.
  2. ↑ History of Mosborough - David English
  3. ↑ "Sheffield Schools PFI3 – Official opening of Westfield School by Gordon Brown MP - Kier Project Investment Company News, Developments, Kier Group plc". www.kier.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
  4. ↑ The Sun Online - News: Gordon's the air apparent
  5. ↑ My Sheffield: Gordon Brown visits Westfield School
  6. ↑ "New Building". Westfield Sports College. Retrieved 2009-07-21.
  7. ↑ "Westfield Sports College". www.westfieldsportscollege.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-07-21.
  8. ↑ "Dreams & Teams Africa". Westfield Sports College. Retrieved 2009-07-21.
  9. ↑ "Westfield Mzuzu Xoolon Games". www.xoolon.com. Retrieved 2009-07-21.
  10. ↑ "Attendance". Westfield Sports College. Retrieved 2009-07-21.
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