Belfairs High School

Belfairs High School

Established	1955
Headteacher	Mr John Duprey
Specialism	Media Arts College
Location	Highlands Boulevard Leigh-on-Sea Essex SS9 3TG England
Local authority	Southend-on-Sea
DfE URN	115350
Ofsted	Reports
Students	1324
Gender	Coeducational
Ages	11–18
Website	www.belfairs.southend.sch.uk

Belfairs High School is a comprehensive secondary school in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England. The current head teacher is John Duprey B.A (Hons). The school has held Media Arts Status since 2003. After an inspection in June 2010 Ofsted graded the school as 'Good' with the 'extent to which pupils feel safe' as 'Outstanding'. Belfairs High School is an inclusive school community and provides good levels of care, guidance and support for students, whatever their background or heritage.

History

On Friday 18 March 1955 the Minister of Education, The Rt. Hon. Sir David McAdam Eccles, P.C., K.C.V.O., M.P., joined local dignitaries at Belfairs High School to open eight schools in the County Borough of Southend-On-Sea.

The opening of these eight schools in the Southend-On-Sea borough would 'represent an addition of 3,520 school places'. During this period, such demand upon the council to increase school places had been driven by a number of factors

During the war the County Borough suffered relatively little damage to the school buildings. Only two schools were severely bombed and the post-war urgent need for new school places was therefore only caused in a small part by war damage. The greatest need has been to provide schools for the increased numbers of children of school age, due to an increased total population, the higher birthrate and the raising of the school leaving age from 14 to 15 in 1947.

With an increase in total school places across the borough, a large proportion of these places was created in the development of Belfairs High School. Belfairs was originally conceived as a comprehensive school for 1,600 boys but due to the 'changes in national economy and the need for more school places' the site was developed into two 'Modern Secondary Schools', Belfairs High School for boys and Belfairs High School for girls.

The two schools were created to serve the area of Leigh-on-Sea, with a zone extending from the western boundary of the County Borough to Southbourne Grove and Crowstone Road. They replaced the former West Leigh High School, which was part of an "all-age" school built before the First World War.

In order that the council met the demands for school places they had already predicted the increase in numbers. The estimated numbers of students registered was expected to increase over the first five years from 800 to over 1400 students. In later years, the school adopted a coeducational approach and extended the age range of students to 11-18.

In July 2009, the school was given permission for a £24 million re-build. Belfairs High School will be the only school in Southend to be completely rebuilt under the previous government's 'Building School's for the Future' scheme.

In September 2011, the school will be opening their newly built school

Academic standards

Students' achievement is good. The proportion of students achieving five A* to C or more in the GCSE is now above the national average. Historically, the number of students who achieve five A* to C GCSE passes, including English and mathematics, has been low. However, in the past four years, concerted efforts by the school and, more recently, in conjunction with the local authority through the National Challenge project has led to considerable gains. As a result, this number is improving rapidly and is approaching three times its 2007 level (28% of students achieved at least 3 A*/A grades). The school provides good progress from students' generally low starting points.

The school was awarded Arts College status in 2003 with a focus on Media Arts. In June 2010 Ofsted inspection the school was rated Good.

External links

• www.belfairs.southend.sch.uk Official site
• Ofsted Official site