Wood Green Academy
Wood Green Academy is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status located in Wednesbury, West Midlands, England. In 2009 Ofsted highlighted Wood Green as one of 12 outstanding schools serving disadvantaged communities.[1]
| Wood Green Academy | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
| |
Wood Green Road , , WS10 9QU England | |
| Coordinates | 52.566438°N 2.010498°W |
| Information | |
| Type | Academy |
| Established | 1924 |
| Local authority | Sandwell |
| Department for Education URN | 136616 Tables |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Head teacher | Mr J Topham |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Age | 11 to 18 |
| Enrolment | 1450 |
| Former name | Wednesbury Grammar School |
| Website | http://www.woodgreenacademy.co.uk |
Admissions
The head teacher is Mr. James Topham, who started the role in September 2014, taking over from Mr Pank Patel who after a successful 7 years at Wood Green has become the West Midlands Regional Schools Commissioner. Pank succeeded the retiring Dame Enid Bibby, who had been head teacher for eight years and became a dame in 2004 in recognition of her achievements at the school.
The school is situated on the A461 Wood Green Road which connects Wednesbury with Walsall, just south of the (elevated) M6 motorway at junction 9 and next to St Paul's church and IKEA on the Wednesbury Retail Park.
History
Grammar school
The school's origins go back to the turn of the 20th century, when Wednesbury Boys' High School opened as a grammar school. It opened in Wood Green House, St. Paul's Road in 1924 under the headship of C. H. S. Kipping. The school was sometimes also referred to as Wednesbury Grammar School. The school motto was Arte Marte Vigore, which was also the motto of the Borough of Wednesbury. Many new school buildings were added in 1961. Former members of the school are known as "Old Wodens" and The Old Wodens Society still meets bi-annually.
Comprehensive
The buildings were expanded during the 1950s, and by 1970 the school had turned comprehensive.
In 1968 it joined with Wood Green Secondary Modern School to become Wood Green Bilateral School. The Wednesbury Girls' High School, a girls' grammar school, joined the sixth form. It became Wood Green High School in September 1969, serving pupils of both sexes.
The school includes a sixth form for pupils aged over 16.
Academic performance
Wood Green is one of the most successful schools in Sandwell, and has regularly topped the borough's GCSE tables since the year 2000, well above the England average. In 2006, it was the best performing of the borough's 18 secondary schools. The results in 2013 were excellent with 68% of students achieving 5 or more GCSEs at grades A*-C including Maths and English. 100% of students passed their A-levels.
Alumni
Wednesbury Boys' High School
- John Morgan CBE, Managing Director from 1965-8 of English Electric-AEI Machines Group, Chairman from 1984-8 of AMEC
- Sir Kevin Satchwell
References
- Twelve outstanding secondary schools - Excelling against the odds Archived 2011-11-28 at the Wayback Machine, Ofsted, 24 February 2009. Retrieved 23 February 2011.