St Mary's Catholic High School, Chesterfield

The school opened on 8 January 1856. It was part of the Church of the Annunciation, a Roman Catholic church in Chesterfield built by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and completed in 1854.[3] The church at the time was also known as St Mary's. The school later moved to a site on Cross Street, also in Chesterfield, around 100 meters from the church. The buildings on Cross Street are now home to St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School, a feeder school to St Mary's Roman Catholic High School. Both schools are closely linked with the Church of the Annunciation.

In 1997, the school adopted the motto that now adorns the school badge, "Gaudium et Spes", meaning "Joy and Hope".

The school's mission is "Live, love and learn in the light of Christ".

The campus was built on livestock fields at Upper Newbold. A former road, Water Lane, used to run through the school site before it was closed in the 1970s due to fatal accidents. The right of way as a footpath remained open, however, until it was stopped up in 2005.

The school was designed by the Ellis-Williams Architecture Partnership to echo the atmosphere of an Italian village, with the original buildings located around a central courtyard, called the Precinct.

The first brick was laid on 30 May 1978. Phase 1, consisting of the Gym, Drama Hall and Music room (the current IT2) Block and the Admin, Design Technology and Canteen Blocks were handed over by the developer on 27 November 1980. Work was underway on Phase 2 (Art, Chemistry, and Humanities) and this was completed by the summer of 1981. The school grounds opened to pupils in September 1981, although construction of the Biology and Language Blocks (Phase 3) was still underway. Phase 4, the Sixth Form block, was completed in 1984 along with its architectural highlight 'the Bridge'. Phase 5 was never constructed.[4] The large playing fields were finally handed over by the developer in the mid-1980s, much later than planned, due to issues with landscaping and coal mining shafts being discovered. A primary school was marked on plans for the East 'mound' area of the field, but this was cancelled in the late 1980s.

The present campus was the brainchild of Canon David Ryan. He worked for fourteen years from the time of his arrival as Parish Priest at the Annunciation to raise funds for the new school campus. The present campus was officially opened in 1982, one year after its completion. In 1996, a new Music Block and Maths/Physics Block were built, and in 2000 a new building was built to house the school's ICT facilities and sixth form study. This was dedicated to Ryan and was named the Canon David Ryan Building. Ryan died in 2003.

Looking west from the Lower Precinct in the evening.

In the middle of 2002, work in building an all-weather astro-turf sports pitch was completed. The pitch has facilities for football and hockey, and is floodlit for use during the evening, particularly for after-school sports fixtures and the Chesterfield Hockey Club.

Looking North across the "Cage" from the Astro all weather sports pitch.

View of Reception before the high-security perimeter fencing was installed.

Ariel view of school site from c1983. Water Lane can be seen on the left, running almost parallel to Newbold Road. The Sixth Form block is under construction in the centre of the photo. Also note the original bus turning circle.

Footballer Harry Maguire presents a signed shirt to Mrs. Scain and Mr. McKee on 10 January 2018.

View South to Maths and Physics block.

Looking North East towards the Humanities Block.

In September 2003, work on a £1.6 million Sports Hall was started, the building was completed in June 2004. The building was dedicated and blessed in the same month.

In 2004, work started on a new building to house the school's English Department; this was completed in the middle of 2005 and features five classrooms, three offices, and toilet facilities.

The new reception area was completed in June 2009.

On the morning of 15 March 2011, a bus carrying pupils to school collided with a bridge near Barrow Hill. The single decker bus, which usually operated the route, was not operating that morning and so a replacement bus - a double decker prohibited from the route due to low bridges - was run instead. One student was seriously injured, with seventeen others sustaining minor injuries.[5]

In 2014, work began on a new Drama Studio next to the Music Block, to replace the original one in the Humanities Block, which is now Learning Support. The new Drama Studio was completed in the middle of 2015. The Drama Hall was also extended at this time and electronically controlled movable seating was added.

In 2016, one of the language classrooms was turned into Maths 6. In 2017, Art 3 was converted into a room used as part of the Enrichment Learning Programme. The portacabins have also been converted into a 'wellbeing hub'. The reception area underwent renovation during Easter 2018.

At the start of the 2018/19 academic year, Caterlink took over the Year 7–11 school canteen. The school underwent a renovation project from July 2018 to February 2019, which included the installation of a partially new tannoy system, addressable fire alarm system, LED lighting and new ceiling tiles to improve the school's energy efficiency.

During the 2019 summer holidays, the front car park was redesigned to create more parking spaces.

The Bridge

The Sports Hall from the old Water Lane

There are plans to construct a two-storey Maths and Chemistry block on the lower courts 'Cage' area. A large sum of money was spent replacing the tannoy system, ceiling tiles, lights and getting a new fire alarm system installed between July 2018 and February 2019. This, combined with the solar panels installed in 2015, has greatly increased the school's energy efficiency.[6]

The school celebrated its sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) on 30 January 2015. A competition took place during art lessons to design a new logo for the school. A time capsule was buried in an alleyway between the Admin and Sixth Form blocks, to be opened in 2065. There is a plaque located above the site of it. Planting of trees also took place to replace the one destroyed by the extension of the Drama Hall.

A history book of the school, written by former pupil Leonie Martin, was published in 2015 to mark the anniversary.[7] A pupil has also written two small books about the history and rumoured ghost stories of the school site, raising money for charity.[8]

The school allotment near the top car park was originally created in 2009 by the Learning Support and Maths Departments. It consisted of nine vegetable beds with a small seating area nearby with a memorial dedicated to a member of staff who helped with constructing the allotment area.

In the summer of 2019, a number of pupils and members of support staff began redeveloping the allotment to transform it into a relaxing sensory garden and picnic area. This coincided with St Mary's becoming an attachment aware school.[9]

In November 2019, the garden was named 'the Phoenix Garden'. Some pupils created a sign and bird box during an enrichment activity and two Year 11 pupils planted a snow goose tree.