West Bridgford School

Grammar school

The school used to be a grammar school and was then known as West Bridgford County Secondary School. It moved to the present buildings in 1938 and became The West Bridgford Grammar School in 1944. The school's original site was on Musters Road, which was occupied by the old Musters Medical Practice. In September 1938 the school moved to a newly constructed building adjoining Loughborough Road, which is now its main building.

Comprehensive school

It became West Bridgford Comprehensive in September 1969. It is called The West Bridgford School - A Specialist Technology College. It kept some of its old grammar school ethos long after it became a comprehensive: Latin and Classics were taught and rugby was given priority over football until the 1970s. Its catchment area was the east side of the old LNER railway line (now Green line nature reserve) in West Bridgford and included Ruddington. The building is next to the old Central College Nottingham building, which has been knocked down to make space for a new housing estate .

Academy

The school applied to be an Academy under the Academies Act 2010 and officially became an Academy at midnight on 31 March 2011. From then on the school has been known as The West Bridgford School - A Specialist Technology Academy and as such it allocates up to 10% of its places based on technological aptitude. Its admissions policy, however, is still as a Comprehensive and these places are allocated after offers have been made to those that live within the catchment area.

In September 2014 The Ripley Academy (formerly Mill Hill School) in Ripley, Derbyshire joined West Bridgford School as part of the East Midlands Education Trust.

In March 2016 The West Bridgford School was recognised as being one of the top 100 non-selective state-funded schools in England.

Uniform

From September 2009, the school's uniform consists of a navy blazer with the updated coat of arms and an optional navy sweater for all, with differences for each gender. Boys wear a white shirt and a school logo clip-on tie, with trousers in mid-grey, whereas girls can wear trousers or a skirt in mid-grey and a white blouse without a tie. The school also has a sports uniform for both physical education lessons and extracurricular sports activities. Both the male and female kits include a light blue polo shirt with the school logo on (for indoor/summer activities). The boys' kit also contains a reversible jersey, whereas the girls' kit contains a light blue hoodie. The rest of the kit (such as trainers, boots and shinpads) are left to the pupil.

A complete list of the school uniform and sports kit, including restrictions on the appearance of pupils, can be found here.

An 'Eco-School'

The school's council and "Environmental Committee" have worked, with assistance from teachers and the support of the student body, to reduce the school's impact on the environment. The school has raised awareness by holding cake sales, fundraising events and holding a "Green Week", which involved students paying a donation and dressing in green. The money raised has gone towards green projects, such as double glazing, insulation and, most notably, a wind turbine, which feeds energy into the National Grid, who then subsidise the school's energy bill. Currently, the school holds the three Eco Schools awards, bronze, silver and has earned green in recognition of its efforts.

Dyslexia Friendly School

The School is currently aiming to become a Dyslexia Friendly School.

Moodle

The school has recently started using the CMS package 'Moodle' in 2012. It is currently used for setting all homeworks for students in years 7-13, as well as allowing students to share files between their school network account and their home computers.

Notable former pupils

West Bridgford Grammar School