Formal education in Sheffield, England, takes place at the city's two universities, 141 primary schools and 28 secondary schools.
The University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University combined bring 55,000 students to the city every year, including many from the Far East. As a result of its large student population, Sheffield has many bars, cafes, clubs, and shops as well as student housing to accommodate them.
Sheffield has two further education colleges. Sheffield College is organised on a collegiate basis and was originally created from the merger of six colleges around the city, since reduced to three main centres: City in the city centre, Hillsborough in the north, and Norton in the south, each operating as semi-autonomous constituents of Sheffield College. Longley Park Sixth Form, opened in 2004.
Eight of the secondary schools have sixth forms, namely High Storrs, King Ecgbert, King Edward VII, Silverdale, Tapton, Meadowhead, UTC Sheffield City Centre and UTC Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park, all lying in the south or west of Sheffield (with the exception of the Olympic Legacy Park), and the two Catholic schools, All Saints and Notre Dame. The full list of state-funded secondary schools is:
All Saints Catholic High School, Sheffield (voluntary aided) Birley Community College Bradfield School Chaucer School Ecclesfield School Fir Vale School (formerly Earl Marshal) Firth Park Academy Forge Valley School Handsworth Grange School High Storrs School Hinde House School King Ecgbert School King Edward VII School
Meadowhead School
Newfield Secondary School
Notre Dame Catholic High School (voluntary aided) Outwood Academy City Parkwood E-ACT Academy (formerly Parkwood High & Herries) Sheffield Park Academy (formerly Waltheof) Sheffield Springs Academy (formerly Myrtle Springs, formerly Hurlfield) Silverdale School Stocksbridge High School Tapton School UTC Sheffield City Centre UTC Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park Westfield School Yewlands Technology College
There are also seven private schools, most notably Birkdale School and the Sheffield High School for Girls.
History
Formal education in Sheffield goes back some 500 years or more. It is noted that the Canons of Beauchief Abbey engaged a teacher in 1490 to instruct boys and novices in grammar and singing. One of the earliest of Sheffield's schools is mentioned in the books of the Church Burgesses, when in 1564, a Mr Yonge obtained a licence to keep a school. In 1604, Thomas Smith (who was probably born in Sheffield) of Crowland in Lincolnshire, left the sum of £30 per year for running a Free Grammar School. The founding of the school was permitted by King James I and he gave instructions that the school should be called the King James Grammar School.
In 1648, Sheffield Castle was demolished and some of the stone was used to build a new grammar school in Townhead Street, The Free Grammar School of King James of England, within the town of Sheffield, in the County of York. It remained in use until 1825, when a new school was built in St George's Square. Many other schools were built in Sheffield during this period and some were very highly regarded, having taught some of the leading citizens of the country.
Another first for Sheffield occurred after the passing of the Education Act of 1870. The first school to be built in England under the Act was Newhall School at Attercliffe in 1873. In the same year, Broomhall School was opened, quickly followed by Netherthorpe and Philadelphia.
In 1874 a plan was produced by the Sheffield architects, Innocent and Brown, for the laying out of Leopold Street and the realignment of Church Street and Bow Street (now West Street). In 1876 the area between Orchard Lane, West Street, Orchard Street and Balm Green was covered by a huddle of old houses in two streets now gone (Smith Street and Sands Paviours). This site was bought by the Sheffield School Board (SSB) for building the Central Schools and offices for themselves. At this time, Mark Firth (of steel fame) was interested in founding an Adult Education College which he intended should become a University College, so the Board sold him part of the site at the corner of West Street. The new building, called the Firth College after its benefactor, was opened by Prince Leopold (hence Leopold Street) in 1879.