Ounsdale High School
Wombourne High School is an 11–18 mixed comprehensive secondary school located in Wombourne, Staffordshire, England. It is situated on Ounsdale Road in the west of the village, and stands on an adjacent site to the local leisure centre. It also has an Invictus sixth form base campus on site for 16- to 19-year-olds, which has a built 6th form centre detachment which was opened by the pop star Beverley Knight. The schools is currently undergoing building, this includes; New window fixtures, A secondary entrance to the reception area with a disabled ramp and stairs, and a small building to the left of the reception which the school has not commented on. The school has recently changed it name from Ounsdale High School to Wombourne High School.
| Wombourne High School | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
Ounsdale Road , , WV5 8BJ England | |
| Coordinates | 52.5354°N 2.1972°W |
| Information | |
| Type | Academy |
| Established | 1956 |
| Local authority | Staffordshire |
| Department for Education URN | 141343 Tables |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Head teacher | Dr. Gemma Smith |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Age | 11 to 18 |
| Colour(s) | Navy-blue and White |
| Website | wombournehighschool |
The school has approximately 1,200 pupils and provides education at Key Stage 3, GCSE and sixth form. Its current head teacher is Dr. Gemma Smith who took over this position in September 2018 after Ms. Christine Brown.
76% of the school's GCSE students gained 5 or more A*–C grades in 2010.[1]
History
The school opened in September 1956 as a secondary school with a GCE stream. It stood in eighteen acres of playing fields in a rural area five miles south west of Wolverhampton. The first stage of the building works was finished in 1957.[2]
As the school building programme progressed the three form entry was increased to four in 1957 and five in 1958, at which time the school became fully comprehensive with a non—selected intake. Ounsdale attracted children of all abilities from its catchment area from Pattingham and Patshull in the north to Enville in the south. It provided all secondary level education, grammar, technical and modern, without any clearly defined streaming of individual pupils.[2]
The second stage of building works was completed by September 1960. The school then consisted of three blocks; an administrative block with offices, dining hall, assembly hall, library, gymnasium, indoor heated swimming pool and changing rooms; a three-storey block of 22 classrooms (including specialist rooms for history, geography and music); and a practical block consisting of laboratories for general science, physics, chemistry and biology along with rooms for arts, crafts, needlecraft, domestic science, woodwork, technical drawing and metalwork. Outside were six hard tennis courts, and a school garden with greenhouse, tool shed and potting shed. There were playing fields and hard areas which could be configured for various outdoor sports.[2]
The first headmaster was Harold Holroyde, MA. He retired in March 1975.[3]
Anwar Shemza, the Pakistani artist, worked as a teacher at Ounsdale between 1962 and 1979.
In September 2002, the school was granted specialist school status as an Arts College. This has led to the addition of a slightly modified school motto: Pursuing excellence by developing the creativity of learners through and in the arts.
In March 2015 the school converted to academy status.
In December 2018 a charity service to go around different forms in the school was set up to raise money for a boy with a brain Tumor, Reece, who currently has a Go Fund Me set up by a classmate.
Notable former pupils
- Christopher Pincher, Conservative MP since 2010 for Tamworth
- Wendy Sadler, science communicator
- Prof Sarah Spurgeon OBE FREng FIET, Professor of Control Engineering since 2016 at University College London and from 2008-16 at the University of Kent, Professor of Engineering from 2002-08 at the University of Leicester, President from 2014-17 of the Institute of Measurement and Control[4]
Main staff
- Safe-guarding team: Mr. Matt Ward, Mrs. Rachael Thompson
- Administration team: Ms. Davina Cameron Admin, Miss Grace Dickens, Mrs Sarah Hill, Mrs Debra, Mrs Debbie McDonald, Mrs Helen Needham, Mrs Maxine Oliver, Mrs Julie Parker, Mrs Amanda Parsons, Mrs Jenna, Mrs Cathy Riley, Mrs Julie Smith
- Student support team: Mrs Rachael Thompson, Mrs Rebecca Harvey, Mr Stuart Coggins, JRI Mr Jonathan Riley, Mr Matt Ward, Mrs Jo Stokes, Miss Laura Parkes, Mr Matt Askin Miss Sophia Thandi, Miss Rebecca Thornthwaite, Miss Rachel Davies, Mrs Di Bate, Mrs Karen Campion, Mr Ashley Dainty, Mrs Jess Ford, Mrs Lucy Garvey, Mrs Elaine Green, Mrs Gina Hobbs, Mrs Emma Kerin, Mrs Amanda Mitchell, Mrs Jo Weaver, Mrs Kaye Webb, Miss Claire Wilkinson, Mrs Amanda Woodus
Curriculum support team: Mrs Claire Paskin, Mrs Tina Allbut Cover, Miss Phoebe Williams
References
- "Ounsdale High School". GCSE school league tables. Daltonfirth.co.uk. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
- "Programme: The official opening of Ounsdale Comprehensive School, Wombourn. Dedication Service and Concert, page 2". www.friendsreunited.co.uk. 15 March 1961. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
- Vennis, Diana (2012). A Lifetime in English Education: Philip Vennis from Pupil to Principal in Post-war Britain. Troubador. p. 135. ISBN 9781780882963. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
- Sarah Spurgeon