Westfield School

Westfield School was founded in 1960 by a group of enthusiastic parents who saw the need for a new type of girls' independent school with a broader curriculum than those offered at the time by other Newcastle schools. They decided to establish a girls' school on the Gordonstoun model. Henry Brereton, a former Headmaster of Gordonstoun, was a founder trustee consultant and an adviser from the beginning. He remained a Governor of Westfield after retirement from Gordonstoun. Miss Ellen Bicknell's PNEU School, situated at 1 and 3 Westfield Grove, Gosforth, was purchased and became the Junior House. Demand for places grew rapidly. Within a year Oakfield House, the former home of Sir Cecil Cochrane, was purchased for the senior girls. The original prospectus describes the aims of the school: This school will seek to develop latent qualities and aptitudes in the belief that every child has certain gifts and should be encouraged to use them, irrespective of whether they conform to a conventional pattern. We aim to provide a high standard of academic education while at the same time giving each girl a sense of individual worth, whatever her gifts. Special attention would be paid to music, art and craft, drama and speech training as well as outdoor activities and emphasis would be placed on Christian principles. During the past 50 years the school has not lost sight of the aims of its founders, placing great emphasis on combining academic excellence with educating the whole person. It was a natural step in 1991 for Westfield to be admitted into membership of Round Square, an international group of schools which share the same holistic view of education based on the thinking of Kurt Hahn, the founder of Gordonstoun. Since then Westfield has received The Schools Curriculum Award for combining academic excellence with a broad, balanced curriculum enriched from the local community and environment. The school has flourished and grown in recent years: in 1996 the acquisition of Ashfield Towers on Kenton Road, adjacent to Senior House, led to the relocation of Junior House allowing Westfield to offer an all through education for girls from three to eighteen on a single six acre site in the heart of Gosforth.