Did you Know?

Westroyd Primary School is over 150 years old!

The first School established in Farsley was In 1807 it was known as ‘the village School’ and was on the corner of Old Road and Frances Street. 

During 1852 the School was rebuilt into a two storey building and had 290 children on roll.  In 1885 the original Frances Street Board School was built for 200 pupils at a cost of £1,807. The Calverley and Farsley board formed in 1874 with seven members.

In 1897 another large building was added next to the School to accommodate for an extra 340 pupils at a cost of £3,700. The oldest part is what is now our Year 3 and Year 4 area. The Year 1 and Year 2 Classrooms and the hall building was built in 1897. Both buildings were joined together to become one School in 1974.

On the 31^st May 1951 it was noted that on the deeds of the School there were two dates with the School and cottages being built at different periods. The original School has Farsley National School marked on the wall. The large hall and present entrance to the building (presumably before the link building) was added in 1887.

Further building work commenced on Westroyd School to the link building in May 1981. The offiical handover of the link building to the Leeds Education Authority was on the 5th May 1982. The official opening of the Link building by Councillor Andrew Carter was on the 3rd July 1982.

Wesley Street School (Springbank Junior School) opened in 1901 with 500 pupils on roll.

In 1925 Wesley Street (Springbank ) became the Senior School and Frances street (Westroyd) was the Infant School for children up to 11 years of age. (Looks like we are going back to our original roots!) In the late 1960's we became an Infant School, Springbank changed from being the high School to the Junior School and Priesthorpe became the local high School.

There was another School called the National School also known as the ‘Church School’ as it was located near the church on back Lane. It opened on the 15^th February 1847. The Headteacher was called Mr Boult.  The National School was rebuilt in 1854  the School had 375 pupils on roll. The School was enlarged in 1887. On July 9^th 1887 a special comemerative service was held for the laying of the memorial stone which was laid by Ald.Rhodes J.P Mayor of Pontefract. Mrs Butler from Westroyd provided tea after the service. There were approximately 400 Children on roll at the School but the recorded average attendance figures shown were 160 children. Mr Turner was the Headteacher at the time.      

On May 8^th 1851 a meeting was held at the Bay Horse Inn to accept  tenders for the erection of the new School intended for Farsley.  On the same evening £230 was subscribed towards the project bringing the total to the region of £500.

On March 29^th 1923 the National School (Church School ) closed its doors for the last time. All 44 pupils were then transferred to Frances Street School.

Farsley Farfield School was built in 1953 with a separate Infant Building built in 1967.

Westroyd School has since been remodeled, this work being completed in 2017. The work comprised extending the existing building to accommodate the school becoming a primary school.