Mayfield School (Portsmouth)

Mayfield School is a mixed all-through school for pupils ages 4 to 16. It is located in Mayfield Road, North End, Portsmouth.

Mayfield School is also the largest state school in Portsmouth. It is situated halfway between the A288 and A2047, and one mile south of the M27/A27.

At Mayfield students are encouraged to take one extra curricular club a week. This can range from sports like Football, Netball and Basketball to academic clubs like Math club, Science club and Homework club.

The school is located in the buildings of the former Portsmouth Northern Grammar School for Boys and Portsmouth Northern Grammar School for Girls, which were opened in 1932. (The boys school had begun as the Northern Secondary School in Kingston in 1921). After wartime evacuation, the two secondary schools were re-established in 1946 as a result of the 1944 Education Act. The boys' school housed approximately 550 boys in 1970 and was run by the City of Portsmouth Education Committee.

In 1975 the two schools were amalgamated with Brunel School (boys) and North End Modern Girls' School to form the largest comprehensive school in Portsmouth, with approximately 1800 pupils. The roll was later reduced by the setting up of Portsmouth's Sixth Form College with the school losing its sixth form.

In 1999, the school was failing academically and was placed in "special measures" after an Ofsted inspection said it was failing to provide an acceptable standard of education. By 2001 the school was facing another crisis—this time a staff problem, as the school had 12 vacancies due to long-term sickness and unfilled positions. Training new teachers became a priority and the school introduced a new graduate teacher programme and created a new teacher training room. With a series of new teachers and new coaching programmes the school has experienced a slight increase in academic achievement, with a 4% rise in GCSE achievement in 2004, compared with 2003.

In 2005, 150 students of the school launched a protest against the deportation of a fellow student, Lorin Sulaiman, who had previously immigrated from Syria in 2003 after fearing for her safety.

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