Belfairs Academy

Belfairs Academy is a non-selective secondary school with academy status in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England. The current head teacher of the school is Greg Rodolfo. The school was inspected by Ofsted in November 2016 following concerns that progress had stagnated, particularly in key subjects. It is expected that the school will retain the "Good" grading but that progress will have slowed or stopped.According to a 2010 Ofsted report, Belfairs High School is an "inclusive school community and provides good levels of care, guidance and support for students, whatever their background or heritage".HistoryOn Friday 18 March 1955, UK Minister of Education David Eccles joined local dignitaries at Belfairs High School to open eight schools in the County Borough of Southend-on-Sea.The opening of these eight schools in the Southend-on-Sea borough would "represent an addition of 3,520 school places." During this period, demand upon the council to increase school locations was driven by a number of factors.During the war, the County Borough suffered relatively little damage to school buildings. Only two schools were severely bombed, and the post-war urgent need for new school places was therefore only attributable in a small part by war damage. The greatest need has been to provide schools for the increased numbers of children of school age, due to an increased total population, the higher birth rate, and the raising of the school leaving age from 14 to 15 in 1947.With an increase in total school places across the borough, a large proportion of these places were created in the development of Belfairs High School. Belfairs was originally conceived as a comprehensive school for 1,600 boys but due to the 'changes in national economy and the need for more school places' the site was developed into two 'Modern Secondary Schools,' Belfairs High School for boys and Belfairs High School for girls.