The Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School

The Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School is a high achieving comprehensive secondary school in North East Derbyshire. The school has a rich historic past, dating back to the 1580's, when it was endowed by Henry Fanshawe. The school is situated in the centre of the historic town of Dronfield, between Chesterfield and Sheffield. The school site includes buildings dating back to the 1570's, as well as modern buildings, which have been constructed to cope with ever increasing numbers. The current headmistress is Ms T. B. Roche, after succeeding Mr C. J. Burke in April 2006.

The school has recently undergone major, single site development, involving the building of a new block. The majority of the site has also been recently refurbished, making it a large, modern school.

The School Site

The school is currently in single-site status, following construction work in mid-2003. Previously the school had been on 3 sites. Although, the school has had 5 different sites throughout its history.

Holmesfield Site
This was the first site of the school when it was first endowed by Henry Fanshawe. At this time, the school was known as 'The Free School of Henry Fanshawe'.
It was situated in Holmesfield, although the exact site is not known (somewhere around 'Fanshawe Gate Lane'. It is recorded that after its closure in 1578, it became a farm, leading to the possibility that it still exists as a farm, was demolished, or exists as another building. This site housed only one classroom, as well as offices for Henry Fanshawe.

Red Brick House
This was the second site of the school, opening in around 1579, following a move from Holmesfield. It was opened by Henry Fanshawe, after increasing numbers of students from Dronfield (hence not Holmesfield), and the need for a more suitable building. It is situated on High Street in Dronfield. it housed around 2 classrooms, a Library, catering facilities, offices and service amenities. The school was still named 'The Free School of Henry Fanshawe'.

However, after many years of service, and expanding pupil numbers, a move to a larger site was needed. The decision was made by Henry Fanshawe to move to a larger site. However, Henry Fanshawe was never able to execute his vision of a larger school, due to his death in ????.

Fanshawe
The Fanshawe site opened in ????, following the move from Red Brick House. This move was coordinated by Thomas Fanshawe, the son of the late Henry Fanshawe. the school was renamed 'Dronfield Grammar School'. It opened with a new building, housing around 6 classrooms, a Library, service amenities, catering facilities and offices. The building was further developed in ????, with the addition of around 5 new classrooms. This building still exists today, as 'A Block - Millican Building' (see below). 'Dronfield Grammar School' soon changed to 'Henry Fanshawe School' after is became comprehensive, and wishing to dedicate to its founder.

Gladys Buxton Site
Due to increasing number of students on the newly developed 'Coal Aston' area of Dronfield, a new school was built to house KS3 students from this area. Named 'The Gladys Buxton School', this was soon merged into 'Henry Fanshawe School', now being a two site school. In 1991, this site was closed due to falling numbers. Teachers and students were transferred to the Gosforth site.

Gosforth Site
With the new 'Dronfield Woodhouse' housing estate opening as the largest housing estate in Western-Europe, a new secondary school for KS3 was needed to educate the extra students. It was named 'Gosforth School'. This was merged into 'Henry Fanshawe School'. Shortly afterwards it was renamed 'The Dronfield School'. During the single site moved in 2003, the site was closed.

Single Site Status

Durring the summer of 2003, the school moved onto a single site. This made it far easier for staff and students to get around. During the time, several modifications were made.

F Block - Goldberg Building This new building was built, to house mathematics, art, drama, dance, music, P.E. (site 2), MFL and KS3 science. it also contained a large studio hall and offices.

Library Extension The library was extended and refurbished. A new electronic library system was installed.

A Block Conversion 'A' block was renovated to change the maths rooms that took up most of the block, into I.C.T. rooms and P.S.E. rooms.

Current Site

The school is currently on one site, following work conducted in the summer of 2003.

'A' Block
'A' block was the first building to be built for the school. it is neo-Elizabethan in most parts, featuring traditional architecture. A large bell-tower sits at the front of the school. A Victorian extension was conducted in ???? to add new classrooms.

The building currently houses I.C.T., P.S.E and English (site 2). It also houses administration, server rooms, teaching offices and year offices.

'B' Block
'B' block is the oldest building on the site, although until around 10 years after 'A' block opened, it was not part of the school. Previously it had been used as a headmasters house.

Today it houses 'Department of Student Support', as the building is also known as 'The Student Support Centre'. This building holds 'The Unit' and 'Isolation'. Behavioral and learning support are also based in this building. This is the smallest building on the school site.

'C' Block
'C' block was built in 1938 to house various facilities, such as the library and more classrooms. Today it house 'Department of Humainities', as well as 'Dronfield Henry Fanshawe Post-16'. It also features 'Cafe Mojo', a modern-style cafe for Post-16 use only. This building was previously linked via a covered walkway, to D-Block, however this was later removed.

The lower-ground floor houses 'Business Studies', 'Cafe Mojo', 'Post 16 Centre' and 'Sociology'. The ground floor houses 'Geography and offices. The first floor houses 'Vocational Studies', including 'Health and Social Care', 'ASDAN' and 'Leisure and Tourism', as well as an ICT room. The second floor, houses 'History', 'R.E. (site 1), 'Psychology' and another entrance to 'Sociology'.

'D' Block
'D' block was built in the late 1970's to house a dining hall, drama studio, 'Chemistry' and 'Biology'. However, nowadays it houses 'Chemistry, 'Biology' and the 'LRC' (the LRC (Learning Resources Centre) replaced the library in 2003). On the lower-ground floor is 'Chemistry, the ground-level floor houses the 'LRC', the first housing a staff room and a 'Biology' classroom, while the second floor houses 'Biology' and a 'Preparation 'Prep' Room'.

'E' Block
'E' block was built in 1996, to replace the previous 'E' block which was destroyed by a fire the year before. The building is the largest building by far, running the length of half of the campus. The building houses the main visitor reception, English (Site 1), Science (Site 1(GCSE and A Level Chemistry and Physics only)), Technology and 3 dining facilities.

The building caters for years 7, 8, 9 and 10, with regard to their lunchtime arrangements. It houses 4 dining halls and kitchens, these being 'Henry's Diner', a large diner serving modern, cooked food , 'The Phoenix Diner @ The Phoenix Hall', serving a variety of different, hot and cold food, 'Henry's Bistro', serving traditional hot food and 'The Fanshawe Diner', a modern grab-and-go facility.

'F' Block
'F' block was built in 2004, to house the new years 7 and 8, in response to the closure of the Gosforth site. The building is the second largest, and most recent. The building houses Science (Site 2( KS3 Science)), MFL, Creative Arts, Music, Art, Drama, Maths and P.E. (Site 2). As well as this, there are a large number of offices for lead staff an dpastoral care teams in the building. The building suffers heavily from overcrowding, as it is a main hub of the school, and therefore one-ways systems are in place to ease the heavy flow. The building is linked by a wide corridor, to 'G' block (The Sports Hall), as a means of making getting around school under cover, easier.

''G' Block' (Sports Hall)
'G' (Sports Hall) block was built in around 1990, to replace the previous Sports Hall, which burned down as a result of an electrical fault. The building houses a large sports hall, 2 changing rooms, offices, a multi-gym and a lesser hall (The Movement Hall), which has a sprung floor.

''H' Block' (The Terrpins)
'H' (The Terrapins) block is a series of modular buildings, moved over from the gosforth site upon its closure. These classrooms house technology Textiles (Site 2), and R.E. (Site 2). They are intended as a range of overflow classrooms. They are well known for how cold they are particularly in winter, as there is main heating system

Subjects Available at DHFS

Department of Science
Head of Department:
Science (KS3 only)
Biology (KS4, AS and A Level only)
Chemistry (KS4, AS and A Level only)
Physics (KS4, AS and A Level only)

Department of Mathematics
Mathematics (KS3, KS4, AS and A Level)

Department of English
English (KS3 only)
English Language (KS4 and A Level only)
English Literature (KS4 and A Level only)

Department of Modern Foreign Languages (MFL)
French (KS3, KS4 and A Level only)
Spanish (KS3, KS4 and A Level only)
German (KS3, KS4 and A Level only
Latin (KS4 only (Currently discontinued))

Department of Humanities and Vocational Studies
Geography (KS3, KS4, AS, A2 and A Level)
History (KS3, KS4, AS, A2 and A Level)
Religious Education (R.E.) (KS3 and KS4 only)
Psychology (KS4 NAGTY and A Level only)
Sociology (A Level only)
Business Studies (AS and A Level only)
Health and Social Care (KS4 Double only)
Leisure and Tourism (KS4 Double only)
ASDAN (KS4 Double only)

Department of Creative Arts
Art (KS3, KS4 and A Level only)
Drama (KS4 and A Level only)
Creative Arts (KS3 only)
Physical Education (KS3, KS4 and A Level only)

Learning Resources Centre 'The LRC', or 'The Library' is the schools library service. It provides a wide range of non-fictional and fiction-books, brochures, computer and internet access, dictionary and encyclopaedia access. It also boasts a Connexions Derbyshire branch inside.

The LRC is located on the lower floor of 'D Block'. It occupies the Northern half of the floor.

Currently, there are plans to extend the library into the southern half of the building, making a larger and more spread out library. This will mean the closure of the D1 Science Chemistry facility and classroom, which currently occupy the space. During the summer and first half of the Autumn Term (Term 1), the conversion shall take place.