Drayton School

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Drayton School is a comprehensive school with 650 students. It is situated on Stratford Road in Banbury.

The school was opened in 1973 to help relieve the pupil demand for the oversubscribed Banbury School. In its first year, it was called Drayton Hall as it was affiliated to Banbury School, but in 1974, it gained independent status and was re-named Drayton School. Drayton was built in three stages. The first stage was building the main "H" building, where the majority of subjects are taught. The second stage was building the Food Department and the extension of the "H" building, which included a theatre, and the English block (which used to be the maths block).

The school made local headlines in 1982 when pupils staged a rooftop protest in response to a teachers' strike.

Drayton is well known for its sports facilities, in particular the astroturf, and the athletics track, both owned by Cherwell District Council. As a result, Drayton achieved a "Sportsmark" award by "Sports England".

However, in December 1997, Drayton was put in Special Measures by OfSTED due to a poor inspection. As a result, Drayton was at the bottom of the league table for Oxfordshire, reaching an all-time low of 9% of pupils getting 5 A*-Cs.

In September 1999, Graham Robb became headteacher of Drayton School, with a mission to remove Drayton from special measures and for the school to go through a successful OfSTED inspection.

Drayton's close relations with Thames Valley Police meant that the school had a much better OfSTED inspection report in April 2001. But still, pupil numbers reached an all-time low to 560, even though the school could cater for more than 1000 pupils.

When the school first opened, due to its affiliation with Banbury School it adopted their standard uniform of blue/grey/white. When it gained independence in 1974/75, it introduced a new uniform of red/grey/black/white. The school tie was red with a small black Banbury Cross motif. However, over the following three years, the uniform policy was modified to allow any plain-coloured jumper. This was the start of the relaxation of rules regarding dress code, and by 1977/78 the uniform policy had been completely abandoned. A uniform was re-introduced in the early 1990s consisting of a black sweatshirt and blazer. However, in September 2001, Drayton decided to change the sweatshirt to blue, with a Drayton School badge. The rest of the uniform remained unchanged.

In 2002, Drayton was awarded a "School Achievement Award 2002" by the DfES due to a succesful inspection. In the same year, Drayton became part of the "Specialist School and Academies Trust" on Design and Technology.

April 2003 proved to be a critical time for Drayton as Oxfordshire County Council wanted to amalgamate Banbury School and Drayton School together in the Banbury School and Blessed George Napier Roman Catholic site. Blessed George Napier Roman Catholic School wanted to move to the Drayton School site as the school was over-subscribed.

In June 2003, Drayton had another inspection by OfSTED. The school had improved since 2001, and so Drayton had achieved its goal by coming out of special measures. As Drayton had had a successful inspection, the local councillors decided not to amalgamate Banbury and Drayton together.

In July 2004, Graham Robb left Drayton School having achieved his two objectives. He is currently involved in an anti-bullying project.

In September 2004, Richard Sutton came to Drayton School as the new headteacher. He made changes to the school, which included changing the values and ethos of the school, and also developing and implementing ideas on how Drayton could be improved.

As a result, in Summer 2005, Drayton had a major refurbishment costing a few million pounds. All corridors were re-painted, interactive whiteboards replaced whiteboards, and new ICT facilities were installed. Also, at the same time, Drayton achieved an all-time record of having 95% of the pupils having 5 A*-Gs.

After the refurbishment, Drayton was one of the few schools in Oxfordshire to have achieved a "Healthy Oxfordshire Schools" award set by Oxfordshire County School.

In Summer 2006, Drayton achieved another all-time record since it opened. Drayton now has 32% of pupils achieving 5 A*-Cs. This was arguably due to the promise of cash to pupils if they did well in their mock and final exams, and also the introduction of extra classes during the Easter holidays.

In September 2006, Drayton changed its uniform again after consultation with students and parents. Pupils now wear a black blazer, with a white shirt, along with the usual black trousers and shoes.

There are plans for the school to be replaced by a city academy from September 2007. It was originally to be called Banbury Academy but due to opposition from Banbury School, the name was changed and it will now be known as North Oxfordshire Academy. The cost of the academy is estimated to be around £20 million. Unlike Drayton, the new school is expected to have a sixth form.