The William Henry Smith School and Sixth Form
Non-maintained special school in Brighouse (Calderdale).
Location
iSchool location from Get Information about Schools. Nearby schools are coloured by phase. Open Map+ for a full-screen map with neighbourhood deprivation (England only).About
Alderman William Smith, the first Mayor and a great benefactor of Brighouse created The Smith Foundation Trust on the 5th September 1916. He bought the Boothroyd Estate for the Trust to set up an orphanage for girls.
On his death in 1922 he left the bulk of the estate to the Trust - money that would have gone to his cousin's adopted son William Henry Smith, who was sadly killed in the 1914-18 war. The orphanage opened in July 1920 for girls but soon admitted boys and changed its name to Smith's Homes. The Homes continued for nearly 40 years.
During the 1939-45 war they admitted girls from the Sailor's Orphan Home in Hull. Post war, the Trustees changed the name of the Trust to The Smith Homes. This came about following an approach by the Ministry of Education after the enactment of the 1948 Children's Act.
The revised scheme allowed the continuance of the Homes for a limited time but added authority for the Trustees to make grants to special schools and to establish special schools of their own.
In the school’s own words, from the school website.
Enrichment
13 activitiesiFound on the school website by WhatSchool. Not verified by Governance Register; the school website is the authority.- Band
- Book Club
- Boxing
- Climbing
- Cooking
- Cricket
- Duke of Edinburgh
- Football
- Judo
- Rugby
- Swimming
- Textiles
- Trauma Informed Schools
Awards
3 awardsiFound on the school website by WhatSchool. Not verified by Governance Register; the school website is the authority.- Stonewall School ChampionLGBT+ inclusion
- Duke of EdinburghPersonal development
- Music MarkMusic
Key facts
- URN
- 107589
- Type
- Non-maintained special school
- Phase
- Not applicable
- Ages
- 5 to 19
- Gender
- Boys
- Sixth form
- Has a sixth form
- Nursery
- No Nursery Classes
- Local authority
- Calderdale
- Constituency
- Calder Valley
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
Governing body
No governance records are published for this school in the DfE data we hold.
Source: Department for Education, Get Information about Schools (governance records, as at 25 October 2026). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Object or ask for removal · Report an issue with this record