If you or a member of your family attended the school on Loughborough Road you may have learned in the same building but it may not have had the same name!
The original Board school, the forerunner of the present school, was opened in 1895 in premises on Musters Road and by 1908 Nottingham Education Committee decided that the Musters Road school should be a Higher Grade school. In 1921 its next name was West Bridgford County Secondary School and catered not just for children from West Bridgford but a large area around it.
As West Bridgford’s population expanded very quickly it soon became apparent that the school accommodation was inadequate. In February 1936 work began on the 19 acre site on Loughborough Road. The building, designed by the county architect, was arranged around a quadrangle with a central hall and dining room. In addition to the building there was a playing field on the Loughborough Road side (for boys) and a smaller one on the north side (for girls). The school moved into the new building in September 1938.
After the 1944 Education Act the school became West Bridgford Grammar School, accepting pupils who had passed the 11+ examination. The old building on Musters Road, which had become a secondary modern school, was replaced in 1956 by the Lutterell Secondary Modern on a site adjoining the Grammar School. When comprehensive education was introduced in 1969, the Grammar and Lutterell schools were joined to become the West Bridgford Comprehensive School. The playing field on the north side was used for the extra buildings required for this change. After a while it became known simply as the West Bridgford School. In 2011 it was given academy status.
Although its name may have changed several times it has always been known as a very good school and long may this continue.
– Written by a member of the West Bridgford & District Local History Society
West Bridgford & District Local History Society
The Society has emerged from the pandemic to resume meetings with a new venue and a new day. Meetings will be held on the first Monday of the month in the rooms of the Musters Road Methodist Church, on the corner of Musters Road and Patrick Road. Our first meeting is on Monday 4th October at 7.30pm when Sheila Leeds will tell us about ‘Aspects of West Bridgford’s History’. Visitors welcome.