Secondary academy in Crosby, Merseyside, England
Chesterfield High School in Crosby, Merseyside, England, officially opened in 1974. The school has an intake of roughly 1,200 students in years 7–11.
The school was founded as a comprehensive from Waterloo Park Grammar School for Girls, Haigh Road, and Crosby County Secondary School for Boys, Coronation Road. There were 1,174 pupils upon opening, with a Sixth Form of 162 students, 130 girls and 32 boys.
History
Planning
The school was planned as part of the transition to comprehensive education and anticipated receiving pupils from Waterloo Park Grammar School for girls and Crosby Boys' Secondary School.[1] Within the Crosby region, Chesterfield High School formed phase one of the transition, while significant extensions to what would then be Manor High School would form phase two.[2]
Construction
Construction on the 22 acres (8.9 ha) new school site started in April 1970 with an estimated total cost of £485,000.[2] During construction, the school site suffered an arson attack on 5 June 1971, during which gas cylinders exploded and a smoke rose around 500 feet (150 m) over the school. Four firemen were injured while fighting the fire[3] that needed 50 firefighters to tackle the blaze.[4] A police spokesman said on 7 June that three boys aged 10, 11 and 13 were helping with their inquiries[5] as police believed the fire was deliberate, while concerns were raised by education officials about any delay affecting the introduction of comprehensive education in the borough.[6] On 22 June, a spokesman for Lancashire County Council said that the damage was not serious enough to cause a delay and that construction work would continue.[7] The cost of the damage was quoted by the surveyor Leslie Simpson as being £6,300, while the three boys were ordered into local authority care following court proceedings in October 1971.[8]
Opening
Having been due to open to students in time for the start of the 1972 academic year, it was announced that the handover that was planned to be on Monday 8 August 1972 was delayed just weeks before the new term,[9] due to builders joining in a national dispute that brought work to a halt.[10] Contingency plans were therefore enacted which meant that students coming from the Waterloo Park Grammar School and Crosby Secondary Boys' School would remain, while new first year students would be based at Coronation Road and Waterloo Park.[11] The first students to transfer to the new school came in October, although the school was not fully complete at this point.[12][13] By December, building work had completed and the site was fully operational, with sixth formers completing the transition on the last day of the December 1972 term.[14] Upon opening, the school could cater for around 900 pupils, with future provision for expanding to 1,500 once funds became available to extend the site.[2]
After nearly a year from opening, headmistress Mrs M. S Thomas, speaking to the Formby Times, described the school as having had "a rewarding year" and that "a good co-educational atmosphere has prevailed from the start". She said that despite the transition to a new school potentially having an adverse effect on school performance as some feared, results were "outstandingly good", with a record 79% of students in the fifth year achieving at least four pass grades.[15] The school operated a split-site, using the old Waterloo Park Grammar school for younger students and named "the Annexe".
Operation
In November 1981, the school was the site of the electoral count for the 1981 Crosby by-election, whereby Social Democratic Party candidate Shirley Williams won the Crosby constituency and therefore became the first member of the party to win an election.[16] In July 1989, the school won a large cash prize in a European Schools and Colleges competition, with group projects submitted by students in their third year of high school education.[17]
Split site
From the opening of the school on Chesterfield Road up until the construction of The Mall in 1996, the school resided on 2 separate sites, with the old Waterloo Park Grammar site referred to as "the Annexe" and considered a misnomer. Pupils at the Annexe would refer to the main school as 'the other school' as for them, the Annexe was Chesterfield High School for their first 2 years until moving to Chesterfield Road. It was claimed that the Annexe, disliked by many staff as an administrative nightmare with substandard buildings, was important in the school's success. It was felt that pupils here were able to find their feet in a homely environment and mix with others of the same age before being subjected to the rigours of bigger pupils; this was only disproved when the pupils did come on one site, as there was not much difficulty of this sort. However, at the time, parents believed this was the case and for many, it was an attraction for choosing Chesterfield's Annexe as their child's initial secondary home.
A council report in early February 1989 revealed that the main school site, then accommodating 946 pupils, was urgently in need of repairs, yet the education department of Sefton Council was not prepared to allocate funds until the future of the 70-year-old annexe had been decided. Among the concerns raised included leaking roofs, cracked walls, rotting window frames and insufficient fire exits and lighting. Similarly, the annexe building also suffered from leaking roofs and poor insulation and it was estimated that closure of the annexe and reconstruction of the main site would cost around £1.3 million. The report noted that the land where the annexe was sited had a "high capital value" which would be released if it were to be demolished.[18]
The buildings were a concern for school staff, mainly due to the fire hazard with having the wooden structures. It was difficult for staff working in the Annexe to not feel that the buildings and equipment there were not inferior to those available at the main Chesterfield Road site. It was felt that expenditure on the Annexe buildings would be in vain because it was considered the buildings would not last anywhere near as long as they did. It was only towards the end of their life in the last few years when some attempt was made to bring the Annexe buildings up to a sub-standard of the main school, with new fire doors and lowered ceilings being fitted. Construction of what would be called The Mall started at the main site in the mid-1990s to open for the 1996/1997 academic year, allowing the final closure of the Annexe.
After completion and opening in 1996 in a scheme estimated to cost around £2.5m, students from the Annexe were moved across to the main site.[19] Within hours of the move, the Annexe buildings were boarded up and demolished just weeks later. There is now no trace of these buildings, which considering their wooden structures, lasted for an impressive 75 years.[20] The demolition cost as reported by the Liverpool Echo was around £60,000.[21]
Buildings
A, B, C and D block
The original school was designed in blocks, with an outdoor quad in the centre, referred to as 'A block (Administration)', 'B block', 'C block' and 'D block' respectively.
D block was originally intended as a junior section where the younger forms could have most of their lessons, away from most of the rigours from the older students within the school. It included a fully fitted kitchen which was never used, with an adjacent pair of classrooms, since redeveloped into technology workshops. Initially the first floor of D block was used open-plan, in accordance with educational philosophy during time of construction. To reduce construction costs, none of the blocks were designed with any through corridors.
Considering the buildings were cheaply constructed, over time the roof started to wear, opening up holes for heavy rain and the weakened roof structure caused problems with burglaries until a roof renewal programme eliminating the problem.
The Sixth Form Block
The Sixth form at Chesterfield High School was managed by J. Deary. During construction of the high school, the Sixth Form building was ready first and Sixth Form students transferred there from Alexandra Hall. The Sixth Form building used a standard 'ROSLA' design amongst other secondary schools throughout the country alike, which first came into use upon the raising of the school leaving age from 15 to 16 in 1973.
In 1984, rumours began circulating that there were plans to change the nature of Sixth Form provision in Crosby, mainly due to the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton deciding to review Sixth Forms throughout the Borough, especially those which had fewer than 140 pupils. In March 1985, education chiefs in Sefton began 12 month consultation on the proposals due to falling pupil numbers.[22] The proposals involved removing Sixth Forms from Crosby schools to place students into an expanded tertiary college centred on Hugh Baird College in Bootle. Numerous meetings were held between Chesterfield High School's and what was then Manor High School's senior management teams. Overwhelming support to keep the Sixth Form at Chesterfield concluded in the retainment of it during a decisive meeting held in October 1986.[23]
In September 2008, the sixth form block was refurbished following work by the head boy and assistant head boy and a £90,000 investment was made. This refurbishment of the sixth form block included 30 new computers and space for the students to work. The investment was made after the sixth form was criticised during the Ofsted report. 'Standards in the sixth form are not as high as in the main school and are below the national average.'[24]
In July 2020, the sixth form block was demolished to make way for an extension to the existing building which now houses the Humanities faculty. In September 2021, the land on which the building stood formed part of a project for a new 3G all weather sports pitch for the school.[25]
The Mall
The Mall was officially opened 18 March 1996, with The Duke of Westminster invited to unveil the plaque. Also present at the ceremony were the Mayor, Councillor Terence Francis, and Mayoress, Sir Malcolm Thornton, MP, Councillor B Reynolds, Chairman of the Education Committee, John Marsden, Director of Education and Alan Moore, Director of Technical Services.
The mall created new classrooms for various number of departments, including English, Mathematics and Geography. It also included a new Library, replacing the older Library which used to reside where the language classrooms (L1 and L2) now are. Additional Science Laboratories were also built at the back of the school, bringing the total number of laboratories into double figures.
Headteachers
Sybil Thomas (1972–1988)
Originally Headmistress of the Grammar School, Thomas took on the role of Headmistress of the then-new Chesterfield High School, overseeing its development. She retired in 1988, to be succeeded by Dr. A. K. Irving.
Alan K. Irving (1988–2005)
In 1988, Thomas was succeeded by Dr Alan Irving who had been Deputy Head of Fairfield School, Widnes. After over 16 years as Chesterfield's Headteacher, Irving left the school for promotion to Schools and Young People's Director of Merseyside in 2005. However, Irving began a "£100,000-a-year" job in March 2006[27] as Schools and Young People's Director of Manchester. The school was left in the hands of the even longer serving Brenda Wheeler, then Deputy Headmistress, until appointment of Simon Penney as Headteacher in January 2006.
Simon Penney (2006–2019)
Kevin Sexton (2019–present)
