History of Pensby High School

Pensby High School was created on 1 September 2015, but the school has a long tradition and has served its community for over 60 years. Pensby and the surrounding towns of Heswall, Greasby, Thingwall and Irby saw a rapid increase in their populations after the second world war and by the early 1950s it was clear that a growing student population needed a new secondary school.

Pensby High School for Girls was the first school completed and actually opened as a mixed school as there was no corresponding boys’ school. The area around these new schools was still at the time a rural farming community and the two schools were built in a distinct area away from existing housing. New homes appeared rapidly throughout the 1950s and 60s and the school was soon in the middle of a growing local community. For as long as it has existed the Pensby Schools have proudly served the families from the local area.

Both schools maintained separate identities and followed separate pathways, but as the area has developed many of those existing families have grown up and the need for two schools in the local area became less apparent. The governing bodies of the two schools initially federated the sixth form over 20 years ago. In 2015 the governors then took the decision that joining the two schools together would better serve the students and local community, enabling further developments across the school.

In 2019 our Progress 8 was +0.35 – the highest of all non-selective schools and higher than all the selective boys’ schools in the Wirral local authority. Despite the disruption faced throughout the COVID 19 pandemic, the school continued to invest in teaching and learning, curriculum redesign and most importantly building the relationships with our student body through our ethos of care, respect, inspire nurturing their personal growth through our pastoral care programme, whilst also investing in their academic development. As a result, our progress 8 and our attendance continues to remain positive and above national average.

The shared ethos and culture are encapsulated by our vision to provide the best quality education to all students in our community as such today the school is secure in its future. A future informed by its history and embracing of the changing demands of the present.