The Spires College is a mixed secondary school and

sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

located in the

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

town of

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignt ...

, England. It is a bilateral school, with places for children who reach the required standard in the 11+ test and for those who do not take the test or do not reach the required standard. There is also specialist unit for students with hearing Impairment. The school is located in the Plainmoor district of Torquay.

History

In 1973 Westhill Secondary School and Homelands Technical High School, the latter being an all-boys school, joined to form Westlands School. It was split over two separate sites about half a mile from each other. The site on Westhill Road was known as the Lower School, whilst the other site, shared with Homelands Primary School in Westlands Lane, was known as the Upper School. The buildings on Westhill Road were originally built to be an army hospital during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and each classroom had walls made of multiple double doors where beds would have been brought in and out. Throughout the 1970s, the school became increasingly run down with little or no investment in buildings. In 1978, a major fire, which broke out in the upper school's chemistry department storeroom, exacerbated the situation by seriously damaging many classrooms. Both sites relied heavily on outside cabins to provide extra teaching facilities which, by the late 1990s, were old and became increasingly unfit for purpose. In 1999, Homelands Primary School relocated to the Westhill Road site to allow work to commence on the Upper School Site for a brand new school building. This was financed through the government's Private Finance Initiative (PFI) scheme, whereby

Torbay Council Torbay Council is the local authority for Torbay, a local government district in the ceremonial county of Devon, England. Since 1998 the council has been a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functions of a count ...

owns the land whilst a private company built and owns the building, and manages the on site facilities, for a period of twenty-five years. The new school was built in sections, allowing the school to remain open during the works. The new building was opened to house the whole school in September 2001. Work then commenced on the Westhill Road site for a new building for Homelands Primary School. This was completed in Summer 2002. In September 2015 Westlands School became The Spires College.

References

External links

* , the institution's official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Spires College, The 1973 establishments in England Bilateral schools in England Educational institutions established in 1973 Foundation schools in Torbay Secondary schools in Torbay Schools in Torquay