Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School


The Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School is a mixed, state comprehensive school for 11- to 18-year-olds, in the town of Dronfield, Derbyshire, United Kingdom.

History

Dronfield Grammar School, later renamed the Henry Fanshawe School, was founded in 1578, by the will of Henry Fanshawe, whose wish it was for his nephew, Thomas Fanshawe, to establish the school. Henry Fanshawe had been a local boys' schoolmaster in the town, with a school on a small site on the outskirts of neighbouring Holmesfield. Although his school building no longer exists, a small lane leads into the fields, called 'Fanshawe Lane'. The present school succeeds three previous schools, the Henry Fanshawe School, Gosforth Secondary School and the Gladys Buxton School. The Henry Fanshawe School and The Gosforth School merged in 1990 to form The Dronfield School with the closure of the Gladys Buxton School, and this then became the Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School in 2004, a single site school, with the closure of the Gosforth site. At present, the Gladys Buxton site remains disused for public schooling use, yet is retained as a reserve should numbers rise, or alternative teaching space be needed. The Gosforth site was demolished in 2005, and Derbyshire County Council have used the extensive fields for a sports development. The Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School was officially opened on 28 January 1991 by Harry Barnes, then Labour MP for North East Derbyshire. The renamed and refurbished school was opened in September 2004 by Ruth Kelly, secretary of state for Education at the time. The school was awarded Technology College status in 2001.

Dronfield Grammar School, The Henry Fanshawe School

Dronfield Grammar School, later the Henry Fanshawe School, opened to educate boys of Dronfield in 1578, by Thomas Fanshawe, nephew of Henry Fanshawe. However, there is evidence to suggest Henry Fanshawe had educated boys in neighbouring Holmesfield for some years. Originally the school occupied a houses on Church Street which still stands today with the original inscriptions on the walls from former pupils with in the school hall and original stain glass. Although the school was relocated with increasing pupil numbers, to the current site, on Green Lane, Dronfield. The first building to be built here is now the western edge of 'A block', which now houses I.T. rooms, management offices, finance and reprographics. Before the 1970s, it was also known as Dronfield Grammar School, after this point, it was renamed the Dronfield School. A devastating fire in 1993 destroyed 60% of this site. These buildings were rebuilt, and are now known as 'E block'.

The Gladys Buxton School

Opening in 1960, the Gladys Buxton School opened to serve 11–14 year olds in the recently developed area of Coal Aston. It was officially opened on 7 March 1961 by Mrs Gladys Buxton. The school was similar to the Gosforth High School, relatively the same size with sizeable playing fields. Students would later feed into Henry Fanshawe School. The school was closed in 1990 in order that the Gladys Buxton School, Gosforth Secondary School and Henry Fanshawe School would form the Dronfield School. As a consequence of this, Gladys Buxton School was closed, mainly due to increasing building maintenance costs and falling numbers. Remaining staff and students were relocated, staff going to both sites, students to the Gosforth site.

The Gosforth School

The Gosforth Secondary Modern School was opened in 1955 to serve 11–15 year olds in the Dronfield area, and the larger numbers brought in by the new housing estates. It was officially opened in June 1956 by Lady Simon of Wythenshawe, the wife of Ernest Simon, 1st Baron Simon of Wythenshawe. It operated under the Gosforth name until 1990 when it was merged with The Gladys Buxton School and the Henry Fanshawe School to form The Dronfield School, when after this it received some staff and students from The Gladys Buxton School. From 1990 up to 2001 it catered for all 11–14 year olds in Dronfield, and for the 2002–3 academic years this was reduced to 11–13, to form the initial stages of another merger. The Dronfield School would become a single site school, and so The Dronfield School, Gosforth site was decommissioned in 2003, and demolished in early 2005, with all students and staff being relocated to the Fanshawe site, being now known as 'Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School', often shortened to 'Henry Fanshawe', 'Fanshawe' or 'DHFS'.

Blocks

To the north of F Block are a set of concrete tennis courts and, to the north of that, a modern synthetic grass full-size football field with floodlights. The synthetic grass was replaced with a more modern variant in 2013. In between D and E Blocks is an outdoor covered seating area which is used for dining in summer. The school also own a field off Green Lane opposite to the school, adjacent to Cliffe Park, which is used by the PE faculty and contains marked rounders and javelin fields, a running track and long jump sand pit. The PE faculty also occasionally make use of Cliffe Park itself, usually when examinations mean the closure of the Sports Hall and reduced on-site capacity, with the faculty making use of the tennis courts and 5-a-side astroturf football pitch.

Past Heads

school closed c.1809–1814
The School takes pupils from a wide area surrounding Dronfield, including the areas surrounding Apperknowle, Holmesfield, and Unstone, and parts of southern Sheffield and northern Chesterfield. and also Barlow.

Academic performance

The school gets GCSE results well above the England average and A-level results also above the England average. In 2010, A-level results were: 98% Pass Grade and 24% A* Grade. As of the latest Ofsted inspection in November 2015, the school is considered to be officially Outstanding in all aspects, including effectiveness of leadership and management; quality of teaching, learning and assessment; personal development, behaviour and welfare; outcomes for pupils; 16 to 19 study programmes; and overall.

Alumni