Head of Science

Wakefield City High School is a mixed comprehensive school catering for just under seven hundred pupils aged 11-16 years. It is maintained by Wakefield Metropolitan District Local Authority and is situated on a large, pleasant, single site in the north east of the city. 

The majority of pupils come from a large catchment area stretching from Pinders Heath in the North, to Belle Vue in the South and from Eastmoor in the East, to the St. John's area of the city in the West. An increasing number of pupils, however, come from further afield. In 2006 well over 100 pupils on roll came from outside the designated catchment area. Consequently, we were oversubscribed in Years 7, 9, 10 and 11 with some local residents, who delayed sending in their preference forms, disappointed that their children had to be refused admission.

Major building programmes over recent years have enhanced provision and ensured that the school is very well equipped to deliver all aspects of the National Curriculum. The most recent addition to our facilities is the brand new state of the art 1.5 million Community Sports Hall, complete with fitness suite.

Other key features of our building and development programme include:

Three fully equipped ICT suites
Six science laboratories
Music recording studio
Drama studio
Business Studies suite
Central library with learning resource area
Careers library and information centre
Technology rooms
We have been highly successful in attracting additional funding for resources and our ICT provision is amongst the best in the region.

Pupils undoubtedly benefit both from the quality and range of facilities and from being on a single site. We are also fortunate that, in a school of just under 700 pupils, we are large enough to offer the full range of courses and yet small enough for each pupil to be individually known to and cared for by staff. The key to future success lies in the quality of interpersonal relations and this is much easier to achieve in a school of optimum size.

Extra-curricular activities play an important part in the life of the school. Residential visits take place on a regular basis, numerous clubs and societies run after school, major musical and drama productions are mounted and sports teams compete throughout the Yorkshire region.

The school enjoys a good reputation with local employers and an increasing number of pupils proceed to Wakefield College, NEW College at Pontefract, Greenhead College in Huddersfield and local sixth forms, in order to follow courses of advanced study.

Former pupil Debra Lumb, now studying for a PhD in Atomic Atomic Particles at Corpus Christi College Oxford, is among an increasing number of students who successfully proceed to study at University.