St Werburgh’s Past and Present

The original St.Werburgh’s school was founded as far back as 1660. It was built much closer to the church and only had a handful of pupils. It’s two main aims were; to spread Christian education and to provide pupils for the nearby Repton school.

In 1839, with the population growing rapidly, a new school was needed. The Spondon National School was built on Chapel Lane for the sum of £575 8s 9d! In the early 1990’s the school was enlarged to accommodate more pupils.

    After the 1914-18 war, industry developed around Spondon which again increased the number of people living there. The Senior classes moved across to the empty Spondon House, the site of the Modern school, and in April 1922 Derbyshire Education Committee bought the building and renamed in Spondon House County School. This situation remained until the late 1960’s but, once again, the buildings proved too small so a new school was built on the site of old Spondon House  and in 1969 both Infants and Juniors moved into the new St. Werburgh’s Primary school. Many more changes have taken place over the last 35 years and the school continues to grow. However, despite all of these changes, St. Werburgh’s remains true to one of its original aims- to provide a Christian Education for all its pupils.

Facilities and Accommodation

St. Werburgh’s has accommodation for approximately 300 pupils. The Foundation area consists of two linked classrooms and an outside play area. Key Stage 1 (Infants) has three classrooms and a shared work area for small groups of pupils to work with a teacher, teaching assistant or other adult helper. Key Stage 2 (juniors) has six classrooms and its own shared areas. All classrooms have their own networked PCs and overhead projectors. The classes are all accessed through a well-equipped hall which is used for P.E., collective worship and lunches.

The school has its own computer suite (new in 2004) with 20 work stations and an interactive whiteboard. We have recently moved and refurbished our library and equipped it with computer search facilities. There is a dedicated music room available for lessons on a wide variety of instruments which is part of our newly extended administration area.

   Outside we have two playgrounds, one Infant and one Junior, extensive grassed areas with play equipment and an outside classroom among trees off the main fields. These facilities are amongst the best in the city.