Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School

Founded in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, the 'Ancient Free School of Dronfield' has evolved over the last 440 years, to become a forward thinking and dynamic comprehensive school firmly rooted in the heart of the Dronfield community. As the single secondary school locally we are part of a broader group of schools, the Partnership of Dronfield Schools (PODS), working together to serve the town.

Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School is a large 11-18 mixed comprehensive school which is maintained by Derbyshire Local Authority and has 1850+ students on roll alongside 250+ staff. Our mantra is “Success with Care”. 

Our goal is to be exemplary in everything that we do and, as would be expected, this means that we research best practice, benchmark ourselves with the best and then put in place our strategic response to any aspect of school improvement. Our vision is to be exemplary; our strategy is to achieve this through our people by building commitment and trust. We work on the basis of “Commitment not Compliance” in the belief that all who are involved with our school contribute their best to ensure the best for our students.

As well as academic success, we like to celebrate the many achievements of our students in a wide variety of extracurricular activities. Our sporting teams have secured great success across a very wide range of individual and team sports. We value creativity highly and have rich and varied music and drama performances. We undertake numerous enrichment activities to enable students to broaden their horizons and widen their experiences. Our international work is highly valued and recognised with the International School Award.

We see Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School as a highly successful, caring and supportive school which is a great place to learn and work. Please take your time to explore our web site, www.dhfs.uk to find out more.

All best wishes,

Mr M J Cooper
Headteacher