Ecclesfield School is a

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

with academy status situated on Chapeltown Road (A6135) between Chapeltown and Ecclesfield,

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. ...

in the East Ecclesfield district of Sheffield, England. It is for ages 11–16. It has about 1,750 pupils, making it the largest school in Sheffield.

History

Ecclesfield School opened as "Ecclesfield Grammar School" in 1931. Its foundation was largely due to the efforts of Lady Mabel Smith, a Labour councillor on the West Riding County Council, and daughter of

Earl Fitzwilliam Earl Fitzwilliam (or FitzWilliam) was a title in both the Peerage of Ireland and the Peerage of Great Britain held by the head of the Fitzwilliam family (later Wentworth-Fitzwilliam). History The Fitzwilliams acquired extensive holdings in t ...

. Lady Mabel was Chairman of the School Governors from 1931 to her death in 1951. The school was designed in 1939 by Frederick MacManus, an Irish born architect working for (Sir) John Burney, Tait & Lorne architects of London. In 1931 Ecclesfield Grammar School provided for three streams of 30 pupils, increased to five in 1952 with an annual intake of 150 and a total number on roll of 800; by this time 2,500 pupils had been admitted. Following integration with Hunshelf pupil intake increased further. Total pupil numbers during the 36 years the school operated as a grammar school was approximately 4,450, and approximately 10,000 since it became a comprehensive. Major extensions to the school were made in 1952-53, including Lady Mabel Hall, kitchens and classrooms, and separate science and craft blocks. Further building undertaken during the 1960s included a sports hall with changing rooms and a multi-story classroom block, with the gymnasium from the previous building converted into a library. Concurrently, a separate Hunshelf School was built on part of the playing fields. During the 1950s new entrants were allocated to forms according to surname alphabetical order, and were allotted to a "house", Strafford, Brontë, Fairfax or Priestley, for weekly assembly and competitive sports. In 1967 the School became Ecclesfield Comprehensive School after amalgamating with Hunshelf

Secondary Modern School A secondary modern school is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Schools of this type continue in Northern Ireland, where they are usuall ...

, and served the areas of Ecclesfield, Chapeltown, Hoyland, Elsecar, High Green, Bradfield, Stannington, Grenoside, Oughtibridge and Wharncliffe Side, on the southern boundary of the West Riding of Yorkshire between Sheffield and Barnsley. Initially, it remained separate from Hunshelf School, but the two schools later amalgamated to form an enlarged Ecclesfield Comprehensive, run by Sheffield City Council. Again, major building work took place in the school in the early 21st century, as the Priory, Wharncliffe and Cowley blocks were built (often shortened to just P, W, and C) as well as the new canteen and car park. It was here where the school gained its 'Specialist in visual and performing arts' status. On 1 April 2014, the school converted to academy status.

Drama

The school has drama and music studios, and a theatre with tiered seating and lighting system. Productions include musicals and serious dramas. Ecclesfield School teachers Paul O'Farrell and Ben Smithard wrote and directed the play ''Exit Stage Left'' which was performed at the

Edinburgh Fringe Festival The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

in July & August 2012, and was well-reviewed in the local ''Sheffield Star''. The play won the Yorkshire music and drama award. They have also directed musicals and plays which take place in the school's Lady Mabel Hall annually.

Academic performance

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

, the school performs below average for Sheffield LEA. In a report from 2017 the school achieved "Inadequate" in its Ofsted Report.

Notable former pupils

* Jamie Cook, guitarist with the

Arctic Monkeys Arctic Monkeys are an English rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002. The group consists of Alex Turner (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Jamie Cook (guitar, keyboards), Nick O'Malley (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Matt Helders (drums, ...

Karl Ley Karl John Fairfax Ley, GM is a British Army soldier and a bomb disposal expert. As a staff sergeant in the 11 Explosive Ordnance Disposal Regiment RLC, he was awarded the George Medal for bomb disposal duties in Afghanistan, where he defused m ...

, bomb disposal expert, awarded the

George Medal The George Medal (GM), instituted on 24 September 1940 by King George VI,''British Gallantry Medals'' (Abbott and Tamplin), p. 138 is a decoration of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, awarded for gallantry, typically by civilians, or in cir ...

* James Lomas, actor *

Steve Peat Steve Peat (born 17 June 1974 in Chapeltown, South Yorkshire), nicknamed "Sheffield Steel" or more commonly just "Peaty", is a professional downhill mountain biker who was born and lives in Chapeltown, Sheffield, England. Prior to his career a ...

, mountain biker * Jordan Ramos, sprinter and

tumbling (gymnastics) Tumbling, sometimes referred to as power tumbling, is a gymnastics discipline in which participants perform a series of acrobatic skills down a long sprung track. Each series, known as a pass, comprises eight elements in which the athlete jum ...

Billy Sharp Billy Louis Sharp (born 5 February 1986) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker and captains club Sheffield United. He has also played for Rushden & Diamonds, Scunthorpe United, Southampton, Nottingham Forest, Readin ...

, professional footballer * Simon Stainrod

Ecclesfield Grammar School

* Chris Baines, environmentalist, writer and broadcaster 1958-65 *

Joanna Constantinidis Joanna Constantinidis née Connell, (12 December 1927 – 1 August 2000) was an English potter and ceramic artist. Biography Constantinidis was born in York and grew up in Sheffield where she attended Ecclesfield Grammar School betw ...

, potter *

Barry Hines Melvin Barry Hines, FRSL (30 June 1939 – 18 March 2016) was an English author, playwright and screenwriter. His novels and screenplays explore the political and economic struggles of working-class Northern England, particularly in his native ...

, author *

David Merry David Byron Merry, CMG (born 16 September 1945) was High Commissioner to Botswana from 2001 He was at the Ministry of Aviation from 1961 to 1965 when he entered the HM Diplomatic Service. He served in Bangkok, Budapest, Bonn, East Berlin, Man ...

CMG, High Commissioner to

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kal ...

from 2001–05 *

Frank Newby Frank Newby (26 March 1926 – 10 May 2001) was one of the leading structural engineers of the 20th century, working with such architects as Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, Eero Saarinen, Cedric Price,James Gowan (architect) James Stirling, an ...

, structural engineer, designed the

Skylon Skylon may refer to: * Skylon (Festival of Britain), a landmark structure of the 1951 Festival of Britain * Skylon (spacecraft), a proposed orbital spaceplane * Skylon Tower, an observation tower in Niagara Falls, Ontario * ''Skylon'' (album), a ...

for the

Festival of Britain The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says the Festival was a "triumphant success" during which people: ...

and the aviary for

London Zoo London Zoo, also known as ZSL London Zoo or London Zoological Gardens is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London on 27 April 1828, and was originally intended to be used as a collection for scientific study. In 1831 or 1832, ...

Donald Pleasence Donald Henry Pleasence (; 5 October 1919 – 2 February 1995) was an English actor. He began his career on stage in the West End before transitioning into a screen career, where he played numerous supporting and character roles including RAF ...

, actor * Sheila Sherwood, long-jumper, won the

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

in the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games

Former teachers

* Christopher Price, Labour MP from 1966-70 for

Birmingham Perry Barr Birmingham Perry Barr is a constituency in the West Midlands, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2001 by Khalid Mahmood of the Labour Party. Constituency profile UK Polling Report stated in 2015: "Perry Barr and p ...

, and brother of Helen Jackson (Labour MP for Sheffield Hillsborough from 1992-2005)

References

External links

Ecclesfield School

{{authority control Ecclesfield Secondary schools in Sheffield Academies in Sheffield Educational institutions established in 1931 1931 establishments in England