Q3 Academy Langley

Last updated

Q3 Academy Langley
Address
Q3 Academy Langley
Moat Road

Langley Green

Oldbury
,
West Midlands
,
B68 8ED

England
Coordinates 52°29′09″N2°00′06″W / 52.4858°N 2.0017°W / 52.4858; -2.0017 Coordinates: 52°29′09″N2°00′06″W / 52.4858°N 2.0017°W / 52.4858; -2.0017
Information
Type Academy
Local authority Sandwell
TrustQ3 Multi Academies Trust
Department for Education URN 141698 Tables
Ofsted Reports
Head of SchoolPeter Lee
Gender Coeducational
Age11to 19
Website http://www.q3langley.org.uk/

Q3 Academy Langley is a coeducational secondary school located in the Langley Green area of Oldbury in the West Midlands of England. [1]

Contents

There has been a school located at this site since 1926, firstly named Oldbury County High School and then Oldbury Grammar School, Oldbury High School, Langley High School, Oldbury College of Sport and prior to demolition, Oldbury Academy. The current Q3 Academy school opened in 2016 following site clearance and the development of an entirely new school.

History

Grammar school

Oldbury County High School (a grammar school) opened in 1926, [2] on Moat Road across from Barnford Hill Park in Langley Green. This was after the transfer of Oldbury Secondary School, founded in 1904, from Flash Road, Oldbury. In 1944, following the new Education Act, the County High, originally co-opting its location within Worcestershire, became Oldbury Grammar School.

In 1929, local glass artists Tom Stokes and Bill Pardoe created a window for Oldbury Grammar's main school hall as a memorial to the Old Boys of the school who died in the 1914-18 First World War. It consists of eight lights with the allegorical figures of Justice, Courage and Fortitude and with extracts from the story of the Peloponnesian War, specially selected by Mr Willis Bond, that great figure in Worcestershire education of those days. Around the same time, money was raised for a multi-pipe church-style organ. "I Vow To Thee My Country" became a regular fixture of morning assembly.

The school motto was Cresco ("I Grow"). Former grammar school pupils are known as "Old Cresconians".

Serving a mainly working class area, the school acted as a bridge to University education and a career in the professions. A thriving sixth form, lost when the school changed to a comprehensive in 1974, saw many pupils attain sufficient quality A-levels (Advanced levels) to attend major British universities and gain social mobility.

A history of Oldbury Grammar School from 1904 to 1974 was written by former history teacher at the school Mr A.A.L Pearce and published in 1979. [3] "Farewell to Oldbury Grammar School", a poem written to commemorate the last grammar school intake to leave the school in the summer of 1978, appeared in The Blackcountryman, the quarterly publication of The Black Country Society. [4]

As a selective grammar with open entry dictated only by academic ability at 11+ rather than the ability to afford school fees, the school not only promoted similar levels of academic excellence to that of private schools but adopted many of their trappings including a House system (Queens; Kings; Trinity; School), winter and summer school uniform (which included distinctive green, blue and white striped blazers and straw boater hats for girls), the teaching of Latin and a school song [5] which drew on the working-class roots of the area.

Comprehensive school

The school became a non-selective 11–16 comprehensive school in September 1977 when many of the former Grammar School teaching staff retired or left for posts in other schools and pupils seeking A-level education left to continue education at new Sixth Form Colleges established at the premises of the former Holly Lodge Grammar School for Boys (renamed West Park College) in Smethwick and Rowley Regis Grammar School in Rowley Regis. On becoming a comprehensive, the school marked the move away from selective intakes with a name change to Oldbury High School and a smaller, more localised, catchment area. The name change coincided with the Warley (which included the school and Oldbury, Smethwick and Rowley Regis) and West Bromwich county boroughs merging to become known as Sandwell. Oldbury High School merged with comprehensive Albright High School in September 1983 to become Langley High School. [6]

Plans were announced in 2006 to merge Langley High with nearby Bristnall Hall Technology College. These plans coincided with the school finishing lowest of 18 secondary schools in Sandwell, when a mere 16% of GCSE students attained five or more 'A' to 'C' grades compared to 95%+ of pupils gaining five or more 'O' Levels at grades 1–5 (A-C) when the school held Grammar status and a majority successfully passing eight 'O' Levels. [7]

However, the school later merged with nearby Warley High School (Oldbury Tech), becoming Oldbury College of Sport. It was announced that Bristnall Hall Technology College (formerly Bristnall Hall Secondary School and now Bristnall Hall Academy) was to be rebuilt on the Moat Road site, with the relocation expected to take place during the early 2010s. Oldbury College of Sport [8] was renamed Oldbury Academy in 2011, with the school moving all activity to the former Oldbury Technical School site on Pound Road and abandoning the Grammar School site in Moat Road.

Q3 Academy Langley

Sandwell Council issued a prospectus with a view to an educational trust reopening the former Langley High School site as a new school. [9] The original school building was destroyed in 2015, when work began on redeveloping the site.

Q3 Academy Langley opened in new buildings on the site in September 2016. [10] It is an academy sponsored by the Q3 Multi Academies Trust.

The school today

Q3 Academy Langley offers GCSEs and BTECs as programmes of study for pupils. [11]

Notable former pupils

Oldbury Grammar School

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Midlands (county)</span> County in England

West Midlands is a metropolitan county in the West Midlands Region, England, with a 2021 population of 2,919,600, making it the second most populous county in England after Greater London. It was created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The county is a NUTS 2 region within the wider NUTS 1 region of the same name. It embraces seven metropolitan boroughs: the cities of Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton, and the boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull and Walsall. The county is overseen by the West Midlands Combined Authority, which covers all seven boroughs and other non-constituent councils, on economy, transport and housing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tipton</span> Town in the West Midlands, England

Tipton is an industrial town in the West Midlands in England with a population of around 38,777 at the 2011 UK Census. It is located 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) northwest of Birmingham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smethwick</span> Town in West Midlands, England

Smethwick is an industrial town in Sandwell, West Midlands, England. It lies 4 miles (6 km) west of Birmingham city centre. Historically it was in Staffordshire and then Worcestershire before being placed into then West Midlands County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandwell</span> Metropolitan borough in England

Sandwell is a metropolitan borough of the West Midlands county in England. The borough is named after the Sandwell Priory, and spans a densely populated part of the West Midlands conurbation. According to Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, the borough comprises the six amalgamated towns of Oldbury, Rowley Regis, Smethwick, Tipton, Wednesbury, and West Bromwich, although these places consist of numerous smaller settlements and localities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oldbury, West Midlands</span> Human settlement in England

Oldbury is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, England. It is the administrative centre of the borough and one of its six constituent towns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rowley Regis</span> Human settlement in England

Rowley Regis is a town and former municipal borough in Sandwell in the county of the West Midlands, England. It forms part of the area immediately west of Birmingham known as the Black Country and encompasses the three Sandwell council wards of Blackheath, Cradley Heath and Old Hill, and Rowley. At the 2011 census, the combined population of these wards was 50,257.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">County Borough of Warley</span>

Warley was a short-lived county borough and civil parish in the geographical county of Worcestershire, England, forming part of the West Midlands conurbation. It was formed in 1966 by the combination of the existing county borough of Smethwick with the municipal boroughs of Oldbury and Rowley Regis, by recommendation of the Local Government Commission for England. It was abolished just 8 years later in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, with its area passing to the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brandhall</span> Human settlement in England

Brandhall is a suburb of Oldbury in the south of the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, bordering Birmingham and Halesowen. The development of the area commenced during the 1930s with the construction of several hundred private houses along the Hagley Road and Wolverhampton Road, as well as several side roads leading off the main dual carriageways. However, most of Brandhall was developed in the 1950s and 1960s, when several thousand council houses, flats and bungalows were built by Oldbury Council. Most of the high and medium-rise flats in Brandhall were demolished in the early 2000s and in their place housing associations built new low-rise homes. Brandhall is growing to be a more popular place due to the construction of new facilities, such as a local supermarket and a doctor's surgery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warley (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1997 onwards

Warley is a constituency in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. The constituency was established in 1997, and has been represented since that date by John Spellar, a member of the Labour Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warley, West Midlands</span>

Warley is a residential area of Oldbury in the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell in the West Midlands of the United Kingdom. Historically in both Worcestershire and Shropshire, the name has been used for both a civil parish (1884–1908) and a county borough (1966–1974). Warley has been the name of a UK Parliament constituency since 1997.

Q3 Academy Tipton is a coeducational secondary school located in Tipton in the West Midlands of England.

Ormiston Sandwell Community Academy is an academy for secondary aged pupils located in Tividale, Sandwell, in the West Midlands of England.

The Phoenix Collegiate is a foundation secondary school and sixth form located in the Hateley Heath area of West Bromwich, a town in the West Midlands of England. The school was formed in September 2010 from the merger of Menzies High School and Manor High School, both located in the metropolitan borough of Sandwell. Originally operating from both former school sites, the Phoenix Collegiate has been based entirely at the former Menzies High School site in Clarke's Lane, West Bromwich. This follows the closure of the former Manor High School buildings on the Friar Park estate in Wednesbury due to asbestos.

Oakham is an area of Dudley, England, situated on the peak of Turners Hill, the highest point in the West Midlands county.

This article details a number of defunct schools that were once located in Sandwell in the West Midlands of England. For details of currently operating schools in Sandwell, please see: List of schools in Sandwell.

Bristnall Hall Academy is a secondary school with academy status located in Oldbury, West Midlands, England.

Oldbury Academy is a mixed secondary school and former sixth form located in Oldbury, West Midlands, England. It opened as a merger of Warley High School and Langley High School on 1 January 1999 The head teacher, John Martin, led the merger of the two schools from 1983 until 1999. Phil Shackleton took over as head teacher from then on.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandwell Community History and Archives Service</span>

Sandwell Community History and Archives Service (CHAS) is the archive service for the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell in the West Midlands of England. The service is based within Smethwick Library. It collects and preserves original archives and published material relating to the history of Sandwell. It is a local authority archive service, run and funded by Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council.

References

  1. ↑ "Home". q3langley.org.uk.
  2. ↑ "Gallery 3 – Oldbury County High School". The Local History Societies of Langley, Oldbury and Warley. Retrieved 9 March 2011.
  3. ↑ "Bibliography of Oldbury, Langley and Warley". The Local History Societies of Langley, Oldbury and Warley. Retrieved 9 March 2011.
  4. ↑ "Farewell to Oldbury Grammar School", The Blackcountryman, Vol.11, No.1, Winter 1978, p.18.
  5. ↑ Extract from Alan Arlberg's Autobiography: The Boyhood of Burglar Bill
  6. ↑ "History of Oldbury Timeline". The Local History Societies of Langley, Oldbury and Warley. 2008. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
  7. ↑ "Records of Oldbury High School, 1930–1976". Sandwell Community History and Archives Service.
  8. ↑ "Historic Great War memorials moved to new Oldbury Academy site".
  9. ↑ "Latest news | Sandwell Council".
  10. ↑ "Welcome".
  11. ↑ "Our Curriculum".
  12. ↑ "Martin Elliott: Photographer whose iconic print adorned millions of bedroom walls". The Independent. 13 April 2010. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
  13. ↑ "40th Anniversary - History - Chancellors". www.lboro.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 17 May 2006.
  14. ↑ "Canon Ralph Stevens".
  15. ↑ "Oldbury Grammar School's 'brilliant season'". Black Country Bugle. 30 July 2009. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
  16. ↑ "Oral History Transcript – Dr. J. B. Taylor". American Institute of Physics. 3 February 2007. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
  17. ↑ URL: http://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-peter-withers-prison-governor-1-2532385.
  18. ↑ URL:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2018/12/13/bruce-mcdonald-pilot-flew-combat-missions-mau-mau-uprising-later/.
  19. ↑ URL:https://www.leamingtoncourier.co.uk/news/people/he-was-a-real-one-off-with-a-rebellious-streak-tributes-paid-to-persistent-journalist-and-former-assistant-editor-of-the-leamington-courier-tom-price-3268296.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.