Story and photography by Steve Barnard
Plans to build a new secondary school in Burngreave have been approved by Sheffield City Council to meet the growing demand for school places.
The proposal is for a new through school (aged 2-18) on the former Pye Bank School site on Andover Street to open in 2018.
The Council says its vision is to provide a high quality new school with publicly accessible open space. They want to provide community benefits from new and improved buildings, with sports and recreation facilities that could be shared by the school and the local community.
The plans make use of the old “Board School” building, which has been empty and abandoned since the Council closed it in 2002. The Council’s original “masterplan” would have seen it turned into flats but this never happened, as no property developers would take it on.
This return to use as a school will be a big change locally. It also sees a return of post-16 education in the area. Until now, Burngreave pupils who wanted to stay on at sixth form have had to either apply to Longley Sixth Form College or face a long journey across the city every day.
See page 20 for stories of the school in history.