Chesterfield High School

The Annexe

From the founding of the school up until the construction and opening of The Mall in 1996, the school resided on 2 separate sites, with the Chesterfield Road site being the main. The Annexe in some ways was a misnomer, which used the old Waterloo Park Grammar site. Pupils at the Annexe would refer to the main school at Chesterfield Road as 'the other school'. For them, it was Chesterfield High School for their first 2 secondary years until reaching their third year, at which point they moved over to the main site at Chesterfield Road. It was often claimed that the Annexe, although disliked by many staff as an administrative nightmare and the buildings considered substandard, was extremely important in the success of the school. Here, it was felt, pupils 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. To a certain extent, this was only disproved as when the pupils did come on one site, as there did not seem to be much difficulty of this sort. However, at the time, there is no doubt that parents thought that this was the case and for many of them it was indeed an attraction for choosing Chesterfield's Annexe as their initial secondary home for their children.

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 its completion and opening in 1996, students from the Annexe were moved across to the main site. 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.

A, B, C and D block

The original school was designed in blocks, with an outdoor quad in the centre. These blocks are referred to as A block (Administration), B block, C block and D block respectively.

What is now 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. These have since been redeveloped to create technology workshops. Initially the first floor of D block was designed and used as an open-plan, in accordance with educational philosophy during time of construction. To cut down on construction costs, none of the blocks were designed with any through corridors so the open plan design worked in well with this.

Considering the buildings were cheaply constructed, over time the roof started to wear, opening up holes for heavy rain water to come through. Due to the weakening of the roof structure, this also caused problems for burglaries through the roof. A roof renewal programme has gradually been eliminating these problems.

The Sixth Form Block

The Sixth Form at Chesterfield High School is managed currently 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 Conservative Council deciding to review Sixth Forms throughout the Borough, especially those which had fewer than 140 pupils. Proposals made would take away the Sixth Forms from Crosby schools and place students into an expanded tertiary college centred on Hugh Baird College in Bootle. Numerous meetings where 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.

In September 2008 the sixth form block was refubished 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.'

The Mall

The Mall was officially opened Tuesday, 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, M.P., 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.

Rugby

The Sixth Form Rugby team was founded in 2007 after a group of students who were relatively new to the sport started training sessions on the school field. The group attended training sessions every Wednesday after school and made steady progression with the game and following the support of geography teacher Chris Tees a rugby player for Southport RUFC, the sixth form rugby team played their first game against another local sixth form team which was drawn 10–10. The team has made steady progress since then and in September 2008 the teams progression was rewarded when the school provided the funding for rugby posts and a pitch to be marked out on the schools field. This has proved to be a success as the team currently has a 100% home record.

Sybil Thomas

Duration: 1972–1988
Originally Headmistress of the Grammar School, 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

Duration: 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, A. K. 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 as Schools and Young People's Director of Manchester. The school was left in the capable hands of the even longer serving Brenda Wheeler, then Deputy Headmistress, until appointment of Simon Penney as Headteacher in January 2006.

Brenda Wheeler (Acting Head)

Duration: 2005 (Q4)
Even longer serving than A. K. Irving, B. Wheeler took over the role of Acting Headteacher for the fourth quarter of 2005, until the appointment of Simon Penney, at which point she took her retirement.

Simon Penney

Duration: 2006–present

Alumni