The Westgate School is a mixed

all-through school An all-through school (also known as an integrated school) educates young people throughout multiple educational stages, generally throughout childhood and adolescence. Definition The term "all-through" can be legitimately applied to establis ...

located in

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, United Kingdom.

History

The school was founded in the early 1900s as the Winchester County School for Girls, becoming Winchester County High School for Girls (WCHS) in 1936. By the 1970s it had 900 girls. It had been a

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

for girls only, until September 1973 when the first intake of comprehensive boys and girls entered the first year. At this point the school was renamed as The Westgate School. Many of the old grammar school teachers left in July 1974 to work in the neighbouring newly established sixth form college, the former Peter Symonds boys' grammar school. The Deputy Head, Barbara Taylor, was one who made the move, but the Headmistress, Sylvia Rowe, remained for several more years. The last grammar school intake left in July 1977, leaving The Westgate School entirely comprehensive and co-ed from then on. Peter Jenner was Headmaster at the school from 1983 to 2006, during its formative years as a comprehensive.

Achievements

In recent years between 75 and 80% of 15- and 16-year-olds have achieved five or more

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

grades A* to C, 70-80% including Maths and English.UK Government school performance tables
/ref> According to th
BBC league tables
Westgate is one of Hampshire's top state schools.

Notable former pupils

Andy Burrows Andrew William Burrows (born 30 June 1979) is an English songwriter and musician. He is best known as the drummer for Razorlight from 2004 until 2009 before rejoining in 2021. He has also served as the drummer for We Are Scientists from 2009 ...

(former drummer for the band

Razorlight Razorlight are an English indie rock band, formed in 2002 in London by lead singer and guitarist Johnny Borrell. Along with Borrell, the current line-up of the band is composed of founding members Björn Ågren on guitar and bassist Carl Dalem ...

) *

Lucy Pinder Lucy Katherine Pinder (born 20 December 1983) is a British actress and model. She rose to international fame for her work as a glamour model in men's magazines, and made her film debut in the comedy horror ''Strippers vs Werewolves'' (2012), w ...

(British glamour model) * Philippa Forrester (British TV presenter and co-producer) *

Tom Hayes (trader) Tom Hayes (born October 1979) is a former trader for UBS and Citigroup who was convicted for conspiracy to defraud and sentenced to 14 years in prison (reduced to 11 years on appeal) for conspiring with others to dishonestly manipulate the Lon ...

(Former trader who was arrested, tried, sentenced to 14 years in prison for role in the Libor Scandal) * Rick Adams (Television presenter, DJ and producer)

Winchester County High School for Girls

* Gillian Ashmore (''nee'' Oxenham), Chief Executive from 2001-2 of the Equal Opportunities Commission, and Regional Director from 1994-8 of the Government Office for

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England that are in the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, top level category for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the nine counties of england, ...

Diane Corner Diane Louise Corner (born 29 September 1959) is a British diplomat who served as the British Consul General in Jerusalem from 2021 until 2024. She was previously the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General of United Nations Multi ...

, Deputy Head of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic since 2014, High Commissioner to Tanzania from 2009-13 * Dame

Myra Curtis Dame Myra Curtis DBE (2 October 1886 – 27 June 1971) was an editor, civil servant, and the Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge from 1942 to 1954. Early life Curtis was born on 2 October 1886 in Sunderland. She was the daughter of George ...

, Principal from 1942-54 of

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...

* Julia Darling, novelist * Dame Julie Mellor, Chair from 1999-2005 of the Equal Opportunities Commission * Alex Mitchell (née Beale, 1947–2010), former editor of Christian monthly magazine ''

Third Way The Third Way is a predominantly centrist political position that attempts to reconcile centre-right and centre-left politics by advocating a varying synthesis of Right-wing economics, right-wing economic and Left-wing politics, left-wing so ...

'' * Winifred Moberly, Principal from 1919-28 of

St Hilda's College, Oxford St Hilda's College (full name = Principal and Council of St. Hilda's College, Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college is named after the Anglo-Saxon saint Hilda of Whitby and was founded in 1893 as a ...

* Jane Reynolds, Chief Executive from 1991-2000 of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution * Marion Richardson, artist * Prof

Jocelyn Toynbee Jocelyn Mary Catherine Toynbee, (3 March 1897 – 31 December 1985) was an English archaeologist and art historian. "In the mid-twentieth century she was the leading British scholar in Roman artistic studies and one of the recognized authoriti ...

Laurence Professor of Classical Archaeology Laurence is in modern use as an English masculine and a French feminine given name. The modern English masculine name is a variant of Lawrence and originates from a French form of the Latin ''Laurentius'', a name meaning "man from Laurentum" ...

from 1951-62 at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

References

OFTSED Report

External links

School website

EduBase
{{DEFAULTSORT:Westgate School Schools in Winchester Secondary schools in Hampshire Boarding schools in Hampshire Educational institutions established in 1977 1977 establishments in England Community schools in Hampshire Primary schools in Hampshire